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With his brother, John, and James and Mary Greenlee, they left Pennsylvania, traversed the lower valley of the Shenandoah. Borden found them camped on Sewell's creek, and after persuading them of his "Grant" convinced McDowell to survey the land for him for the price of 1,000 acres. They worked with Borden in settling an area now known as Rockbridge county near Lexington.
BIOGRAPHY: Information sent to T.Mason on 30 May 2004 by Norma Coon.
"He was a descendant of the ancient and warlike clan of the McDowells of Galloway. Ephraim McDowell was from the historic race of Dowall, sprung from Dougall and from intermarriage with the Campbells, Irvines, and Douglasses, was reckoned among the most powerful of the warlike septs that fought in the Presbyterian wars under the leadership of the Campbells, Earls of Argyll. Some family records indicate Ephraim was born in County Antrim, Ireland and his year of death was in 1770 at the age of 98 in Augusta County, Virginia.
The McDowells and Irvines (of Castle Irvine and of Bonshaw Castle, nine miles from Lockerbie, Dumfrieshire, Galloway, Scotland) often intermarried and manufactured linen in a linen mill along the Ballywallog river in Glenoe, near Larne, County Antrim, Northern Ireland from 1584 until declining business forced their emigration to America.... by the years 1724 and 1729.
Ephraim's father, Abraham McDowal [1648] left Scotland with his father, Joseph "the Calvinist" and with his family during the period of the English Civil Wars (abt. 1650). The name Mc Dowell is a modification of the Gaelic: Mac Dhu ghall, or MacDougal, meaning son or descendant of the dark stranger or Dane. The name was given over ten centuries ago to Norse settlers in Galloway, Scotland and the descendants of a son of Prince Fergus and Princess Elizabeth de Galloway, daughter of King Henry I of England.
Alexander McDowell was a Presbyterian minister. He was licensed July 30, 1740. He was ordained to go as an Evangelist to Virginia and to itinerate in New Castle Presbytery. The Synod's school was entrusted to him, and was finally removed to Newark, Delaware. In 1767, the school was chartered as an academy by the Proprietary, John Penn. Dr. Ewing and Hugh Williamson visited Great Britain to solicit funds for its endowment; they were successful and Ewing brought back six or seven thousand dollars, a large sum for those times. In 1771, Newark Academy had 71 students. Alexander died 12 January 1782, having never married. Alexander had visited Virginia in the 1740's as recorded in records from Orange County and probably visited his relatives there.
Ephraim McDowell was one of the apprentice boys who shut the gates to Londonderry at the siege of Londonderry at the age of 16, and later fought at the Battle of Boyne River, in 1690. His brother, John, supposedly died during the Siege, but may have been confused with brother Charles, of which little is known, other than the fact that the three brothers were present at the Siege of Londonderry in 1689. In Ireland, young Ephraim became a blacksmith in Glenoe, near Larne in Antrim. It is there that he married his first cousin, Margaret Irvine, the great granddaughter of the 10th Laird of Drum Castle in Scotland. Long, long ago, a visitor to Glenoe, wrote, "Passing down the one long street of that village, bordered on each side by tall stone houses, once the property of the Irvines and the McDowells, we come on the blacksmith shop of Ephraim McDowell, which looks as if he had laid down his hammer but yesterday. I followed the narrow rocky street until I came to the linen mills, once belonging to the Irvines, Wylies, and McDowells. The Ballyvallog furnished the water power that turned these wheels of many mills, so sadly silent now. It is a narrow stream and runs across a beautiful brae, falling 75 feet into a well-shaped opening in sold rock into a pool. From this the water leaps over an immense stone that crosses the space at the bottom of the opening of this well, formed by nature and just opposite the waterfall.
Many historians have written that he brought his family to America on the "George and Anne," but the passenger list for that ship, although it lists a number of McDowells, does not include Ephraim and his family. It is possible that they came on the "John of Dublin" at about the same time (1729), but that has not yet been verified. After an extraordinary 118 day arduous voyage (May 29 to September 4), they finally arrived at the port of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is reported, but unconfirmed, that 10 McDowells died on the voyage to America. The passengers of the "George and Anne" left County Down and sailed from Belfast. Families onboard included McElroys, McDowells, Campbells, McKees, and Irvines. It is said that seven of his wife's (Margaret Irvine) brothers also came to America at the same time.
Ephraim first settled in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania for a time, then on down the Great Wagon Road in Virginia to Borden's Grant in Augusta and Rockbridge County, Virginia becoming the first settlers there. They are believed to have settled for a while near Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where his daughter, Mary Elizabeth married James Greenlee. In Virginia, letters were sent to their kindred and co-religionists in Pennsylvania, Ireland, and Scotland. Soon Borden's Grant was filled with Scots Presbyterians. Ephraim, although already an old man in his sixties, was credited with building the first road through the Blue Ridge Mountains to connect the Shenandoah valley with the tidewater country. Ephraim was religious, moral, intelligent, and shrewd. He used the opportunities offered to reap and store a fortune considered very large in those days. Ephraim was a remarkably intelligent man and was believed by the ignorant to possess supernatural powers. He was nearly 7 feet tall and of stalwart frame, and it is said, of a terrible countenance. Even in his old age, he busied himself in shrewd business dealings accumulating great land wealth and establishing schools and churches.
The first son of his son John, Samuel McDowell, was born in Pennsylvania. About 1737 Ephraim went with his family down the Shenandoah trail to settle near what is now Fairfield, Virginia (off Highway 11 between Staunton and Lexington) becoming the first settlers in this area. Ephraim, with his son and son-in-law James Greenlee, left Pennsylvania to go to John Lewis, a relative who had left Ireland some years before and about 1732 had settled on the Middle River in the Shenandoah Valley, in what was known as Beverly Manor, near the present town of Staunton. It was their intention to locate near him. While on their way, when in camp on Lewis' Creek, a tributary of the South River, Benjamin Borden, Sr., joined them one night. He offered a thousand acres of land to anyone who would conduct him to his grant of land. This offer was promptly accepted by John Mc Dowell. The three men conveyed their families to the home of John Lewis and then piloted Borden to what has since been known as "Borden's Grant." In consideration of a liberal share of the claim, the two McDowells and James Greenlee then undertook to assist in carrying out Borden's contract for him, and before the close of the year removed their own families to the grant, where they permanently settled - the first three settlers in that part of the Valley.
Ephraim served in the Augusta County militia until 1743, when he was exempted from further service due to his age (70 years). He lived in Augusta County until his death, having accumulated an estate which was regarded as very large in those days. He was esteemed by all for his intelligence, usefulness and probity, wielding a singular and beneficent influence among the intrepid and independent spirits by whom he was surrounded, and retaining the possession of his faculties to the last.
The date of his death is probably 1770 as family tradition has it that he died at age 98. Ephraim died not until the break of the American Revolution and not until he had heard the praises bestowed on his grandchildren for their bravery at the Battle of Point Pleasant in 1774. Ephraim died in Timber Ridge on the Borden Tract, Rockbridge County, Virginia.
A staunch Scots/Irish Presbyterian, Ephraim is buried at the site of Maryland Tavern owned by his son, Capt. John. A monument erected in the mid 1800's by the children of his great grandson, Governor James Mc Dowell of Virginia shows that he died "about 1780". On the marker at the McDowell burial ground near Fairfield, Virginia, Ephraim's inscription reads: "Near this spot repose the remains of Ephraim McDowell, the first of his name in America who died about 1780...."
1. Americans of Gentle Birth and Their Ancestors, pp. 189, 299.
2. Adams, Margaret Bickel, "Family Connections Along the Blue Ridge."
3. Perdue, Lemuel Ford, "A History of the McDowell Family."
4. History of Augusta Co.
5. History of Rockbridge Co.
6. Crook,Jr., John A., (M.D.), McDowell and Related Families - A genealogy,Mc Kee Printing Company, Greensboro, North Carolina, 1975.
7. Greenlee, Ralph Stebbins and Greenlee, Robert Lemuel, Genealogy of the Greenlee Families in America, Scotland, Ireland and England, Chicago, Illinois, privately printed, 1908, p. 627."
BIOGRAPHY: Information sent to T.Mason on 30 May 2004 by Norma Coon.
"Margaret Irvine with seven of her brothers left for America with her husband, Ephraim, arriving in 1729. She was a descendant (as were the Mc Dowells) of the Crinan (Kenneth I) McAlpin, King of Scots. Her father, Robert Irvine (1655, Ireland) was the grandson of Sir Christopher Irvine killed in 15153 at Flodden Field, Northumberland, England. Robert was the son of David Irvine (1640, Ireland) and Sophia Gault. Irvine family can be traced to King Alpin and Queen Fergusia of Scotland.
The Irvine's were the Lairds of Drum Castle for 9 generations. John Irvine (brother of Margaret) and wife Mary Boyd came to America with the McDowells on the ship "George and Anne" in 1729. The Irvines were from Larne, (20 miles from Belfast) County Antrim in Northern Ireland. Mary Boyd Irvine was the daughter of William Boyd (son of John Boyd and Jane Bell, m. 20 Nov. 1707 of Lurgan, County Armagh in Northern Ireland)was a descendant of the Boyds of Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland. Jane Bell Boyd's father was William Archibald Bell (b. Sept. 1651) of Arkinhoome, Stablegarden, Judforest, Scotland. Margaret Irvine McDowell's mother was Elizabeth Margaretta Wylie (b. 1660, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland).
Dr. Christopher Irvine, historian to King Charles II in 1687, stated that the Irvines, made their first appearance on the Scottish border during the reign of King Malcolm II (1002-1034), having been sent there as a bulwark against the Saxons of Cumberland. For hundreds of years the Irvines have lived on the lands bordering the Solway between Nith and Esk, in Annandale, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, where they were once a powerful clan. From Annandale, younger sons migrated to other parts of Scotland and the north of Ireland and England. The most important branches of the clan are those of Bonshaw, Hoddom, and Drum, in Scotland, and the castle Irvine in Ireland. Other Irvine families have their seats in Perthshire, Ayrshire in Galloway, home of the MacDowells, and the Orkneys.
1. Americans of Gentle Birth and Their Ancestors, pp. 189, 299.
2. Adams, Margaret Bickel, "Family Connections Along the Blue Ridge."
3. Perdue, Lemuel Ford, "A History of the McDowell Family."
4. History of Augusta Co.
5. History of Rockbridge Co.
6. Crook,Jr., John A., (M.D.), McDowell and Related Families - A genealogy,Mc Kee Printing Company, Greensboro, North Carolina, 1975.
7. Greenlee, Ralph Stebbins and Greenlee, Robert Lemuel, Genealogy of the Greenlee Families in America, Scotland, Ireland and England, Chicago, Illinois, privately printed, 1908, p. 627."
Alexander McDowell was a Presbyterian minister. He was licensed July 30, 1740. He was ordained to go as an Evangelist to Virginia and to itinerate in New Castle Presbytery. The Synod's school was entrusted to him, and was finally removed to Newark, Delaware. In 1767, the school was chartered as an academy by the Proprietary, John Penn. Dr. Ewing and Hugh Williamson visited Great Britain to solicit funds for its endowment; they were successful and Ewing brought back six or seven thousand dollars, a large sum for those times. In 1771, Newark Academy had 71 students. Alexander died 12 January 1782, having never married. Alexander had visited Virginia in the 1740's as recorded in records from Orange County and probably visited his relatives there.
CHILDREN-WIFE: F.B. Kegley, KEGLEY'S VIRGINIA FRONTIER, The Beginning of the Southwest, The Roanoke of Colonial Days; 1740-1783; Southwest Virginia Historical Society, c1938; Notes: Was a school-master, recently come into the country. He was given power of attorney by Archibald Alexander to sign deeds to the Borden lands. In 1757 he became a justice and in 1759 he was chosen to be the guardian of Martha Borden, who was fourteen. He also came in possession of his wife's property. Magdalena's heirs on both her McDowell and Borden lines tried to, but failed, to recover.
DESCENDANT: Information about hundred of descendants of Magealen and her first husband were sent to T.Mason on 30 May 2004 by Norma Coon.
This was the widow of John McDowell who was killed in battle in 1742 with the Indians. Benjamin therefore became a step-father to the father of Dr. Ephriam McDowell (a prominent figure in history). Magdalen was the age 42. She had 3 children by McDowell: Samuel (14), James and Sarah (8). There is a controversy. She and Benjamin said had two daughters, Martha and Hannah (who is said to have died in childhood).
REF: Rev. Neander Woods History
HISTORY: Col Thomas Marshall Green, HISTORICAL FAMILIES OF KENTUCKY; ; 1889, Cincinnati, ISBN 0-8063-7958-8; pg 14-15,78; Family History Library Book 976.9 D2g 1982; NOTE: Magdalena McDowell and Benjamin Burden Jr. had one daughter, Martha, who married Benjamin Hawkins, a noted name in Va, NC, Ky. Thomas Mitchell, the old cashier at Danville, not only descended on his father's side from James Mitchell and Margaretta McDowell - daughter of old Ephraim, but on his mother's side was descended from Benjamin Hawkins and Martha Burden (Ben's & Madeline's daughter). After the death of her second husband, Magdalena Wood-McDowell-Borden, married a third time, Colonel Bowyer, a gentleman twenty years younger than herself. The 104 years to which she lived, gave her ample time for a full repentance of this marital settlement. He outlived her; and thousands of acres of the sightly lands which McDowell owned thus passed into the hands of Bowyers.
In 1753, the Timber Ridge Presbyterian Church made a call for a pastor, and she signed the roll Magdalen Borden (widow). She was a communicant of Timber Ridge Church from its organization in 1746 to her death in 1810.
BIOGRAPHY: Family History Records; ; compiled by Michael S. Cole, [HYPERLINK http://www.thecolefamily.com/hobby/ahnentafel.htm#ahnentafel ] ; ; copy dated 26 Jan 1994 sent to T Mason; REF: Johnston's "Richd Borden & Desc.," p 55.
BIRTH: Unsure of birth date of 1690
CHILDREN-WIFE: F.B. Kegley, KEGLEY'S VIRGINIA FRONTIER, The Beginning of the Southwest, The Roanoke of Colonial Days; 1740-1783; Southwest Virginia Historical Society, c1938; NOTE: Has the names of his six children.
NAME: Attached to copy of "The Woods-McAfee Memorial" in Ben Jr. file, it state this lady known as "The Heiress of Virginia".
CONFLICT: The first document states she had a daughter who married John Todd and the second document states she had seven children, yet names only two daughters. QUESTION: Was Sallie married twice?CHILDREN: Second document states had 4 children in second marriage.
GUARDIAN: letter from Pixy Lynn Overstreet Morgan, to T. Mason; filed under John Borden; 29 Jan 1997; Note: Martha's stepfather, John Bowyer became her guardian in 1759.
REF: Zella Armstong, NOTABLE SOUTHERN FAMILIES, Vol.2; ; The Lookout Publishing Co. Chattanooga, TN; Los Angeles Lib.; Note: Zella was a member of the Tennessee Historical Commission. Notes: states that Robert married Martha Borden Hawkins.
QUESTION: Possible death in 1837?
WILL: F.B. Kegley, KEGLEY'S VIRGINIA FRONTIER, The Beginning of the Southwest, The Roanoke of Colonial Days; 1740-1783; pg 487; Southwest Virginia Historical Society, c1938; Notes: names heirs. Robert's brother, Matthew Harvey married Robert's step-daughter, Magdalen Hawkins daughter Magdalena.
NAME: Attached to copy of "The Woods-McAfee Memorial" in Ben Jr. file, it state this lady known as "The Heiress of Virginia".
CONFLICT: The first document states she had a daughter who married John Todd and the second document states she had seven children, yet names only two daughters. QUESTION: Was Sallie married twice?CHILDREN: Second document states had 4 children in second marriage.
GUARDIAN: letter from Pixy Lynn Overstreet Morgan, to T. Mason; filed under John Borden; 29 Jan 1997; Note: Martha's stepfather, John Bowyer became her guardian in 1759.
REF: Zella Armstong, NOTABLE SOUTHERN FAMILIES, Vol.2; ; The Lookout Publishing Co. Chattanooga, TN; Los Angeles Lib.; Note: Zella was a member of the Tennessee Historical Commission. Notes: states that Robert married Martha Borden Hawkins.
MARRIAGES-LAND-WILL: Four marriages and extensive records cited at [HYPERLINK http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=renaee&id=I0009 ] on 19Nov2000.
MARRIAGES-LAND-WILL: Four marriages and extensive records cited at [HYPERLINK http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=renaee&id=I0009 ] on 19Nov2000.
MARRIAGES-LAND-WILL: Four marriages and extensive records cited at [HYPERLINK http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=renaee&id=I0009 ] on 19Nov2000.
MARRIAGES-LAND-WILL: Four marriages and extensive records cited at [HYPERLINK http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=renaee&id=I0009 ] on 19Nov2000.