An Intriguing Heritage: The Story Of How The Dowdys and Their Kindred Stood Up To Life

By Harry Kendall Dowdy

AN INTRIGUING HERITAGE is a series of gripping true stories about resourceful

individuals who made the best of life despite hard times and misfortunes. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Regency Publishers
• Release date: Jun 23, 2023
• ISBN: 9781961096745

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Copyright © 2023 by Harry Kendall Dowdy Jr.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author and publisher, except by reviewers, who may quote brief passages in a review.

ISBN: 978-1-961096-75-2 (Paperback Edition)

ISBN: 978-1-961096-76-9 (Hardcover Edition)

ISBN: 978-1-961096-74-5 (E-book Edition)

Some characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to the real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

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Printed in the United States of America

Contents

About the book

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Prologue

The Meaning of Name

Badge of Self

Origin of the Dowdys and the Dowdy Name

The Early Dowdys/Dowdeys

From Name to Body

Thomas Dowdy (1748?-1800?)

Bartley Dowdy (1770-1818)

Lemuel Dowdey aka Dowdy (1795–1856)

William Henry Dowdey, Sr. (1830–1909)

Joshua Henry Dowdy

Hallmarks of the Early Dowdys/Dowdeys

The Dowdey-Dowdy-Scarborough Kinship

The Union of the Dowdey/Dowdy/Scarborough Family

Dowdey–Dowdy Family Introduction

Scarborough-Dowdey Family Line

Short Biography of Lemuel Dowdey

Short Biography of William Henry Dowdey, Sr.

Short Biography of Tillinghast Morgan Dowdey (1894–1969 + Sarah Craft 1901–2000)

The Dowdey Cemetery

Hallmarks of the Dowdey–Dowdy–Scarborough Family

Family Tree of William Wallace Dowdy, Sr.

The Dowdy–Clark Line

Joshua Henry Dowdy (1833–1872)

The Children of Joshua and Margaret Dowdy

Joshua Dowdy’s Legal Drama

Critique of Joshua’s Legal Drama

The Story of Joshua and Margaret Dowdy

A Premonition of Death

The Death of Joshua Dowdy

Hallmarks of Joshua Henry Dowdy

Family Tree of the Wives and Children of William Wallace Dowdy, Sr.

William Wallace Dowdy, Sr. (W. W.)

Birth

The Early Years

Marriages and Children

The Beginning of a Career

Firsthand Accounts of W. W. Dowdy, Sr.

Annie Mai Dowdy Robinson Remembers Her Father, W. W.

Thunder, Lightning, and Bells

Doomsday Influenza Strikes

Sand Castles in the Road

Meal, Grits, and Counseling

Good Horse Dan

First Car

Sam Dowdy Remembers His Father, W. W.

The Fire This Time

Strongbox under Oak Trees

No Idle Hands for the Devil’s Workshop

Sub-Freshman, Lowest of the Low

A Natural Talent for Natural Things

Dog on my Skin to the Devil

Do the Right Wrench

Hog Mitzvah

Sandlappers and the Circus

Soft Strictness

The Red Hill Deacon

Cars and Courting, Curfew and Confidence

Craftsman to CEO

Elizabeth Smith Dowdy Remembers W. W.

My Remembrances of W. W.

Thousand Acres and a Mansion

Close Call

Last Will and Testament

Last Words

Hallmarks of William Wallace Dowdy, Sr.

The Dowdy–Wright Line

Rebecca Wright Dowdy

Birth

Marriages

The Dowdy–Wright Children

William Manuel Dowdy (1878–1947)

Frank Dowdy (1880–?)

Lemuel Henry Dowdy (1883–1958)

Josh Dowdy

Amy Dowdy (1886–1919?)

Emma Dowdy 1888–?) Husband: Name unknown

William Wallace Dowdy, Jr. (1890–1984)

Margaret Dowdy Goodwin (1892-1967

The Children of Margaret Dowdy Goodwin and Randolph Goodwin

Rebecca Dowdy Barksdale Thompson (1894 -1989)

Henry Samuel Dowdy (1897–1972)

The Life Story of Rebecca Wright Dowdy

Hallmarks of Rebecca Wright Dowdy

Family Tribute

The Timmons-Shiver-Weston Kinship

Sally Timmons (1790)

Simon Shiver (I)

Joseph Shiver and Sally Dilcy Kinard Shiver

Robert Weston and Rebecca Covey Weston

Simon Shiver (Sr.) and Catherine Weston Shiver

The Shiver–Weston Children

Rebecca Shiver

Betsy Ann Shiver

Alice Shiver (See Chapter VIII)

Moses Shiver

Willie Shiver

Patience Shiver

Kate Shiver

Edward W. Shiver, Sr.

Simon Henry Shiver

The Children of Simon Henry Shiver and Dorcas Hopkins Shiver

A Man Named Slip

Hallmarks of the Shiver Family

The Dowdy–Shiver Line

Alice Shiver Dowdy

Birth and Historical Backdrop

Early Years and Marriage

Firsthand Accounts of Alice Shiver Dowdy

Annie Mai Dowdy Robinson Remembers Her Mother, Alice

George Dowdy Remembers His Mother, Alice

Jack Dowdy Remembers His Mother, Alice

Lewis Dowdy Remembers His Mother, Alice

Sam Dowdy Remembers His Mother, Alice

Annie Mai Dowdy Robinson’s Additional Remembrances of Her Mother, Alice

The Dowdy–Shiver Eleven Children

Harry Kendall Dowdy, Sr. (1899–1980)

A Son Remembers His Father

Tribute to Professor H. K. Dowdy, Sr.—1899–1980

Eliza Snelling Dowdy, Wife of H.K. Dowdy, Sr.

Cleo Snelling Jenkins Remembers Her Sister, Eliza

Tribute to My Mother Eliza

The Children of Harry and Eliza Dowdy

William (Bill) Ovid Dowdy

Doris Dowdy Blalock

Harry K. Dowdy, Jr.—My Rambling Memoir

Unnamed Infant Son

Ernest Gould Dowdy (1901–1983)

Catherine Jane Dowdy Scott (1903–1996) Husband: Jeff Scott (1897–1976)

Fred Hamilton Dowdy (1905–1963)

Alice Dowdy Mckenzie Scott (1908–1996)

George Theodore Dowdy, Sr. (1913–2000)

Jack Hiawatha Dowdy (1916–1997)

Remembrances of Jacqueline Inga Renata Moore Vest

Lewis Carnegie Dowdy (1917–2000)

The Story of Lewis Carnegie Dowdy

Remembrances of Lewis’ Wife, Elizabeth

Elizabeth Eitola Smith Dowdy

Sam Bernard Dowdy (1920–2017)

Hallmarks of Alice Shiver Dowdy

Family Tree of Rosa Scott

The Scott Family

Historical Backdrop

Singleton Scott, Sr., and Fannie Lloyd Scott

The Children of Singleton and Fannie Scott

Singleton Scott, Jr.

Rosa Scott

Eva Scott

Heyward Scott

Pearl Scott Sumter

Sam Scott

Grayton Scott

Naomi Scott Garrick

John Scott

Hallmarks of the Scott Family

The Dowdy–Scott Line

Rosa Scott Dowdy

Historical Backdrop

Marriage

The Children of Rosa Scott Dowdy and W. W. Dowdy, Sr.

Annie Dowdy Wilson

Fannie Dowdy Jackson

The Story of Rosa Scott Dowdy

Hallmarks of Rosa Scott Dowdy

Family Achievements

Table of Family Achievements

Known Degrees in Higher Education Earned by Family Members

Known Family Degrees in Higher Education Compared to Those of the US Population

Summary of Family Professions and Skills

Summary of Family Honors, Distinctions, and Interests

Educational Institutions Attended by Family Members

Family Reunions

Tribute to the Ancestors of the Dowdy‒Wright–Shiver‒Scott Family

The Meaning of Family Achievements

Family Medical History

Introduction

Know Your Family Medical History

The Troublesome Thirty Thousand

Family Diseases and Life Spans

Management of One’s Health

Family Bloodlines

Descendants of William Wallace Dowdy, Sr

An Aid to Future Family Historians

Epilogue

Family Photos: Memorabilia

Scientific Achievements of William Wallace Dowdy, Jr.

Genealogy of the Shiver Family

Educational Programs Developed by Margaret Goodwin Saxon

Awards to Business Owned by Harry and Margaret Saxon

Some Headstones at the Dowdey Cemetery

My Poems

Literary Splendor

Backward to the Sea

Landing on Reality

The Trunk of Our Being

In the Footsteps of a Cat

Self-Appraisal

Leaders of Cheer

The Monarch Poet

Shrill Sun

The Woman and the Barn

Song of a Drum

Multicultural Festival

The Jazz Performer

A Choir of Strings

Two Sides of Hurricane Katrina

September Reflections

Once Upon a Man

Usher at the Threshold

Infantnese

High Spectacle

Upside Down Clichés

The Sound of Taste

The Flat Side of Life

Class Poem

Where Mystery Leads

Free Questions

From Mind to Hand to Pen to Paper

Wounded Warriors

The Weather as Drama

References

About the Author

Index

Table of Figures

Figure 1—Census of 1840. L [Lemuel] Dowdy

Figure 2—1850 Census listing Lemuel, Emeline, and Joshua Dowdey

Figure 2a— Photo of Harvey Scarborough

Figure 3—Photo of Susan Alberta Morgan

Figure 4— Photo of Tillinghast Morgan Dowdey

Figure 5—Photo of Tillinghast Dowdey in grade school

Figure 6—The Dowdey Cemetery

Figure 7—The Dowdey cemetery is to the right of the McLeod Church

Figure 8—Headstone of Lemuel Dowdey

Figure 9—Family Tree of William Wallace Dowdy, Sr.

Figure 10—1870 census listing John (aka Joshua) and Margaret Dowdy and their children

Figure 11—The wives and children of W. W. Dowdy, Sr.

Figure 12— Photo of William Wallace Dowdy, Sr

Figure 13—Photo of William Wallace Dowdy, Sr.

Figure 14— Downtown Eastover, SC

Figure 15—Dowdy Street, Eastover, SC

Figure 16—Dowdy Family (Photo probably taken in 1950)

Figure 17—Second Dowdy family house near Eastover, SC

Figure 18— Photo of W. W. Dowdy and young Sam Dowdy

Figure 19—Red Hill Baptist Church, Gadsden, SC, near Eastover, SC

Figure 20—Ernest Dowdy and W. W.’s 1924 Dodge and 1922 Buick

Figure 21—The Boyd House, W. W. Dowdy’s last residence

Figure 22—Headstone of William Wallace Dowdy (Sr.)

Figure 23—Artist’s rendition of Rebecca Wright Dowdy

Figure 24—World War I registration card of William Manuel Dowdy

Figure 25—World War I registration card of Lemuel Henry Dowdy

Figure 26—William Wallace Dowdy, Jr.

Figure 27—World War I registration card of William Wallace Dowdy, Jr.

Figure 28—Photo of W. W. Dowdy, Jr., and Chinker Almeta Dowdy

Figure 29—Margaret Dowdy

Figure 30—Randolph Goodwin

Figure 31— Photo of Henry Samuel Dowdy and Celeste Dowdy

Figure 32—World War I registration card of Henry Dowdy, dated Sep. 12, 1918

Figure 33—Family tree of Alice Shiver

Figure 34—Photo of Alice Lee Shiver Dowdy

Figure 35—The Sweet Water Pump

Figure 36—Headstone of Alice Lee Dowdey, aka Dowdy

Figure 37—Photo of Harry Kendall Dowdy, Sr., aged about 39 years

Figure 38—Photo of Harry Kendall Dowdy, Sr., aged about 76

Figure 39—Center Court at South Carolina State University, 2010

Figure 40—1930 Census. Entries for Harry Dowdy and Eliza Dowdy

Figure 41—Downtown North, South Carolina

Figure 42—The author’s childhood home in North, SC

Figure 43—Dover Elementary School at North, SC

Figure 44a—Headstone of Harry Kendall Dowdy, Sr.

Figure 44—School Gymnasium named in honor of H. K. Dowdy, Sr.

Figure 45a—Headstone of Eliza Snelling Dowdy

Figure 45—Eliza Snelling Dowdy

Figure 46—Ernest Gould (Gold) Dowdy, courtesy of Sam Dowdy

Figure 47—Catherine Jane Dowdy Scott and Jeff Scott

Figure 48—Jeff Scott’s general store in Eastover, SC

Figure 49—Headstone of Catherine Dowdy Scott, Jeff Scott and Bernice J. Scott

Figure 50— Photo of Fred Hamilton Dowdy

Figure 51— Photo of Fannie James Dowdy

Figure 52—A surviving sign of the Dowdy Gardner Farmer Building

Figure 53—Headstones of Fred H. Dowdy and Fannie J. Dowdy

Figure 54—Photo of Alice Dowdy McKenzie Scott

Figure 55—Marion McKenzie

Figure 56—Headstone for Alice Dowdy McKenzie Scott and cenotaph for her son, Dr. Bernard Marion McKenzie

Figure 57—Annie Mae Dowdy Robinson

Figure 58—Photo of George Theodore Dowdy

Figure 59—Photo of Ruth Ball Dowdy

Figure 60—Photo of Jack Hiawatha Dowdy

Figure 61—Photo of Lottie Williams Dowdy

Figure 62—Lewis Carnegie Dowdy and Elizabeth Etolia Smith Dowdy at White House

Figure 63—Statue of the Greensboro Four at A&T State University

Figure 64—Lewis C. Dowdy Administration Building at NC A&T State University

Figure 65—Photo of Sam Bernard Dowdy and Bernice Latimer Dowdy

Figure 66—Family Tree of Rosa Scott

Figure 67—Photo of Heyward Scott

Figure 68—Photo of Rosa Scott Dowdy

Figure 69—Annie Dowdy Wilson

Figure 70—Photo of Fannie Dowdy Jackson

Figure 71—Rosa Scott Dowdy’s last residence in Gadsden, SC

Figure 72—Headstone of Rosa Lee Scott Dowdy and daughter Mae Francis Jones

Figure 73—Excerpt from the bible of W. W. and Alice Shiver Dowdy, recording their marriage

Figure 74—Excerpt from the bible of W. W. and Alice Shiver Dowdy with their dates of birth

Figure 75—Excerpt from the bible of W. W. and Alice Shiver Dowdy recording their children

Figure 76—Photo of W. W. Dowdy, Sr., with his 1922 Buick

Figure 77—Ernest Dowdy and Fred Dowdy

Figure 78—Photo of Young Dowdys: Catherine, Ernest, Annie Mai, Fred, and Alice

Figure 79—Photo of Sam Dowdy and Bernice Latimer Dowdy during World War II

Figure 80—Photo of Melba Ruth Pyle Dowdy

Figure 81—Photo of Karen Ceres Dowdy Wright

Figure 82—Photo of Dorian David Dowdy, Maria, and daughter Rebecca in Germany

Figure 83—Photo of Ian Gregory Harrison Wright

Figure 84—Photo of Chloe Ceres Wright

Figure 85—Photo of William Ovid Dowdy

Figure 86—Photo of Ozie Lee Nixon Scott Dowdy

Figure 87—Photo of Jacqueline D. Dowdy

Figure 88—Photo of Jill D. Dowdy

Figure 89—Photo of Sammy Scott

Figure 90—Photo of Doris Dowdy Blalock

Figure 91—Photo of Lacy LaRonce Blalock

Figure 92—Photo of Ashly Roxanne Blalock

Figure 93—Photo of Doris Celeste Blalock

Figure 94—Photo of Doris Dowdy, Harry K. Dowdy, Sr., and Eliza Snelling Dowdy

Figure 95—Photo of Elizabeth Anna Blalock

Figure 96—Photo of Colonel Harry K. Dowdy, Jr., and Colonel Fred Dowdy, Jr.

Figure 97—Photo of attendees at the 2009 Dowdy–Wright–Shiver–Scott family reunion

Figure 98—Headstone of William Henry Dowdey, Sr.

Figure 99—Headstone of Susan Alberta Morgan

Figure 100—Headstone of William Gilbert Dowdey

Figure 101—Lillie Carolyn Dowdey Garner Young

Figure 102—J. R. Garner

Figure 103—Lemuel Charles Dowdey

Figure 104—Cleveland Walker Dowdey

Figure 105—William Henry Dowdey, Jr..

Historical Facts and Events

Origin of the Dowdys and the Dowdy Name

Anti-miscegenation Laws

General William Tecumseh Sherman’s Arrival in Columbia, South Carolina

First African American Elected to the US Senate

The Number of Free Blacks in the US in 1860

How West Virginia Became a State During the Civil War

Southern White Opposition to the Confederacy

History of Eastover, South Carolina, Ancestral Home of the Dowdys

The Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918

History of Red Hill Baptist Church

First Denominational Black Churches in the United States

Postal Savings, Deposit of Money in Post Offices

Destruction of the 1890 Census

14th Amendment to the US Constitution Ratified

African Americans in World War I

World War I Registration Cards of Family Members

Crispus Attucks, Black Man, First to Fall in the Boston Massacre

Black Soldiers in the American Revolutionary War

History of Black Indians

History of the Buffalo Soldiers

Black Soldiers in the Spanish American War

History of the Town of North, South Carolina (the author’s hometown)

Racially Segregated Schools Declared Unconstitutional

George Washington Carver of Tuskegee Fame

The Greensboro (North Carolina) Sit-ins of the Civil Rights Movement

Works Progress Administration (WPA) of the Depression Era

Southern Aid Society, First Black Insurance Company

Twentieth Century Timeline

The Number of Known Human Diseases

This book is dedicated to the memory of

Harry Kendall Dowdy, Sr.

and

Eliza Snelling Dowdy,

my father and mother

When we summon up the past, let it be for insights

to better the present and brighten the future.

Harry Kendall Dowdy, Jr.

About the book

AN INTRIGUING HERITAGE is a series of gripping true stories about resourceful individuals who made the best of life despite hard times and misfortunes. There are inspirational stories about:

a white man who married a mulatto woman four years after the Civil War

a farmer who became a plantation owner and sent many of his 21 children to college

the six-year court battle involving a white father who tried to leave his mulatto son an inheritance

a college president who was at the center of civil rights sit-ins at Greensboro, North Carolina

a student who started high school at 21 and became a renowned research scientist

a black teacher who was the first to integrate an all-white public school in a small Southern town

the remarkable educational, professional, and charitable achievements of an extended family

The nonfamily historical events cited herein are of educational value to the public. Moreover, these events occurred during or surrounded the life stories told herein, and as such provide background for these stories as well as enrich them with a wider perspective and thus a deeper meaning.

Readers will learn that over 5,000 black soldiers fought in the American Revolutionary War; that the creation of West Virginia was a result of the Civil War; that Congress twice readmitted Georgia to the Union after the Civil War; that a black scientist developed new farming techniques and numerous agricultural products; that the history of Black Indians dates back to 1501; that there was white Southern opposition to the Confederacy; that there were almost a half million free blacks in the United States before the Civil War; and that the Orangeburg (SC) Massacre occurred during the Civil Rights Movement.

The author reaches out to the reader through his commentaries, poetry, and original adages such as the following:

Love is its own blessing, its own justification, its own destiny.

We learn more by understanding than by finding fault.

We achieve our best when we help others.

Family history brings together the scattered pieces of our identity.

Readers may see the better part of themselves in the many true stories told in this book.

Acknowledgments

I am especially grateful to the many family members and others who contributed factual and revealing stories about the families covered in these pages. Their contributions are the most treasured parts of this history.

Although I will name the major contributors here, I will also identify them by name as I relate their numerous stories and accounts throughout the text. In this way, the contributors will be given credit at the telling of their specific stories.

Contributors are listed alphabetically by first name: Allen Dowdy, Annie Mai Dowdy Robinson, Blanche Scott Dickerson, Brenda Dowdy Robinson, Cecilia Dowdy, Doris Dowdy Blalock, Doris Brooks Shaw, Eddie Faye Gates, Elaine Dowdy Melvin, Elizabeth Smith Dowdy, Elizabeth Dowdy- King, Ernest Dowdy, Jr., Fannie Dowdy Jackson, Harvey Scarborough, Heyward Scott, Jacqueline Inga Renata Moore Vest, Jordan Lewis King, Jube Shiver, Sr., Margaret Goodwin Saxon, Marjie GloriaScott Hight, Pearl Scott Sumter, Rosa Scott Dowdy, Sam Dowdy, Thelma Scott Nance, Vincent MacDonald, and Yvonne Utendahl. Other contributors are named within the text. If I have omitted any contributors, it was not intentional, rather an editorial oversight on my part.

Also, I extend my appreciation to my daughter, Karen Ceres Dowdy Wright, book author, published poet, and professional editor, and to Alex deWit, a fellow church member, for their assistance in the publication of this book.

Again, to all those, named and unnamed, who contributed to this history, the family and I owe you our everlasting gratitude.

Introduction

This book, An Intriguing Heritage: The Story of How the Dowdys and Their Kindred Stood Up to Life, is a retitled and republished edition of Crimson Waterfall: The Story of the Dowdys and Six Related Families, the first edition of which was published in 2013 and the second in 2016.

This edition includes two of my long-unidentified Dowdy grandfathers of the 1700s. One of my many cousins, Ernest Dowdy, Jr., uncovered their identities by prolonged and diligent research.

In the two previous editions, episodes of my life are scattered throughout the book under the headings and within the stories of other family members. In this edition, I have consolidated these episodes under one heading, My Rambling Memoir, in Chapter VIII, to sequence them more in the style of a story. In addition, I have made editorial and formatting changes in this edition.

To ensure that my family history book will not be lost to the passage of time, I have registered it with the Library of Congress and submitted a copy of the book to that institution for permanent storage in its archives.

Herein the terms black (sometimes capitalized, sometimes not) and African American are used interchangeably, depending mainly on which term is used in the source document.

Prologue

Know your people.

Harry Kendall Dowdy, Sr.

There is no greater birthright than family history,

no greater obligation than to convey it to our children.

Harry Kendall Dowdy, Jr.

The family stories told to me by my father are the seeds from which this history grew. When I was a youngster, my father branded my memory with inspiring stories about my family, stories that I never forgot. My sister, Doris Dowdy Blalock, recalled that Daddy always said, Know your people. He was immensely proud of his family and filled me with that pride, which in turn empowered me with a healthy, lifelong self-esteem.

Starting in 1991, I spent the ensuing 22 years researching and writing the first edition of this history, which was an enterprise of discovering new facts about my family and confirming family lore that has been passed down for many generations.

As I historicized my family, my abiding thought was to create a meaningful written record of my family, to include its several lines of kinship, so that it can be passed from generation to generation, especially to young members of the family. Moreover, I broadened this history beyond family matters so that it would be of interest and educational value to the general public. The historic events surrounding the lives of my forebears and my commentaries inspired by their experiences are included for this purpose.

While writing this history, I aspired to assume the duality of the historian/philosopher Will Durant, who said, I believe that I am a philosopher writing history. In so aspiring, I hope to express some uplifting perspectives of life that will cascade down the generations and leave young minds awash in goodwill and filled with a strong desire to achieve.

Herewith, I will, above all else, labor to lay heritage, historical perspective, and worthy advice at the intellectual doorstep of young readers. I cannot overemphasize that my overarching purpose is to enlighten the young, which drove me to glean lessons from my family history.

Lessons and advice from the past cannot be inherited but must be taught anew to each generation. For this reason, expect me to tell instructive stories about my forebears, enlarge their lives with historical context, celebrate their successes, commiserate over their misfortunes, and draw from their experiences meaning that is relevant today. Also, expect me to usher humor into our parlor of history and make our bellies bounce with laughter.

The period of this history is from 1748 to the present. However, because of the extensive span of time covered, there are chronological gaps in the narratives. Covered in this history are the Dowdys aka Dowdeys and six related families: the Scarboroughs, Clarks, Westons, Wrights, Shivers, and Scotts.

The several lines of kinship that run through my family consist of first degree, distant, adopted, and in-law relatives with blood ties to at least three ancestral groups: African/African American, Irish, and Cherokee. This ancestry endows my family with a rich and diverse heritage. I was able to document some of my Irish ancestors and many more of my African American ancestors. Unfortunately, because of the unavailability or nonexistence of pertinent genealogical records or vital statistics, I was unable to document the genealogy of my ancestors from the African continent, as I wanted to. Genealogy or no, I am grateful for the attributes of ingenuity, endurance, fortitude, and resilience, especially in the face of adversity, that my African ancestors, by genetics or example, bequeathed to my family and me. The family’s Cherokee ancestry is based on family lore corroborated by the history of children born to Native Americans and African Americans. These children resulted from the intermingling of the two groups when many of both were initially indentured servants and later from cohabitation of the two after the former gave refuge to escaped slaves.(See Chapter VIII.)Moreover, there was, and still is, a significant Cherokee population in South Carolina, the birthplace or residence of many of my Dowdy forebears.

To portray my family members covered in these pages, I created four family trees of about 154 family members, sketched the biographies of some 86, outlined the careers and achievements of some 170, and charted the bloodline, medical history, and military service of over a hundred family members. This assemblage gave me little choice but to cast this history mainly as a series of brief biographies and vignettes, many told in the context of the historical drama in play during their times.

To the extent that family input allowed, I brought the family up to the present time in the Family Achievements and Family Bloodlines chapters. The former chapter consists of persons related to the family by blood, marriage, and adoption, while the latter chapter consists only of family members who are blood descendants of William Wallace Dowdy, Sr.

Originally, I intended to include all the family photos that came into my possession; however, it was impractical to do so because of the large number involved. For this reason, I limited photos to senior family members, vintage photos having historical value, and other selected photos.

I emphasize that absence of information is the sole reason that this history contains no details or only limited details about certain family members. More biographical information and records were available about some family members than about others.

I invite the reader’s attention to my adages featured in italics at the beginning of the prologue, each chapter, and the epilogue, as well as to my italicized commentaries throughout the text. The lives of my ancestors gave rise to my adages and commentaries, and I tried to give them perspective by my worldview, which is a synergy of reason and faith, history and philosophy, science and art. The combined insights of these disciplines provide me with the best opportunity to understand life in its broadest perspective as opposed to understanding life piecemeal in its narrow, contentious, fragmented parts. Moreover, these disciplines, in concert, can be guardians that protect us from the siren calls that can lead us to folly and foolish errands, as well as save us from becoming gullible victims of crafty disinformation that can seduce us to harm others or unknowingly pursue causes deadly to ourselves. (Do Jonestown and neo-Nazis come to mind?)

Pursuant to my overarching purpose, I hope to express my adages and commentaries in a manner that will appeal to young readers. Alas, if my reflections fall short of truth and do not deserve heed, I submit that a bad idea has value if it inspires a good idea.

Perhaps I am inclined to favor the instructive tone of adages being that I am descended from a line of educators, including a university president, who date back over 100 years. Here, I am reminded of three adages that I coined for my daughter, Karen Ceres Dowdy, upon her departure for college and on-campus residence some 40 years ago:

No matter how educated you become, stay connected to ordinary people and you will always be within earshot of common sense.

Learn from the setbacks that will surely interrupt your progress, and use the lessons learned to spring forward to success.

The world awaits your talents; use them not only for reward but also for charity.

Wisdom whispers that adages, terse as they must be, only summarize or dramatize fragments of life and are at best starting points for wider thought. I hope that my adages will encourage young people to think critically and widely about life, for the sooner they do, the sooner they and society will reap the benefits.

Many of the historical events selected for this history are associated with African American experiences. My primary reason for selecting them is to give context to the lives of my forebears of color. Not to provide such context and perspective would be akin to writing the history of the westward expansion of the United States without making known the experiences of Native Americans in the process. Another reason for these selections is to familiarize young people with interesting facts about African American history that have been generally omitted from mainstream history, facts that otherwise the young perhaps would never come to know. Some of the historical events selected are unpleasant and might disturb some readers; however, I strongly assert that my intent is not to incite ill will or conjure up feelings of guilt but to promote learning and, more importantly, understanding. It is important that readers understand the political and social climate during the times of my forebears. Moreover, to omit unpleasant or unflattering truth from history is to write not history but fiction. (My truck with written fiction has been very limited; my truck with the fiction of screen and stage has been frequent, which is to say that I prefer to view fiction and read nonfiction.)

I implore the reader to view my selection and treatment of historical unpleasantries as forerunners of our present progress, which gives reason for optimism and hope, a twofold frame of mind in which the human spirit thrives best.

To quote some great thinker, Everywhere, custom rules. Therefore, when confronted with some of the unsavory facts of the past cited in this history, the reader should be mindful that some past practices, race- related and otherwise, were driven or compelled by the customs or legal demands of the time. Judging the past wholly by present customs and traditions could lead to a holier than thou approach to long-ago history, an approach that we should avoid when trying to understand the dynamics of a given historical period. Perhaps hundreds of years hence, people will look back on our present customs and traditions as ill-advised or uncivilized—our dreadful traditions of political, ethnic, and religious hostilities come to mind. Nevertheless, I hasten to emphasize that we should not use this reasoning to justify, excuse, or apologize for inhumane, hate-driven, cruel, oppressive, or demeaning customs or legal demands.

Although I managed to collect priceless memories from several senior family members before their incapacitation or demise, in retrospect, it pains me to contemplate the rich family lore that I could have collected had I set about recording the oral history of other senior family members while they were alive and able (a hint to future family historians). Regrets aside, I am profoundly thankful for the family history that I was able to obtain by personal interviews, letters, e-mails, telephone calls, and portable tape recorder.

In retelling the family stories told to me, I have quoted some sources verbatim while selectively paraphrasing or editing others. In the latter two cases, I took care to retain the original meaning and tone of the stories told to me. However worded, these stories as told to me are not mine but the treasured accounts of the contributors, who are identified by name.

The dearth of written records about my family was a frustrating impediment to my research. For example, the state of South Carolina, my birthplace and the birthplace or residence of many of my forebears, did not issue marriage certificates until July 1911, birth and death certificates until January 1915. Although some local jurisdictions granted divorces, the state of South Carolina by legislation did not legalize divorce until 1949–50. Meaningful censuses on African Americans were not available before 1870, the year of the first federal census after the Civil War. This was the first census to record the names, parents, ages, and children of African Americans. Before 1870, persons of color were recorded in federal censuses or in census-like documents as impersonal population numbers or by first name only. Otherwise, the details of their lives were passed down mostly as oral, and perishable, history.

Censuses spell out lineage and kinship, among other things, and provide glimpses of the individuals enumerated but do not capture their personalities. The hard task of capturing the personalities of persons long dead is for the historian, using firsthand accounts of witnesses, historical context, prevailing customs, interpretation, deduction, and perspective to put biographical flesh on census bones. While oral accounts of our ancestors are inspiring, it is an incomparable thrill to discover their names and circumstances inscribed on time-faded pages or engraved on weathered stone, standing like messengers announcing the passage of those at permanent rest.

On my trek through my family history, I was seized with emotion when for the first time I read the names of my ancestors on documents over 160 years old. Exhilaration swept over me when I found that my paternal great-great-grandfather is recorded in the census of 1840 and that he and his son, my paternal great-grandfather, are recorded in the census of 1850. I was fascinated upon finding that the parents of my paternal great-grandmother are recorded in the census of 1870. This census also reveals that in 1870, my then six-year-old paternal grandfather, William Wallace Dowdy, resided with his father, mother, and three sisters in Columbia, SC, on a now nonexistent street. As I internalized this finding, I imagined myself transported back to that time and place as a member of my early family.

My discovery of the fenced, well-kept Dowdey cemetery was mesmerizing—the family surname on headstones there is spelled with an e, a variant spelling. I liken my amazement upon this discovery to the amazement of the British archaeologist when in 1922 he discovered the tomb of King Tut (Tutankhamen) of ancient Egypt. The cemetery has the distinction of being situated in an unusual place: the wide median strip of a four-lane highway seemingly a hint that passing travelers may visit for a while but soon must be up and away to improve on the deeds of the dead. It is a place of gated stillness, where in subterranean shelter rests my paternal great-great grandfather, whose headstone confirms his identity in the censuses of 1840 and 1850. When I came upon his headstone, I saw not a stone but an engraved document revealing an aspect of my pre-birth beginning. Seeing the early paper and stone records of all my forebears moved me in ways hard to describe.

I acknowledge the omissions, gaps in stories, events that beg for clarification, and other shortcomings that the reader will detect in this history. I ascribe these shortcomings to nonexistent or incomplete historical records of my family, family lore that has been lost to the toll of time, and my incomplete research. Considering the number of family stories told from memory, any inconsistencies among these stories should come as no surprise.

I conclude each chapter dedicated to an ancestor or branch of the family with a Hallmark section, which I hope does justice in summarizing the virtues of my forebears.

As my family history unfolded before me, I felt that I had found and brought together the scattered pieces of my identity.

I tried to animate my ancestors with literary breath and historical legs so that they might stride up from the past and by their experiences uplift our lives.

Come, join me dear reader, and together we will explore true stories about resourceful men and women, who braved the challenges of their times and who, by their works, bequeathed an intriguing heritage to generations present and those yet to come.

Mitchellville, Maryland

April 2023

Chapter I

The Meaning of Name

All family histories begin with a name.

Harry Kendall Dowdy, Jr.

Badge of Self

Badge of Self

We cling to it like blue to sky;

we will not let go of it, nor it of us;

we tell of it, and it tells of us;

we own it, and it owns us.

Thus, our name is our badge of self.

The foregoing lines of my own construction remind me of four true stories, min-stories if you will. (Other poems of mine are at Appendix 7.)

Story one: The words screeched from the radio like a Paul Revere warning, There’s a man going round taking names. These are words from the song The Man Comes Around by Johnny Cash. They frightened my daughter, Karen Ceres Dowdy (known as Ceres), at the tender age of five. When she heard the lyrics, she asked me in a voice fraught with fear, "Daddy, is the man going to take my name? (Her interpretation of take was to deprive of.")

Story two: A few years later, when Ceres first met her Dowdy grandparents, she was struck by their last name and asked me, "Daddy, why do they have our name?"

Story three: My mother, Eliza Snelling Dowdy, took special pride in her maiden name and always made certain that it or its initial was part of her signature on all sorts of papers, important or not.

Story four At the funeral of one of my male first cousins, I noticed that his funeral program listed his mother’s maiden name, Dowdy, as his middle name, with his surname that of his father. His mother was one of my paternal aunts. I took special note of this combination of names, since it has been my experience that, usually, it is the female who connects her maiden name with her married name as a hyphenated surname. No doubt, this was my cousin’s way of expressing pride in the surnames of his mother and father. And as the poem says, We will not let go of it, nor it of us.

I cite these anecdotes to emphasize how sentimental we, young and old, are about our names and how possessive we are of them. Such are my sentiments about my own name.

Origin of the Dowdys and the Dowdy Name

Origin of the Dowdys and the Dowdy Name

O’Dowd (Irish: Ó Dubhda) is an Irish Gaelic clan based most prominently in what is today County Mayo and County Sligo [Ireland]. The clan name originated in the 9th century as a derivative of its founder Dubda mac Connmhach. They descend in the paternal line from the Connachta’s Uí Fiachrach.¹ The Uí Fiachrach were a royal dynasty who originated in and later ruled Connacht (a western province of Ireland).²

O’Dowd is the most common anglicization of the Irish surname Ó Dubhda. Other anglicized variants are Dowd, Dawdy, Dowdy, O’Dowda and Dowds, with Doody and Duddy found around Killarney [in County Kerry]. All are [derived from] Ó Dubhda (pronounced O Dooda) in Irish, the root word being dubh black.²

O’Dubhda might have been the original spelling of Dowdy, but the original spelling did not survive. Instead, the name evolved into myriad spellings, though not all are necessarily associated with my South Carolina Dowdys. In this history, my family surname is sometimes spelled with and without an e, as in Chapters II