Person:Willis Dowell (2)

1840 Census shows Willis and wife living in Smith Co., TN, with a household including 3 white males under age 5, one age 5-10, one age 10-15, one white female under age 5, one age 10-15, and eleven slaves. 1850 Census shows Willis and wife, Martha, living in Smith Co., TN. with children Horace,17, Robert A., 13, Caroline,11, Jonathan, 10, Jane, 8, and Nancy, 5. Also listed are four slaves. Indicated real estate value--$2,500. From Smith Co. newspaper historical series, Chapter XXI: " . . . in the same section not far apart, lived four brothers, Dowell. They were sons of Nehemiah Dowell, one of the earliest settlers on the upper waters of Mulherrin Creek. The oldest of these, Elisha Dowell, moved many years ago to the state of Missouri. Willis married a daughter of Stewart Doss, one of the best known as he was of the earliest settlers of that region. His brother, Franklin Robert Dowell, married a daughter of Major James Goodner. The Goodners were among the very earliest settlers in Smith Co., North of the Cumberland River. Willis and Robert Dowell both died of smallpox in 1850, which loathesome disease was epidemic that year on Brush Creek, and adjacent regions. Its origin remains a mystery to the present time. The belief of its victims and their friends was that it was brought there, and disseminated in some unaccountable way by a quack German doctor. So well satisfied was the public mind of the truth of the charge that he was forced to leave the community."

Martha and Willis joined the Brush Creek Primitive Baptist Church, Smith Co., TN in 1839.