McDowell, Thomas David Smith, 1823-1898.

Thomas David Smith McDowell, Bladen County, N.C., was a planter, legislator, and Confederate congressman, and his father, physician Alexander McDowell, was an Irish immigrant, who was clerk of Bladen County, N.C., 1812-1844. Besides managing Purdie Plantation with his brother John A. McDowell, Thomas served in the state House of Commons, 1846-1850; in the state Senate, 1852-1855 and 1858-1860; and in the Confederate Congress, 1861-1863. He married Mary Elizabeth Davis of Richmond County, with whom he had two sons, Alexander, who moved to Georgia, and John A., Jr., who took over management of the family lands.

Lawyer, planter, North Carolina legislator, and Confederate representative, of Elizabethtown, N.C.

Thomas David Smith McDowell (1823-1898), planter, legislator, and Confederate congressman, was born 4 January 1823 on his parents' plantation in Bladen County, N.C. His father, Dr. Alexander McDowell (1775-1846), was born in Ballydavy, County Down, Ireland, on 1 November 1775. Alexander McDowell was graduated from Edinburgh College and the medical school of the University of Glasgow, Scotland, but he was forced to emigrate when the Irish struggle for independence he had actively supported failed. He settled in the Cape Fear region, began practicing medicine in Elizabethtown, and married the widow Mary Jane Smith Purdie. By 1812, Alexander McDowell was serving as the county's Clerk and Master in Equity. From that time, almost until his death, McDowell held county office. In addition, he continued to practice medicine, engaged in a variety of business interests, and managed his Purdie plantation, which chiefly produced naval stores--chiefly timber and turpentine.

Thomas David Smith McDowell studied at the Donaldson Academy and then entered the University of North Carolina, graduating in 1843. He later served as a university trustee from 1858 to 1860 and from 1874 to 1881. After his father's death in 1846, Thomas and his brother John managed the Purdie Plantation on which they had been reared. In 1860, the plantation contained 320 acres, housed 57 slaves, and was valued at $65,000.

A lifelong Democrat, McDowell served in the state House of Commons from 1846 to 1850, and in the Senate from 1852 to 1855 and from 1858 to 1860. He was a longtime member of the Senate Committee on Education and the Literary Fund, but he sponsored no particular program; his bills ranged from the incorporation of the Cape Fear Division of the Sons of Temperance to the banning of the emancipation of slaves by the owner's will after his death. McDowell opposed secession until Abraham Lincoln's call for troops following the firing on Fort Sumter, when, as a member of the Secession Convention, he voted for disunion. He won a close contest in the convention for a seat in the Confederate Provisional Congress, and, in October 1861, was elected to the First Congress without opposition. McDowell's primary concern as a Confederate congressman was the defense of the North Carolina coast. At first, he supported legislation granting substantial war powers to the Jefferson Davis administration, but later he resisted most efforts to amplify or extend them. He did not run for reelection in 1863. After the war, McDowell took no further role in public affairs, although he continued to have influence in local Bladen County politics. By 1885, he had turned over to his son John most of the operation of his plantation. Thomas died there in 1898 and was buried in the family cemetery outside of Elizabethtown.

Thomas McDowell married Mary Elizabeth Davis, the daughter of Dr. Goodwin Davis of Richmond County. They had two sons, Alexander and John. John managed the family business interests in North Carolina; Alexander moved to Georgia with his wife Bessie. The McDowell family was Presbyterian.

For additional biographical information, see entry in the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, Volume 4, 1991.