From the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress:
"McDOWELL, Joseph, (father of Joseph Jefferson McDowell and cousin of Joseph McDowell [1758-1799]), a Representative from North Carolina; born in Winchester, Va., February 15, 1756; moved to North Carolina with his parents in 1758; attended the common schools and Washington College (now Washington and Lee University), Lexington, Va.; served against the Indians on the frontier and later took an active part in the Revolution, attaining the rank of colonel; engaged in planting; elected to the Continental Congress in 1787, but did not attend; delegate to the State constitutional convention which ratified the Constitution of the United States in 1789; member of the State house of commons in 1791 and 1792; unsuccessful candidate for election in 1794 to the Fourth Congress; elected as a Republican to the Fifth Congress (March 4, 1797-March 3, 1799); was not a candidate for renomination in 1798; moved to Kentucky in 1800, but returned to North Carolina in 1801; died at his brother's home at Quaker Meadows, near Morganton, Burke County, N.C., February 5, 1801; interment in Quaker Meadow Cemetery, on his father's plantation, near Morganton, N.C."
