*First Settler of Rockbridge County, Capt. John McDowell (1714-1742) to be
Remembered with New Headstone at McDowell Cemetery-August 10, 2019*



John McDowell played a major role in the initial development and early
defenses of Virginia and present-day Rockbridge County. Surveyor and first
settler of the Borden Tract; McDowell would receive a Captain's commission
in the summer of 1742.



John McDowell's offspring would go on to be leaders in the county, state
and nation. From the House of Burgesses, the Virginia Conventions and the
eventual establishment of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, his son Samuel
McDowell would be a leading figure. Countless descendants would serve in
the French and Indian War, the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812 and the
Civil War. In time, descendants would compile a lengthy list of
congressmen, senators, doctors, lawyers, and the governorship of the
Commonwealth of Virginia.



The McDowell family first settled in Pennsylvania but lured by inexpensive
lands on the Virginia frontier turned their sights southwestward. In
September 1737 the McDowell family began their trek. In what can only be a
fateful encounter, a man named Benjamin Borden entered their camp along
Linville Creek and asked to spend the night. Borden was the beneficiary of
a 100,000-acre land grant covering parts of what is today Augusta and
Rockbridge County. He faced a problem though; he needed help surveying his
holdings. John McDowell, a trained surveyor revealed to Borden his
surveying instruments and a deal was struck between Borden and McDowell in
which McDowell would survey the Tract in exchange for 1,000 acres of land.
A contract between Borden and McDowell was drawn and signed. Stating in
part, John McDowell "would go now with his family and his father and his
brothers and make four Settlements in the said Borden’s land which was
granted to the said Borden on this side of the blue ridge in the fork of
said River, and said McDowell would cut a good Road for Horses loaded with
common Luggage and blaze the Trees all the way plain."



In the late summer of 1742 John McDowell received a Captain’s commission
from Colonial Governor William Gooch of Virginia upon the appeals by his
“Hounours loly and dutifull subgnacks...settling ye back parts of Virginia”
on Borden’s Tract.



Just months after receiving his commission, Captain McDowell would be
killed in the first Settler-Indian conflict on 18 December 1742.



In early December 1742, Iroquois Indians entered Borden’s Tract and stated
that they were on their way to assail the Catawba tribe with whom they were
at war.  Following reports of many depredations towards settlers, Capt.
McDowell and his company of militia were called out to escort the Iroquois
away from the white settlements. During the escort, one of the Indians at
the rear of the group, thought to be lame, wandered off into the woods. An
escorting militiaman fired a shot at the Indian, a war cry when up and a
45-minute battle ensued. Some eight Iroquois and eight of the militia
company were killed, among that count Capt. John McDowell.



McDowell and the other dead militiamen were later brought back draped
across horseback. They were buried near Capt. McDowell's home "Red House"
on Timber Ridge, on ground that would eventually become the McDowell
Cemetery.



The following year (giving to the error in date,) a rude and primitive
stone would be carved to mark the burial site of Capt. McDowell. Inscribed
upon it was the following, “Heer Lyes The Body of John Mack Dowell,
December 18, 1743.”



6th generation descendant Timothy McDowell in a fundraising appeal for a
new headstone stated, “Echoes of the brogue voice of Ulster, 'Heer Lyes The
Body of John Mack Dowell,' now grow faint. Captain John McDowell's original
stone has well endured its primitive nature and the test of time and
elements since it was first erected in 1743. But, day by day, season by
season, the original inscription on the stone is fading away.”


Descendants of Capt. John McDowell, under the theme “Carry Me Back to Old
Virginia…and to My Home on Timber Ridge,” will gather for 5 days in both
Rockbridge and Augusta Counties, remembering and honoring their forebears.
Their time will include historic tours of local sites and homes connected
to the McDowell family, visiting burial sites of numerous McDowell family
members buried in the counties, an afternoon lecture series of McDowell
history at the Rockbridge Regional Library-Lexington, and Sunday service
attendance at Timber Ridge Presbyterian Church.
*On Saturday, August 10th at 10:00 am there will be a memorial service and
new headstone dedication for Capt. John McDowell at McDowell Cemetery*. *The
event is open to the public*.
Among current participants and attendees will be McDowell descendants from
across the nation, representatives of Historic Lexington Foundation,
the Colonel
Thomas Hughart Chapter, NSDAR, the Floyd-Davidson American Legion Post 126,
Rev. Patrick Lanaghan of Timber Ridge Presbyterian Church, Rev. Horace
Douty of Oxford Presbyterian Church, representatives of the Department of
Sociology and Anthropology at Washington and Lee University and leadership
from Rockbridge Historical Society.

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