Background
Francis Marion McDowell was born in Wayne, New York in 1831, of British ancestry, his four grandparents being Scotch, English, Irish and Welsh respectively.
Francis Marion McDowell was born in Wayne, New York in 1831, of British ancestry, his four grandparents being Scotch, English, Irish and Welsh respectively.
In addition to the common schools at Wayne, he was educated at the institution which has since become Alfred University, in Alfred, New York, and for a time he taught school in his hometown.
He later became partner in the banking and brokerage firm of Hallett & Company of New York City, and in this connection made frequent trips to Europe, especially to interest European capitalists in the construction of the Kansas Pacific Railway, of which his banking firm was a sponsor. McDowell suffered a severe illness, from which he never made complete recovery, and consequently he returned to his native town of Wayne, and engaged in grape growing on the shores of Lake Keuka. lieutenant was at a fruit fair in Hammondsport, New York that he met William Saunders.
There they discussed the new Grange movement and Mr.
McDowell was greatly interested. Many of Mr. McDowell’s ideas were embodied in the final organization and it was his belief that the organization should have a central division, to protect the work from being broken up and varying with different localities.
lieutenant was therefore upon his suggestion that the hierarchical ordering of members in a series of seven "Degrees" was built, and he was selected first High Priest in the Assembly of Demeter. McDowell was treasurer of the National Grange for nearly twenty-one years, from January 1873 until November1893, until failing health compelled his resignation in November 1893.
Mr. McDowell’s financial experience was invaluable to the Grange, and he never missed attending a National Grange session from the beginning until the time of his death.
They had one daughter. More than once Mr. McDowell’s eagerness to build into the new order a sound financial system led him to advance his own private funds, and to make many sacrifices for the fulfillment of his financial ideals. Interment was in Lake View Cemetery at Penn Yan.
The other founders of the Grange were: Oliver Hudson Kelley, William Saunders, John Trimble, Aaron B. Grosh, John R. Thompson, William M. Ireland and Caroline A. Hall.