The 1795 Will of Joseph "P.G." McDowell

Will of Joseph McDowell of Pleasant Gardens*

In the name of God amen, I Joseph McDowell of the [Pleasant Gardens, marked out] State of North Carolina and the County of Burke and of the Pleasant Gardens do make my last will and testament [to Wit, marked out] in the manner and form following to wit,
My will is that my wife Mary McDowell have her lawful share of all my lands if she chooses during life. My further will is that she have my three slaves Cato Bine & Africa for her share of my slave property. My further will is that she have one of my best feather beds and furniture her own wearing apparel and my trunk. My further will is that she have two of my best work horses and a young black mare.
My will is that my son John have my six hundred acre tract of land lying on both sides of Pigeon river joining below the flower Garden in fee simple. My further will is that he have my half of the flower Garden place on Pidgeon river in fee simple.
My will is that my son George have the lower half of the old original six hundred and forty acre survey called the Pleasant Garden tract which is to be divided by a line running due North and South from the center of the said tract. My further will is that he have another two hundred and sixty acre tract joining the lower part of the aforesaid tract also another fifty acre tract on the waters of Garden Creek all of which lands I will to him in fee simple.
My will is that my son James have the upper half of the aforementioned six hundred and forty acre tract known by the name of the Pleasant Garden as soon as the life incumbrance expire. The meaning of this clause is, that the said James shall possess the aforesaid lands in whole, or, in part in proportion as it ceases to be incumbered. My further will is that he have that tract of land lying Bridge Creek joining the north end of the Pleasant Gardens tract containing one hundred acres more or less. All the preceeding lands I will to him in fee simple. I further will to my son James that tract of land lying on Buck Creek and known by the name of the McClewer or Chambers place containing two hundred and sixteen acres and that my Executors immediately procure a title to be made to my said son James by McClewer or Chambers according to their bonds now in my possession.
My will is that my daughter Ann have four hundred acres of land be the same more or less lying on both of the forks of French Broad River being my share of two tracts granted to me and James Miller. My further will is that three hundred and twenty acres of land lying on Richland Creek granted to my father and me and being my half of said grant be equally divided between my son James and my daughter Ann the aforesaid lands I will to my son James and daughter Ann in fee simple.
My will is that my executors shall sell the following lands to the best advantage for the benefit of my creditors and the education of my children, to wit, two hundred and sixty acres joining above the cherry fields lying on each side of French Broad River being my share of a tract of land granted to James Glasgow and me also two hundred acres of land lying on new found creek also seven hundred and fourteen acres of land lying in Cumberland which I purchased of Col. Joseph McDowell of Johns river and have his bond to make me a title and that my Executors have full power to make good and sufficient titles for said land, so sold.
My further will is that my Negro [word "man" marked out] slave Cate with her children Jean and her children Negro man Bob, James and Hannah Binahs child be kept with their issue as a joint property until my oldest child arrives at twenty one years of age. Then to be all valued and that a division take place between my four children as nearly equal as possible provided never the less it is my desire that my wife Mary have one of the girls whichsoever she chooses to wait upon her untill her day of marriage if that should ever take place. And my further will is that my Executors dispose of the aforesaid Negroes in the interium in such a manner as shall be most productive of benefit to my heirs at the same time it is my will that care be taken that said negroes be treated well. I further will that my Negro man Harry be sold at the discretion of my Executors. My further will is that one half of a tract of land containing [words "four seven hundred" marked out] seven hundred acres lying on Jonathan Creek on the west side of Pidgeon River be sold to the best advantage at such a time as my Executors may think most proper, and that the other half shall be vested in fee simple in the Heirs of a Col. Henderson of Greenbrier in Virginia they being entitled to it by virtue of an instrument of writing obtained of me about laying a land warrant they paying the _____ of taxes and their proportion of any cost and charges that may ___ in consequences of ___ of ___ with respect to said land.
My further will is that my cattle sheep hogs and geese together with my farming utensils be left in the care of my wife for the benefit of raising my children. That my bed furniture not ___ to willed to my wife be kept for the ___ use of my children and the remaining part of my household [word "furniture" marked out] affairs to remain with my wife to assist her in raising my children. The waggon & geers which I bought from Major Neely to be returned to him with some compensation for disappointment of sale provided he will again take it. But if he will not to be sold to the best advantage by my Executors.
My further will is that my Library be kept for the Joint of my sons. My further will is that my lands kept by way of legacy to my children be rented from time to time by my Executors in the most advantageous manner and that the profits arising from said lands be applied to the maintenance and education of my children. Also I appoint Joseph McDowell John Carson and James Murphy my Executors to this my last will and testament. The above will containing four pages and a part I declare to be my last will and testament published this 19th day of March in the year of our Lord 1795.

J. McDowell (SEAL)

In presence of
Catherine Arthurs
John M Wilson
Robt Logan, Jurat
Copy attest
J.E. ____ Clk.

*A copy of this will is found at the North Carolina State Archives in Raleigh. The original is said to be in Burke County.

Silas McDowell, on Morganton (part 4)

Morganton and its Surroundings Sixty Years Ago, excerpt, by Silas McDowell, c. 1877, manuscript (transcribed by Ann Walker, ©2009)

... The old lady remarked, that as my business would bring me in contact with the citizens of Burke, that she would, for my benefit, exhibit to me a kind of portrait gallery of those families who occupied the front rank in Burke's social circle; as well as a kind of rear rank; that is to say, families who were tolerated in consequence of their wealth.

"I will begin," she continued, "with the old patriarchs of the county—the few survivors from whom have descended the very best families in the county. The oldest man among these is Arthur Erwin, living on Upper creek; he was once a man of sound practical sense, and of amiable character; but a plain unassuming man; is now high up in eighty, and the father of Col W.W. Erwin of Belvidere. The next is Alexander Erwin, brother of Arthur, and two years younger: their farms join. They are quite unlike in character, Alexander having been devoted to books and a thorough knowledge of the current literature of the age, and withall, when young, a wit, and a dandy: his best representative is Col James Erwin, clerk of our county court. He has many daughters and three sons by his last wife, but none of these are of much promise. The next oldest man is Col. Waightstill Avery of Swan Ponds, four miles up the river. He was once a great lawyer, and [an] amiable man, but now confined at home from weakness in his limbs: he is represented by his only son named Isaac, lately married to Harriet, eldest daughter of Col W.W. Erwin.

"The next is John Rutherford of Muddy creek 12 miles above Morganton, he will be represented by his only surviving son John; two of his sons having died in the state of Mississippi: his son John is a queer man, but said to have brains.

"The next is Col John Carson of Buck creek, twenty six miles above Morganton: his best representative promises to be his son Joseph, a lawyer of some note living in Rutherford county. Carson's last wife was the widow of Genl Joseph McDowell of Pleasant Gardens, and Joseph McDowell's best representative is his son John, living in Rutherford County. The homestead, the Gardens, are owned by his youngest son James, but he is no Jo, and will never set the world on fire. James Murphey is our next oldest man, and is a good financeer, acquiring fast and holding on to all that he ever grasps. He has an only son named Jack, a dull man.

"Then, there is Col John McGimsey of Lineville [sic] valley: he has two sons, John and William—clever young men. The there is old Daniel Forney of Upper creek; very clever, yet made a fool of himself by marrying a young girl while he was near sixty—he will be represented by a large family of children. And then, there is old Col Andrew Baird of Gunpowder creek who has a fine family, and makes bar iron; and there is also old Sam [Newland?] that married a Tate, of the same section, twenty miles in the N. East section of the county. And besides these there are on Johns river the three Perkins brothers and their families; but Jo has the most pretty daughters; and there is Major Hiland, who married a Perkins; all respectable, but unkind to their slaves. Also, there is Dr Thos Bouchell and family, they are tip-toppers, and live up to and, perhaps, beyond the Drs income: but the girls marry well, two of them [ . . . ] Lenoir, the first having died. And then there is old Dave Tate of Morganton and his family: Dave is a kind hearted wicked man, in whom evil and good are about equally mixed, and is very popular with the poor, and represents Burke in the legislature.

"Next, come in the Greenlee brothers, five of them. They hold vast property, but their social position is not what might be expected; but I must say little about that, for Dave Greenlee is master to my niece, while John has for wife one of the best ladies in the country: pious, accomplished, and kind. But the drawbacks on the family are Ephraim, Sam, James and Bill. Ephraim married Sally Howard of Virginia and they commenced a race who could drink the most brandy! She won, but will not live twelve months, while he can drink himself full, and it don't seem to hurt him.

"Sam keeps a black woman for wife, and that woman is the greatest curiosity I ever beheld. She is coal black; but her form and features that would be a good model for a statuary chiseling out a H___. Jim and Bill are idiots, —nearly.

"Another batch of wealthy brothers are the Harshaws: they may be called the Arabs of our respectable society, and form no part of it. Now comes in the names of younger men, such as Charles McDowell of Quaker Meadows; Abe Flemming of Flemming island; and indeed I might name scores of others who are amiable men, but I am growing weary of the thing, and will cut short, and let you go to rest."

...

Wheeler, the confusion, and "Hunting John"

From Reminiscences and Memoirs of North Carolina and Eminent North Carolinians, by John H. Wheeler, Columbus Printing Works, Columbus, Ohio, 1884:

In my "History of North Carolina," as to this family, it is stated that Charles and Joseph McDowell were brothers, the sons of Joseph, who, with his wife Margaret O'Neal, had emigrated from Ireland, settled in Winchester, Virginia, where Charles and Joseph were born. For authority of these facts, statements were furnished from members of this family and others which were believed. Recent and more thorough examinations make these statements doubtful. A letter from one of the family* to me, states: "It is singular how inaccurate has been any knowledge as to this family. An investigation, instituted some time ago, with a view of establishing a descent which would lead to the securing of a large estate through Margaret O'Neal, developed the fact, beyond all question, that her husband (the father of General Charles McDowell, and General Joseph,) was named John instead of Joseph, that they married in Ireland, and lived at Quaker Meadows, in Burke County."
Lanman, in his "Biographical Annals of Congress," states: "Joseph McDowell was a Representative in Congress from 1793 to 1795; and again from 1797 to 1799."
The family tradition and record is, he died in 1795. The first error does not destroy the truth of history that the family were of Irish origin; and the second arises from there being two of the same name of the same family. Every effort and pains have been taken to make the present sketch correct. If any error occurs, the corrections will be gratefully received. In compiling genealogical tables, or pedigrees, great attention is necessary in clearly stating the number of generations, in any given period, as they form a guide to the probability of persons having sprung from any particular ancestor or individual. A generation is the interval between the birth of a father and the birth of son. Thirty-three years have been allowed to a generation, or three generations for every hundred years. The birth and death dates, as well as the location, should be stated, since "chronology and locality are the eyes of history." The repetition of the same names, without dates or place, creates confusion in our American genealogy, as it has caused in this instance.
John McDowell, called "Hunting John," who resided at Pleasant Gardens, was one of the early pioneers of Western Carolina. He was, it is believed, a native of Ireland. He and a man by the name of Henry Widener, (many of whose descendants now live in Catawba County, known by the name of Whitener,) came to this country when it was an unbroken wilderness, for the purpose of hunting and securing homes for their families. John McDowell built his house on the west side of the Catawba River, on land now called the Hany Field, a part of the fine body of land well known as "The Pleasant Gardens," which for fertility of soil, healthfulness of climate and splendor of scenery, cannot be excelled.
The date of his birth, or the time of his settling, or the date of his death, from the loss of family records, cannot be given; but from tradition, he lived in this lovely spot with his wife (Mrs. Annie Edmundston) to a good old age.
He was a famous hunter, and delighted in "trapping," and to a late period of his life, he could be seen on his way to the mountains, with four large bear traps tied behind him on his horse, with his trusty rifle on his shoulder. On these excursions he would go alone, and be absent for a month or more, hunting the deer, turkies, and bears, and in silent communion with nature and with nature's God. He realized the exquisite lines of Byron--

Crime came not near him; she is not the child
Of solitude. Health shrank not from him,
For her home is in the rarely trodden wild; [...]
Tall and swift of foot were they,
Beyond the dwarfing city's pale abortion,
Because their thoughts had never learned to stray
On care or gain; the green woods were their portion,
No sinking spirits told them they grew gray,
No fashion made them apes of her distortion
Simple and civil; and their rifles
Tho' very true, were not used for trifles.**

He left two daughters and one son: Anna, who married William Whitson; Rachel, who married John Carson; and Colonel Joseph McDowell, who was born on 25th February, 1758, at Pleasant Gardens, in Burke County. He was always called "Colonel Joe of the Pleasant Gardens," to distinguish him from "General Joe of Quaker Meadows."

* Dr. G. W. Michal, of Newton, N. C., to whom I am indebted for much information as to the McDowell family.

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[**These lines from Lord Byron's Canto VIII combine passages from stanzas LXII & LXVI that are very loosely transcribed.]

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Note: A genealogical breakout including brothers Joseph and Charles McDowell, "Hunting John" McDowell, and the cousins Joseph McDowell of Pleasant Gardens and Joseph McDowell of Quaker Meadows is contained in the 12.21.07 blog post Joseph McDowell & Draper's Misstatement.

"Hunting John" & his son Joseph, of Pleasant Gardens

From Historic Families of Kentucky, By Thomas Marshall Green, Published 1889, R. Clarke, Kentucky, pp.24-25:

... "Hunting John," was the first of the McDowells to move to the Catawba country. Draper narrates that when Charles McDowell called the leading men of the Catawba valley together, in 1780, and, to meet the present emergency, suggested that they should repair to Gilbert Town, and there take British protection, as the only means of saving their live stock, which were essential to the support of the country—justifying it as a temporary expedient—"Hunting John" absolutely refused to adopt the suggestion. With others who agreed with him, he proposed to drive all the stock they could collect into the deep coves at the base of the Black Mountain, leaving to others the humiliating office of taking protection, in order to save the remainder. The distinguished Indian fighter, Captain John Carson, and the Davidsons, and others, were selected to take protection, which they did, deeming it justifiable and not unpatriotic under the circumstances. His [i.e., Hunting John's] son Joseph McDowell, who married Mary Moffett, was born at the Pleasant Garden, February 25, 1758. A boy when the Revolution broke out, he immediately went into active service in the patriot army. He soon rose to a captaincy in the Burke regiment, of which his cousins Charles was the colonel and Joseph the major. He was with it in every fight in which it was engaged. At King's Mountain, while Major Joseph, of Quaker Meadows, acted as colonel, Captain Joseph, of Pleasant Garden, acted as major. Hence the dispute as to which of the two it was who commanded in that fight. They were equally brave, equally patriotic, equally able. Captain Joe, of the Pleasant Garden, is the one known in history as major, while he of the Quaker Meadows is known as colonel [and subsequently, respectively, colonel and general]. Both were at the Cowpens, where Tarleton succumbed to the sturdy blows of the wagoner, Morgan. Serving from the beginning to the close of the war for independence, Major Joe [of Pleasant Gardens] possessed the fighting characteristics which distinguished the breed in all its branches. In the Rutherford campaign he killed an Indian in single combat. Educated as a physician, his distinction as a statesman was not less than that he won as a soldier. As Joseph McDowell, Jr., he served in the North Carolina House of Commons from 1787 to 1792. McDowell county, North Carolina, was named for him. He was also a member of the North Carolina Convention of 1788, and was generally regarded as the brightest intellect of any of the North Carolina connection. He died in 1795, leaving several children.

Joseph McDowell / John Carson1798 War Department Accounting

From Papers of the War Department, Center for History and New Media, George Mason University:

(click image to enlarge)

Document Information
Date: June 27, 1798
Author Name: William Simmons (primary)
Location: Accountant's Office
Recipient Name: Joseph McDowell (primary)

(Source: Collection: National Archives and Records Administration: Letterbook, War Dept Accountant, RG217)

1790 Census, Burke County, North Carolina

1st Company* 
McDowell, James: 1 [self], 2, 2, 2
McDowell, John: 1 [self, i.e., "Hunting John,"], 1 [?], 1 [wife Ann "Annie" Evans], 1
McDowell, Joseph, Jun. [son of "Hunting John," Pleasant Gardens**]: 1 [self], 2 [John Moffett, George], 1 [wife Mary Moffett], 9
Carson, John: 2 [self, ?], 5 [Joseph McDowell, Jason Hazzard, Charles, James, John W.], 2 [Sarah “Sally,” wife Rachel Matilda McDowell], 12

6th Company***
McDowell, John: 2, 2, 4, 5

7th Company****
McDowell, Joseph, Col. [Quaker Meadows]: 2 [self, ?], 0, 5 [Hannah, Margaret, Elizabeth, Sarah, wife Margaret Moffett], 10
McDowell, Charles [Quaker Meadows]: 1 [self], 2 [Charles Gordon, Athan Allen], 5 [Margaret “Peggy,” Sarah “Sallie,” Eliza Grace, wife Grace Greenlee, ?], 10

13th Company*****
McDowell, William: 1 [self], 4, 4, 0

*Present McDowell County & part of present northern Rutherford County
**Scots-Irish naming tradition of the time assigned "Junior" to the youngest within the extended family, and not the direct son. "Jun." suffix is verbatim from handwritten 1790 census document.
***Western Burke County, including Bridgewater, Lake James and part of present eastern McDowell County
****Middle Burke County, including Quaker Meadows
*****South-southeastern Burke County, including Salem and South Mountains

(numbers indicate household members, in order: white males 16 years and over, white males 0-15 years, white females, slaves)

The Two Josephs McDowell

From History of the McDowells and Connections, by John Hugh McDowell, pub. 1918, C. B. Johnston, pp. 235-237:

Joseph McDowell, of Quaker Meadows, was a handsome man, wonderfully magnetic, universally popular, and of more than ordinary ability. He was a born leader of men, and was represented by the old men of succeeding generations to have retained to his death the unbounded confidence and affection of the old soldiers. Margaret Moffitt was a woman of extraordinary beauty, as was her sister, Mary.

After the battle of King's Mountain, in October, Joseph McDowell, of Quaker Meadows, remained in the field with 190 mounted riflemen, including the younger Joseph, as one of his officers, until he joined Morgan on December 29, and participated in the battle of Cow Pens.

Joseph, of Pleasant Gardens, was a brilliant man, of more solid ability than his cousin, of the same name. The late Silas McDowell, who died in Macon County, but lived during his early life first in Burke and then in Buncombe, in discussing in an unpublished letter, of which I have a copy, the prominent men who lived west of Lincoln County, reaches the conclusion that prior to the day of D. L. Swain, Samuel P. Carson and Dr. Robert B. Vance, no man in that section had, according to tradition, towered far above his fellows intellectually, except Joseph McDowell, of Pleasant Gardens, whose "light went out when he was in his noonday prime, and in the last decade of the eighteenth century." He was born February 26, 1758 and died 1795. His widow married Colonel John Carson, whose first wife was the daughter of "Hunting John." Samuel P. Carson, the oldest son by the second marriage of Mary Moffitt McDowell, was a member of the Senate of North Carolina in 1822, and was born Jan. 22, 1798 (See Wheeler's Reminiscences, page 89). Joseph, of Quaker Meadows, was born in 1756, was two years older, and therefore must have been Joseph, Sr. Wheeler records the name of Joseph McDowell, Sr., as having served successively from 1787 to 1792, inclusively, as a member of the House of Commons from Burke County, but not after a later date (See list of Burke Legislators, Wheeler's History, Part 22, page 62). Joseph McDowell, according to the same authority, was a State Senator, succeeding General Charles from 1791 to 1795, inclusively, and during that time did not serve in Congress, though he unquestionably served later. These and other facts have led the writer to believe Joseph Jr., served one term in Congress from 1793 to 1795, when he died, and that afterwards, and up to the time of his death, the elder cousin was a member. Joseph McDowell, Jr., was not in public life after 1792, unless he served one term in Congress before his death. It is not probable that he lived from 1792 to 1795 without holding an official position.

Quaker Meadows & Pleasant Gardens

The McDowell House at Quaker Meadows Plantation,
built in 1812 by Captain Charles McDowell, Jr
near Morganton, Burke County, North Carolina

From History of the McDowells and Connections, by John Hugh McDowell, pub. 1918, C. B. Johnston:

"According to tradition, the Quaker Meadows farm was so-called long before the McDowells or any other whites established homes in Burke County, and derived its name from the fact that the Indians, after clearing part of the broad and fertile bottoms, had suffered the wild grasses to spring up and form a large meadow, near which a Quaker had camped before the French-Indian war and traded for furs. On the 19th of November, 1752, Bishop [August Gottlieb] Spangenburg recorded in his diary (Vol. V. Colonial Record, page 6) that he was in camp near Quaker Meadows, and that he was "in the forest fifty miles from all settlements." The Bishop described the lowlands of Johns River as the richest he had seen anywhere in Carolina. But, after surveying the large area, he abandoned the idea of taking title for it from Lord Granville, because the Indian War began in 1753, the next year, and lasted nominally seven years, though it was unsafe to venture west of the Catawba until after 1763, and few incurred the risk of doing so before 1770. 'Hunting John' McDowell first entered 'Swan Pond,' about three miles above Quaker Meadows, but sold that place without occupying it, to Colonel Waightstill Avery, and established his home where his son Joseph [of Pleasant Gardens] and grandson James [Moffett McDowell] afterwards lived, and where, still later, Adolphus Erwin [brother-in-law of James] lived for years before his death. His home is three miles north of Marion on the road leading to Bakersville and Burnsville. The name of Pleasant Gardens was afterwards applied not only to this home, but to the place where Col. John Carson* lived high up the Catawba Valley, at the mouth of Buck Creek."

*John Carson (1752-1841) first married Rachel Matilda McDowell (1756-1795), "Hunting John" McDowell's eldest daughter and older sister of Joseph McDowell (1758-1795), of Pleasant Gardens. In 1797, widower John Carson married Joseph "P.G." McDowell's widow Mary Moffett McDowell (1768-1825).