Maj. John McDowell and Agnes Craig

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Husband Maj. John McDowell ¹

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           Born: Abt 1715
     Christened: 
           Died: 6 Jan or 6 Jun 1794 - Peters Twp, Franklin Co, PA 2
         Buried:  - Waddell Cemetery, near Mercersburg, Franklin Co, PA

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         Father: William McDowell (1680-1759) 2 3
         Mother: Mary [Unk] (      -1782) 1 2

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       Marriage: 

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Wife Agnes Craig ^{1 4}

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           Born: 1717 4
     Christened: 
           Died: 8 Aug 1766 4
         Buried:  - Waddell Cemetery, near Mercersburg, Franklin Co, PA

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Children

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1 F Agnes McDowell ^{5 6}

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           Born: 9 Sep 1740 5 6
     Christened: 
           Died: 9 Jun 1790 5 6
         Buried:  - Antrim Twp, Franklin Co, PA

         Spouse: Elias Davidson (1736-1806) 5 6 7
           Marr: 9 Mar 1771 6

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2 F Mary McDowell ^{8 9}

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           Born: 1743 8 9
     Christened: 
           Died: 22 Apr 1833 8 9
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Dr. Richard Brownson, M.D. (      -1790) 8 9 10

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3 F Elizabeth McDowell ⁴

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 12 Dec 1822 4
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Rev. Dr. John King (1743-1813) 4
           Marr: 2 Apr 1771 4

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4 F Margaret McDowell ¹¹

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: George King (1758-1840) 11
           Marr: 6 Jun 1786 6

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5 F Catherine McDowell ⁴

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Hugh Davidson (      -      ) 4
           Marr: 21 Nov 1774 4

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General Notes: Husband - Maj. John McDowell

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He obtained a warrant for the land on which he built the mill, famous in frontier history as McDowell's Mill, Dec. 26, 1752. The mill was built on the east side of the west branch of the Conococheague, where was situated the village long known as Bridgeport, but later called Markes. When the mill was built can now be ascertained only approximately. The first mention of it in the Colonial annals was in the spring of 1755, when the road was projected from McDowell's Mill to the Three Forks of the Youghiogheny, for the purpose of furnishing the army under General Braddock with supplies. The original mill was a log structure, and adjacent to it Mr. McDowell built his dwelling house, also of logs. It was the intention of the Pennsylvania authorities to have a magazine at McDowell's Mill, with a stockade around the storehouses, as a base of supplies for the army that was expected to capture Fort Duquesne. "I send you the plan of the fort or stockade," Governor Morris wrote to General Braddock, July 6, 1755, "which I shall make by setting logs of about ten feet long in the ground, so as to enclose the storehouses. I think to place two swivel guns in two of the opposite bastions, which will be sufficient to guard against any attacks of small arms." Three days after this letter was written Braddock's ill-fated expedition came to an end. The magazine became unnecessary, but Mr. McDowell built a stockade around his mill and dwelling house, and the two swivels were sent to the fort late in the autumn of 1755. In the meantime came the first Indian foray upon the unprotected frontier. The Indians swooped down upon the Big Cove with the torch and the tomahawk, and finding the frontier defenseless, carried their murderous work into the Conococheague country to within sight of McDowell's Mill. Hearing of the bloody work in the Big Cove, Sheriff Potter, who lived near Brown's Mill, sent word to the neighbors to meet him at McDowell's. When Potter arrived at the mill the next morning he found one hundred and sixty men there, but only forty of them could be induced to go out in pursuit of the Indians, who were still in the neighborhood. McDowell's became a rendezvous for the Indian fighters, there being sometimes as many as four hundred men there, but the fort was not a strong one, and Fort Loudon was built to replace it, the public stores being safely moved from McDowell's to the new fort, Dec. 26, 1756. McDowell's fort was rectangular in shape, and was built of logs. It stood until 1840.
Mr. McDowell was a ruling elder of the Upper West Conococheague Presbyterian church from Dec. 19, 1767, when he was ordained, until Jan. 28, 1785.

1 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913), Pg 370.

2 —, Biographical Annals of Franklin County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905), Pg 80.

3 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913), Pg 369.

4 —, Biographical Annals of Franklin County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905), Pg 81.

5 —, History of Franklin County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Warner, Beers & Co., 1887), Pg 705.

6 —, Biographical Annals of Franklin County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905), Pg 86.

7 Alfred Nevin, D.D., LL.D., Men of Mark of the Cumberland Valley, Pa. 1776-1876 (Philadelphia, PA: Fulton Publishing Co., 1876), Pg 171.

8 —, Biographical Annals of Franklin County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905), Pg 85.

9 G. O. Seilhamer, Esq, The Bard Family (Chambersburg, PA: Kittochtinny Press, 1908), Pg 467.

10 —, Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893), Pg 74.

11 —, Biographical Annals of Franklin County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905), Pg 81, 86.