Background
John McDowell was born in Peters Township, Cumberland, now Franklin, County, Pa. He was the second of the twelve children of William and Mary (Maxwell) McDowell. His grandfather, William, born in Ireland, had emigrated to America about 1715 and settled in Chester County, Pa. The second William was a man of standing in his community, a justice of the peace and a Presbyterian elder. With other families of the neighborhood, the McDowells were several times driven from their home during the French and Indian wars, and on one occasion their dwelling was burned.
Education
John seems to have received a good elementary education and when he was seventeen years old he entered the College of Philadelphia, from which he graduated in 1771, being assigned the part of English orator on the Commencement program. Before his graduation he had served as tutor and in this capacity he continued his connection with the college until 1782.
Career
McDowell joined Capt. Samuel Patton's company as a private in 1777, but was not rugged enough to undergo the hardships of army life. A rather frail constitution, in fact, was more or less a factor in his whole career. Going to Cambridge, Dorchester County, Md. , in 1782, he taught, took up the study of law, and was admitted to the bar. Teaching still attracted him, however, and on August 11, 1789, at a meeting of the visitors and governors of St. John's College, soon to be opened at Annapolis, he appeared and accepted the professorship of mathematics, which had been tendered him on the 14th of May preceding. The institution began to give instruction in November, with McDowell acting as principal.
The original plan to bring over some one from England to head the college failed, and on May 14, 1790, McDowell was formally elected principal. He served in this capacity for the next sixteen years, during which time the institution drew students from at least eight of the states, not a few of whom later became nationally prominent. In 1806 the Maryland legislature withdrew its support, and the board of visitors and governors voted that the principal and faculty "be discontinued. " They were offered reappointment, however, but McDowell declined to serve longer. He was made a member of the board but soon resigned owing to his connection with the University of Pennsylvania, where in 1806 he became professor of natural philosophy, and the following year, provost. In 1810 ill health caused him to relinquish both these offices. Returning to Maryland in 1815, he was again offered the principalship of St. John's College. This he declined, but he accepted an election to the board of visitors and governors and seems at times to have acted as principal.
Personality
He is described as "a man of fine presence, and of pleasing and winning address, combining in a remarkable degree great firmness and dignity of character with an almost feminine gentleness". The last two years of his life were spent in Peters Township, Pa. , with a sister, Margaret, widow of Matthias Maris. Here he died and was buried. That he was a man of sagacity and frugality is indicated by the fact that he left an estate of $40, 000. His Latin and Greek books, and his books on mathematics and natural philosophy, he bequeathed to the University of Pennsylvania.
