Samuel McDowell

Samuel McDowell (October 29, 1735 – September 25, 1817) was a soldier in three wars and political leader in Virginia and Kentucky. He served under George Washington in the French and Indian War, as an aide-de-camp to Isaac Shelby in Lord Dunmore's War, and under Nathanael Greene during the Revolutionary War. He then relocated to Kentucky and became a surveyor. Later, he was appointed one of the first district court judges in what would become the state of Kentucky. He became a leader of the movement to separate Kentucky from Virginia, and presided over nine of the state's ten constitutional conventions. He was the father of Dr. Ephraim McDowell.

Early life Samuel McDowell was born in the Province of Pennsylvania on October 29, 1735. He was the son of Captain John McDowell and grandson of Ephraim McDowell, a Scots-Irish patriot in the English Revolution of 1688. Captain McDowell relocated his family to Virginia in 1737. Samuel McDowell was well-educated in his youth, at one time studying under Archibald Alexander.

McDowell married Mary McClung on January 17, 1754. Joseph also served in the War of 1812, as did the eldest son, John. The most famous of McDowell's sons was Dr. Ephraim McDowell, who performed the first ovariotomy. Samuel was also the 2nd great-grandfather of First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln through his daughter Elizabeth.

Virginia soldier and politician At age twenty, McDowell participated in the French and Indian War. Later, he served in Lord Dunmore's War, participating in the Battle of Point Pleasant with future Kentucky governor Isaac Shelby. For his service in the war, he was awarded a large tract of land in Fayette County, Kentucky in 1775. After Virginia's Governor, Lord Dunmore, dismissed the legislature, Augusta County voters again elected McDowell to represent them at what later became known as the Virginia Revolutionary Conventions, including the March 20, 1775 conference in Richmond, Virginia to make preparation for the Revolutionary War.

McDowell also was a founding trustee of Liberty Hall (formerly the Augusta Academy) which in 1776 became a college and relocated to Lexington. Other founding trustees included Andrew Lewis, Thomas Lewis, Sampson Mathews, George Moffett, William Preston, and James Waddel.

At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, McDowell was commissioned a colonel over a regiment from Augusta County. He was appointed surveyor of Fayette County, where he relocated in 1783.

On the night of December 27, 1786, a group consisting of Harry Innes, Thomas Todd, John Brown, Christopher Greenup, John Belli, and Robert Craddock assembled at McDowell's residence and formed a debating society known as the Danville Political Club. McDowell continued to host meetings of the Club at his residence from time-to-time, and participated in its activities for its entire four-year existence. When the town of Danville was organized on December 4, 1787, McDowell was named one of its first trustees.

McDowell presided over nine of the ten conventions that drafted the first Kentucky Constitution. He was chosen as one of Mercer County's electors to choose the first governor and senators from the state.

McDowell died near Danville on September 25, 1817, at the home of his son Joseph.