Aged 75 years 10 months 5 days.
Joseph McDowell
JOSEPH McDOWELL, residing in Center Township, was born in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, Feb. 5, 1822, and is the son of John and Susanna (Vaughn) McDowell, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania. They emigrated to Ohio in 1812, and were among the pioneer settlers of Tuscarawas County, where he transformed the wild land into a fine farm. In the year 1854 they removed to Henry County, Iowa, locating on section 31, Center Township, where he bought ninety-two acres of partially improved land, living there until his death, which occurred in 1861 at the ripe age of seventy-seven years, being born in 1784. Mr. McDowell served during the War of 1812 as a non-commissioned officer, He was a conscientious man, and was an earnest Christian. He held the political views of the Republican party. Mrs. McDowell was called to her final home Nov. 16, 1876. She was born on the 26th of February, 1792. Mr. and Mrs. McDowell were the parents of eleven children, four of whom are yet living: Martha is now the wife of Daniel Richey, of Corning, Iowa; Joseph, our subject; Elizabeth, the wife of Silas Thomas, residing in Mt. Pleasant, and Agnes, the wife of Alford Wilson, a minister in Page County, Iowa.

Joseph McDowell lived upon his father's farm in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, until the age of twenty-one, at which time he went to Holmes County, Ohio, working as a farm hand until the fall of 1846. Mr. McDowell then went back to his native county, where he was united in marriage, on the 6th of September, 1846, to Rebecca Swope, a native of Pennsylvania, and a daughter of James and Rachel (Frazier) Swope, both of whom were natives of Huntingdon County, Pa. After his marriage, Mr. McDowell engaged in farming until the spring of 1848, when he emigrated to Henry County, Iowa, settling near Mt. Pleasant. Here he rented a farm until the spring of 1851, when lie moved to section 29 of Center Township, where he rented a farm for sixteen years. Mr. McDowell afterward moved to section 6, Jackson Township, where he bought a farm of eighty acres in 1865. He resided upon this latter farm for four years, when he bought the ninety-two acres on section 31, Center Township, which his father bought in 1854 on coming to Iowa, where lie now lives. He now owns 213 acres of land, mostly under cultivation.

Mr. and Mrs. McDowell have had a family of thirteen children: William, who died when but nineteen months old: David, now residing in Jackson Township; Henry, a resident of Center Township; Elizabeth, who is the wife of Columbus Watson, of Jefferson County, Iowa; Iowa, the wife of Robert Jemmeson, a harness-maker of Mt. Pleasant, who served as a soldier during the Rebellion; James now resides in Jefferson County, Iowa; Clara is at home; Mary is the wife of Zachariah Doan, a resident of Salem Township; Albert, John and Margaret reside with their parents. Those deceased are William, Ellen and Sarah.

In politics, Mr. McDowell sympathies with the Labor Union party. Mrs. McDowell is a member of the Holiness Church, while Mr. McDowell believes in universal salvation. Mr. and Mrs. McDowell have gained all that they have by their own thrift and economy. They are highly esteemed throughout the community in which they reside.

(Portrait and Biographical Album, Henry County, Iowa; Acme Publishing Company, Chicago, 1888, p 288) (JC)
Find A Grave contributor Linda DeLong