McDowell, McDole from Ballyhaise

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I haven't been able to locate a marriage record for William and Margaret nor any baptisms for any children. Do you know if they emigrated?

Best wishes

Clare Doyle

Genealogy Support 

Hi. William McDowell and Margaret Kennedy are my 5th great grandparents on my mother's side. The immigrated to Canada sometime in the early 1700's from County Cavan. Originally settling in the Ottawa Valley (Ontario) the family story is, a rich Catholic young man asked one of the McDowell daughters to marry him. She refused and the family started hearing about the young man making plans to kidnap her and make her his wife. So while the men went out to plow the fields, looking busy, the women loaded the wagons and the McDowell's, Knox, Hodgens and McCleary families ran off in the night. They ended up settling a few hundred miles up and on the other side of the Ottawa River. They became true Canadian Lumberjacks and established a town called Shawville, Quebec.

Clare not sure if this is the same family, there were 2 McDowell families in Pontiac County Quebec.  Mine, emigrated to Goulbourne Twp Ontario first in 1822, then in 1828 & 1829 sons John and Robert did a land claim what is now Shawville area of Quebec, Shortly after that the rest of the family joined them as the land was better there.  Robert m. Mary Telford in 1835, Robert owned the Robin Nest Tavern in Shawville.  According to death records they both died there in the 1850s.  Their son William with his wife sold the Tavern and moved to Oconto Wisconsin, their second son James Henry died in 1866 in Shawville and his widow moved to North Bay Ontario with her son Robert.  Robert a life long bachelor, eventually moved to Alberta.  He is buried a Smokey Creek Cementary near Smith, Alberta.  Robert homesteaded in Smith with his great nephew Percy, (James Alexander’s son)

Hi - i have the history for Margaret Kennedy and William McDowell down to the present day.  They emigrated to Canada in 1822 with 9 of their 10 children (Hannah came later - about 5 years later with another member of the family).  They came to Goulborn Twnshp but then settled in Shawville in 1823 and I have the whole family tree from there - except for Robin who owned the tavern and it seems that someone else has that part of the history.  Most of the descendents are buried in the graveyard in Shawville.  

There were 2 original McDowell families in Shawville.  William's brother, Samuel also settled there and had descendents.  Each had many children so there are a lot of descendents.  They married each other too.  My grandparents were second cousins and all of their parents were first cousins.  In any case, there are a few of us who have a lot of the history but it is too much to include in a small reply.  We have a cousins reunion about every 3 to 5 years.  Our last one was in 2018 but the pandemic has stopped all of that for now.

Do you have any information on William McDowell parents.  I know from his tomb stone that he was born abt. 1769.  On his death bed he did a "confession" to his nephew, (a minister), that he had been a loyal servant to the Methodist faith for 45 years.  His death was recorded at 1845, plus he coincidentally 45 years earlier married Margaret Kenedy.. The Kenedys were Methodist so did he change his faith?  There were those that think his parents were Robert and Ann Carr or a Patrick.  My personal belief is that his father was "a John". Believing an oldest male child would have been named after William's father or at the very lest after Margaret's father, but that wasn't case. Robert is Margaret Kendy's father.  I have never found marriage records or birth records for William or Margaret or their children. 

Jorina, how can we connect? My 4th great parents were William Henry McDowell and Margaret Kennedy. Samuel McDowell was my 3rd great grandfather and he married Mary Jane Wilson. They moved to Oconto, Wisconsin. Most of the family has been in the area ever since until the most recent generation. 

Also I am visiting  Ireland right now. I’m told that McDowell is actually a Scottish clan. That might be why it’s so hard to trace back the ancestry in Ireland. Again would love to connect with family on tracing back ancestry and finding out more about our family history. 

I spent a month in Ireland recently, couldn’t find any info on the birth of the family.  If I hadn’t seen the 1821 census, I’d swear they changed their names coming to Canada. I did find where they exactly lived in Cavan. If you go to google maps and look for “CROSS FORT”, at the intersection there turn left and go about 3km.  On the right you will see a modern Yellow painted house and it belongs to the Kemp family.  Their ancestors were neighbours of the McDowell according to the census.  Mrs Kemp said her husband’s family bought the property in about 1860s. There are no old buildings on the property but there are lots in the area.