John McDowell was born ten years too soon. In 1840 he was married (evidently) and living with his wife and two daughters in District 8 of DeKalb County, Tennessee. DeKalb County had just formed from White County and other counties in the previous year. I noticed that John's brother Smith McDowell and Nancy Dildine were married in 1838 in White County, Tennessee and their marriage record survives. John and Hester were possibly married a few years earlier based on the age of their oldest child in 1840, but there is no record of their marriage. I'll contact the Archivist in White County; the records were probably lost.
District 8 was the section of DeKalb County that had Fallingwater River on the SE and Caney Fork River to the west. Eventually, the eastern part of District 8 was taken by Putnam County when it was formed in 1854. So the McDowell family seemed to live in the wedge of land that was in three different counties in the 1800s. The land was in White County first, then DeKalb County, and finally Putnam County in 1854. That is what it looks like until I find another land document that shows a purchase of land somewhere else in DeKalb County.
John was "born too soon" in the genealogical sense. In the 1850 census every person began to be listed by their name, age, and place of birth. If John and Hester were a young couple in 1850, we would have the names of everyone in the house and know when and where they were born. Since John was living next to Andrew McDowell, we could find out if Andrew was born in South Carolina or in Tennessee, and, of course, have an easier time tracking down Andrew's widow and children after his death.
John McDowell seems to be Andrew's oldest son. First, he was named after his grandfather. Second, John is the only "McDole" next to Andrew; there are no other brothers nearby living on their own land. Also, John's probable brother, Smith McDole, lived past 1850, and in the 1850 census Smith states that he is 30 years old. So John is likely the oldest of the two boys born between 1815 and 1820, and tallied in the 1820 census.
Here are some of the other names in the 1840 census with Andrew and John:
[The age bracket of the oldest male is given. Ages were ticked off in a 10 year range, 20-29 for example.]
James McDonel ? 50
Richard Harris 30
Isum Cole 30
William Rice 40
James Roberson 15 and under 20
James Willis 15 and under 20
William Jones 20
Pleasant Farler 40
Hannah Elrod 20
Nathan Vincent 20
Jane Mcdole 20
Britton Medly(sic) 10 and under 15; oldest female 20
Riley Medley 30
Hiram Childress 40
Charity Childress 70
Nancy Anderson 30
Henry Waddle 50
John Roberson 50
William Lafferty 40
Andrew Mcdole 10 and under 15
John Mcdole 20 and under 30
John Lafferty 30
Asa Thompson 20
William Burton 30
Gibson Billings 20
In the home of John Mcdole, John and his wife are 20 and under 30; the children are girls with one girl under 5 and the other 5-9. As I said in the blog I wrote just previous to this one, the two children are probably Emmeline at 1 year of age and an older sister.
Evidently, John and Hester lived on in Tennessee for the next several years, based on the age and birth dates of their children. If the gestation period was 38 weeks (I'm a retired science teacher) before Nancy Ann McDowell was born, John was still alive at the end of April, 1849. What happened after that is a mystery.
I began searching for John McDowell about 1999. I have looked for men named John McDole or McDowell born in Tennessee between 1817 and 1820. (Legal documents appear to place Andrew as being born in 1799, and Andrew had two sons in 1820. Marriages seemed to have been common between teenagers. So, if Andrew got married at 17 or 18, John was probably born between 1817 and 1819.) I have searched in particular in Missouri and in Tennessee for signs of John, either dead or alive, but have not found him.
However, I have found a death record of an Unknown McDowell in DeKalb County in December 1849. Not all the information is recorded, possibly because he died of smallpox. I don't think the person recording the information wanted to stay around long enough to get all the facts. The Mortality Index says:
McDowll (sic), No Name Given... DeKalb Co. TN ...M...Dec...Small Pox
There was no age given and no place of birth. Of course, I cannot prove this was John, but it is a possibility of how and when he died.
Hester, John's widow, did not live until the 1880 census when she would have said if she was a widow. However, she died in 1879, so her death is in the Mortality Index for 1880. It indicates she was a widow. So we know John was dead by time he was 60, we just don't know for sure when and where he died.
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