Richard Meredith McDole or McDowell and his Son, Charles H. McDole

Does anyone know the parents of Richard Meredith McDole? He was living in White County, Tn  in the mid-1800's with children born in the 1870's. Sometime he is listed as Meredith. I don't know it he connects to John and Andrew McDowell or if he comes from the line of Luke and Curtis McDowell. Of course, Meredith may have been independent of these other families.

I have come across Meredith's name several times as I have read through census records, but I never felt a connection to who him until I found his grandchildren in the 1940 census.

During the night of the 4th of July I stayed up working on a McDole family that I found living in Sparta in the 1940 census. This is what I found:
1. on page 6.  E. McDole, 36, and Leta Mae McDole, 30.
June     born abt 1926
Jimmie born abt 1928
Bobbie born abt 1930
Dean born abt 1934
Caroline born abt 1939

2. on page 18. Martha McDole wd 58
    Lula McDole    daughter, 34, single, works as a cashier and bookkeeper
3. on page 19. M.R. McDale, 32, and Beulah McDale, 31.
Willa Jean born abt 1933

When I saw the ages of the young adults were all in their thirties, I realized they could be siblings, and looked up Martha's family. I was not surprised to find a 58-year-old widow in 1940, but I found Martha had ben a 28-year-old widow in 1910. Her oldest listed son was named Earnest. Martha was working, but I couldn't make out her profession. Lula and Ray were the younger children. In one census Ray's name is listed as Rheas, but in two others it is listed as Ray.

I get caught up in the story of a family as I research them, so I wanted to find out Martha Mcdole's story, and then I stayed up until 4:00 am looking up Earnest's story. Martha Ellen Stults (1881-1952)had married Charles H. McDole, the son of Richard Meredith McDole. Charles died young; he had been born in Tennessee in 1875, and passed away in Sparta in 1909. In the 1900 census, Martha and Charley had been married long enough to have a baby boy named Walter who was 3 months old on census day. They may have married in 1898 or 1899. Charley was listed as an engineer at a flour mill. That sounds like a good, steady job, and maybe Martha thought her life would not have the financial hardships other women faced. Sadly, it looks like Walter died before he turned 10 years old.

From the following censuses, Martha married second to a Casto Brown before 1920. Martha and Casto had a son, Elbert Brown, born in 1918. The blended family is living togther in 1920. In 1930 Martha is listed with the last name of Brown, but she is divorced. Her children are living with her and are old enough to be working. In 1940 Martha used the name of McDole and said she was a widow.

When I recorded the information about Earnest from the 1940 census, I noticed that three of his children were born in Florida, but the younger children were born in Tennessee. When I looked up Earnest and his family in 1930 Florida, I wasn't sure at first that I had the same family, but it was the right family. Earnest was married to a lady named Virginia who was born in Virginia, and they had an oldest daughter named Virginia born in TN. June, Bobbie and Jimmie were there having been born in Florida in the last five years.

This sounded like a sad situation. I was able to find the death record of the daughter, Virginia, in Tennessee Death Records. She was born in TN on July 19, 1924 and died in Sparta on December 21, 1932. She was 8 years, 5 months and 2 days old. Cause of death was lobar pneumonia. Virginia's mother was listed as Ida Payne.
When I saw Virginia's mother was Ida, I was worried that Ida had died at childbirth, and Earnest had married Virginia afterwards. But it wasn't as heart-breaking as I feared, Virginia Ida Payne of Roanoke, Va was Virginia's mother. I found a marriage record for Earnest and Virginia Ida in Ohio marriage records. Earnest listed his vocation as an automobile mechanic and said he was 21. Ida was 16 (her birthday was the day before), and her father signed for her. His name was George W. Payne.

I do not know when Ida Payne McDole passed away. She was alive in the summer of 1930, and she had died by September 4,1932, the day Earnest married Leta Mae Stephens in Sparta. I suppose Ida may have died in Florida, and Earnest returned to Sparta to be with his family. Sadly, he married Letta Mae, and then Virginia became ill with pneumonia later that year. It must have been a very hard two years. 

Earnest and Leta Mae lived a  long time after their marriage. By 1940 they had Dean and Caroline. They may have had other children, and they were married over 55 years.
Everybody has a story.

Two Other McDowell Families are Out There!

In my last previous post I referred to three McDole/McDowell families whom contacted me or my sister, Kathy:

1. One was "Wolfman" who descends from Andrew McDole through his daughter, Sippy McDole Steele. Wolfman -aka Will- wrote about his family in the comments section of  my post of September 2011 re: the Relatives of Andrew McDole/McDowell in 1850 and 1860. Those relatives included Jim and Eliza (Clouse) McDole, who are Will's ancestors. If you would like to contact Will, he wrote his email in the comments section of said post.

2.  My sister heard from a close relative to us who descended from Owen McDowell (1847-1917), who was the brother of my great-great grandmother, Nancy Ann McDowell (1851-1878.) Owen and Nancy are children of the John and Hester Ann McDowell  I wrote about in the introduction to this blog. Their name is McDowell because they moved to Missouri in 1850 and then Iowa by 1861. They used a midwestern spelling and pronunciation.

3. The other person contacted me on GenForum because I had entered some information about Tom McDole who died in Tennessee in  January1944. Thomas McDole is a son of James McDole and Eliza Clouse McDole whom I wrote about in the last blog.  Thomas was born before the 1860 census, since he was named in that census as being 3 months old. He and Nancy Ann McDole may have been 2nd cousins. The lady who contacted me said she is descended from Tom's son Willie McDole.

Unfortunately, neither contact gave my sister or me many details on their family line. We don't know where they live currently or if there are any living male McDoles or McDowells in their family. However, I'm going to assume there are male Mcdowells out there who may be recognized when I start spelling out their family tree.

I. The family of Owen Mcdowell  (1847-1917) who was born in DeKalb County, TN; lived in Taney County, Missouri and Mills County, Iowa; and died in Hardy, Nuckolls Co., Nebraska. He is the child of John and Hester Ann McDowell.

Owen married Hetta Rachel Bixby in 1886 in Nuckolls Co., NE. Hetta lived on in Hardy, Nebraska until she passed away in 1953. Their children were:
Marie McDowell 1886-1969
George Bixley McDowell 1888-1953
Clara McDowell  1889-1889
Ward McDowell  1892-1934
Joseph Edward McDowell 1899-1976
Neil McDowell 1902-1965

In the pursuit of living Mcdowells, here are the children of the McDowell brothers:
A. George Bixley McDowell born March 4, 1888 in Hardy Village, Nuckolls Co., NE
Died June 28, 1953 in Hardy Village, Nuckolls Co., NE
Married Teresa E.Hempel.
There were two sons: Wilford B. McDowell and Wallace E. McDowell. One of these men may still be living.

B. Ward McDowell born 25 October 1892 in Hardy Village, Nuckolls Co., NE
Died in 1934.
Ward played semi-pro baseball. He lived in Kansas, Alabama and Nebraska.
Ward married Clara who was born in 1897. Their sons were Owen (1915-1927) and Don McDowell who was born in 1917.
C. Joseph Edward McDowell born 3 August 1899 in Hardy Village, Nuckolls Co., NE
Died 28 October 1976 Elkhart, Anderson County, Texas
Joseph married Lucille Watkins (1902-1985).

D. Neil McDowell born 1902 in Hardy Village, Nuckolls Co., NE
Died 9 Feb. 1965 Houston. Harris Co.,Texas

II. I am going to publish this unfinished, as one of my readers may be able to fill me in on some details. Also, I need to check more with my sister about the children of Joseph E. and Neil McDowell.

The family I will add here is from Tom McDole and Tennessee Farmer McDole. They had a son named Willie and he had a son named Willie Ray who lived in and around White County in 1940 and later. Willie Ray had three sons, and some of them may be living. I don't like to give many particulars about living people, but I will list names to help someone recognize himself.

New Information on the Descendants of James and Eliza (Clouse) McDole

A brief commercial...
At the beginning of the year I could not find any new leads to follow to unearth the McDowell/McDole's past. I had considered writing to the counties in South Carolina that had McDowells living there in 1800, but that seemed like making cold calls.

I think a better way to identify the origin of the John McDowell clan is through DNA. Since writing in January, my sister, Kathy, and I have heard from three descendants of the McDowells or McDoles of White County. I haven't gotten to know anyone well enough to ask for a DNA sample, but I am hopeful. I will pay for the Y-chromosome test for anyone descending from the family of John McDole or from his father.
Obviously, it cannot be anyone who is not of the McDole/McDowell bloodline. That would leave out anyone whose father, grandfather, et al., was adopted by a McDole/McDowell.The McDowell DNA project is a good one. They are rather secretive with their results, but I believe they have found a few groups of McDowells were in the USA by the 1800. It would be great if we could identify which of those groups we descend from.
And the News about the McDoles...
Our new information on a descendant of of James and Eliza McDole comes from the genealogist who call himself Wolfman. I wrote about Jim and Eliza in the post dated 9/4/11 about relatives of Andrew McDole in the 1850 and 1860 censuses. Jim and Eliza were born approximately 1827 and 1826, respectively, and had died by the 1870's, leaving several children. Wolfman descends from their daughter, Mary, who is listed as being 17 in the 1880 census. 


In the blog from last September 4th, I had found information from the online death record of Tom McDole who was Mary's brother, and was listed as an infant in the 1860 census.  Wolfman had the death record for Mary McDole, and it lists her father as Jim McDole and her mother as Eliza Clouse. Eliza's last name had not been listed on any records I had seen.

Mary McDole was married first to Samuel Rice February 15, 1881 in White County. Samuel's parents were William Rice Jr. and Mary Massa, who lived in White County. Samuel's grandparents were William Rice Sr. and Eleanor of the Unknown Last Name. I looked at the 1840 census of DeKalb County and found a William Rice living near Andrew, John and Jane McDole. The families were close enough for their grandchildren to have easily met.

Mary McDole's second husband was Nathaniel S. Massa who was born Sep. 23, 1837. He had been married first to Amanda Minerva Campbell. Amanda's gravestone says she died in 1890. From the 1900 census of Civil District 8, Putnam County, TN, Nathaniel and Mary had married in 1891 and had their daughter in 1895. Little Mary Massa was listed as being born in January 1895.

Nathaniel Massa died February 17, 1915. He is buried in Baxter, Putnam County. Mary passed away March 30, 1919 in DeKalb County, TN.

Why the Blog is Still Here

Hi,

I have not entered any new data just because of a lack of information.

I see that you, my readers, look at the blog about 2 times per week. I have never had anyone tell me why you are interested in the McDowells who lived in Tennessee. Someone in Germany looks at this blog, which interests me. A McD descendant stationed in Germany, perhaps?

Some readers use a query about George Hamaker and Nancy Ann McDowell to find this blog, but no one has ever left me a comment telling me how you connect to them.

Possibly someone could suggest a new area that I could research. You may have a great idea that never crossed my mind. What I have left to do now is locate the place John McDowell came from when he arrived in White County, Tennessee by October 1810. His daughter, Elizabeth, was born in South Carolina in 1795 or 1796. I am not sure her father was born there.

I have gone as far as I can figure out what to do with the information I have, so I have not written anything. I have the feeling that I could go county-by-county through North and South Carolina and still not find which family John McDowell came from when he left the Carolinas about 1810. I might have a better idea, though, where he came from.

A Love family researcher did that in Pennsylvania and found the county his ancestor was from. Then he generously gave me the files he had accumulated on his tour of Pa. It helped me with my Robert Love of Bedford County. Then I was able to share the files with others at a Love research conference.

I will leave this blog on blogspot so others can find the information, and possibly contribute. I have had carcinoid cancer since 2007. I should still be around for 5 to 10 more years. It would be wonderful if I can figure out how to pay for touring the Carolinas in the future, and I will let you know if I do that. Maybe someone can tell me which counties would be the best to search.

Thanks,
Sharon