Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1879-03-25


Madison Trimble, q prominent citizen {
Hillsboro.* A third daughter, Mar
Moffitt, married Mqjor Joe Mcdowell
of North Carolina, another distant rela
tive, and first cousin of the above Col
onel Joe; and their daughter Bstsey
married Caleb Mcdowell, the younges
son of Samuel Mcdowell, Mrs. Moffitt'
elder brother. Major Joe possessed tn
fighting characteristics which distin
guished the breed in all its branches
and served with credit from the begin
ming to the end Of the Revolutionar,
War. He was the Major Mcdowell, o
the Cowpens, where Tarleton succuImb
ed to the sturdy blows of the wagone
Morgan. The second son of John Nc
Dowell and Magdalena Wood was nam
ed James, who died in 177l, while on hi!
way to Richmond as Sheriff Of the coun
ty. There seems some confusion as t.
whom he married. One account says
Elizabeth Cloyd another, which 1 am
inclined to believe correct, says Eliza
beth McClung. But whoever she may
have been, they had six children. Theil
daughter, Sarah, married her cousin
Major John Mcdowell, the oldest son o
Samuel, and of him we shall have some.
thing to say further on. Their daugh.
ter married David McGayock, moved tc
Nashville, Tenn, and became the an.
cestress of the numerous and highly re.
spectacle family OF that name in that
State. There is no name in Tennessee
that has higher repute than that OF
McGavock. Their youngest son, James
Mcdowell, inherited the magnificent
estate of his parents, and remained in
Virginia. He arrived at prominence,
not only on account of his large wealth,
hut from his strong personsl qualities.
He was distinguished Colonel in the
war Of 1872. He married Sarah, daugh-
ter of Col. VIM. Preston, only son of
John Preston, from whom so many dis
tinguished men of his own and other
names have sprung this Colonel VIM.
Preston himself taking al active part
in the Revolution. This Colonel James
Mcdowell and Sarah Preston had three
children.
l. The Oldest daughter married Will
liam Taylor, prominent lawyer of
Alexandria, and a member of Congress
from that district and one of her daugh-
ters married John B. Weller, of Ohio,
afterwards the United States Senator
from California.
2. The second daughter fthis Colonel
James Mcdowell, Elizabeth, married
Thomas Hart Benton, United States
Senator from Missouri, one of the few
men whom "Old Hickory" could never
bully, an egregious egotist, but an earn.
est patriot; man of unfiinching cour-
age, and of moral sense. Let men say
what they will about the cravat affair at
Chapel Hill, the fact remains that he
was thirty years in the Senate, that he
was never extravagant, and that he died
poor. Ono Of his daughters married
John G. Fremont, the Path finder, and
first Republican candidate for President,
and another was the wife of Colonel
Richard Taylor Jacob, a gallant Union
soldier and. Lieutenant Governor of
Kentucky.
8. The third child and only son of
Colonel James Mcdowell was also nam
ed James, the able and distinguished
Congressman, Senator and Governor of
Virginia. The McDoweils havegeneral-
ly been men of action, not given to gush
or gifted with fiuency of speech. But
this one got from msomewhere-most like
~ from his Preston mother-the rare
gift of true eloqusnee and graceful ora
tory, combined with reasoning powers
of high order, seldom aroused to their
full height, but on the few occasions
when their owner had his metal tried,
and was spurred to exertion, bursting
forth with the brillianey of real genius,
with fervor that was resistless. He
married his first cousin, the daughter of
Colonel Francis Preston, a Virginia Con-
gresham, and Brigadier General Of
the war of 1872 General Preston's wife
was a daughter of Col. William Camp.
bell, the commander and nero at Kings
and her mother was q sister
OF Patrick Henry, Virginia's greatest
orator. William G. Preston, the scholar,
orator and statesman of South Carolina,
was her brother, and the wives of DIR.
Robert ]. Breckinridge, of Kentucky,
and of John B. Floyd, Of Virginia, were
her sisters One of Governor McDowell's
sons is prominent physician in Paris,
France. One of'his daughters was tho
wife of Francis Thomas, Governor of
Maryland; another daughter married
Professor Venable, of the University of
Virginia, and still another Colonel Mas
sic, Of the Virginia Military Institute,
and Mr.. Thomas L. Mcdowell died
soldier in the Confederate army.
The Oldest son of Captain John Mo.
Dowell (son of old Ephraim) and the
three times married Magdalens Wood,
was Samuel, the progenitor of the Ken.
lucky branch, 1t has been stated that
he was born in Virginia, but as there is
no trace of the family in that State prior
to their settlement in Borden's Grant in
1877, and as Samuel was born October
10, l735, we conclude that Pennsylvania
was the colony of his birth. On the 18th
of January, 1854, when but little over
All rh naN rxfm Il lad AT orvy
sister to the John. McClung
Alexander, and who was the father of
ablest lawyers and jurists that ever lived
Susan, daughter Of Colonel Thomas
Marshall, this Judge William was the
father of John A. McClung, the cele-
brated lawyer orator and divine, and of
Colonel A. H. McClung, soldier and
duelist, Of Mississippi. By the laws of
then prevailing in Vir-
ginia, Samuel Mcdowell inherited the
entire estate of his father, who died in
tsstate. 1t is stated of him, and as char
acteristic of his clear sense of Justice and
native generosity, that no sooner had he
attained years of maturity than he di-
vided this inheritance equally with his
brother and sister, giving to the latter
almost all the personally. It may be
assumed that the circumstances and
career of his youth did not in other re
spects differ much from those of other
enterprising young men of the hardy
race with which the valley was peopled.
The Meetings., Lylss, Twins, Camp
bells and Stuarts were his school fellows
and friends; one of the Alexanders who
had been literally educated in the old
country, was his teacher. Tho exposed
situation of frontier settlement Injured
him from infancy to hardships and to
indifference to danger; his education,
though scarcely elegant, was better than
can usually be obtained in border and
debatable land the most valuable les
sons taught him were those of self-reli-
ance, love Of liberty and fear of God.-
He saw some military service early in
life; was member of the House of Bur-
gesses for several terms prior to the Re
volution, when none but the foremost
were chosen had an active part in all
the meetings and movements In Vir-
ginia which led to the war for indepen-
dence in 1775, in conjunction with his
relative Thomas Lewis, son OF old
John and brother of the hero of Point
Pleasant, he was chosen to represent the