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Kennybrough Browning McDowell was born April 8, 1907 in House, Quay County, New Mexico to Samuel Ray McDowell and Minnie Burg Knight McDowell. On November 20, 1926 in Wheeler, Wheeler County, Texas, he married Verna Estelle Barnes, born March 17, 1909 in Hollis, Harmon County, Oklahoma to Floyd Earl Barnes and Francis Corilla Wise Barnes. Kennybrough and Verna McDowell’s family. They had 7 children, photos below accept for Elmo.There are no known photos of him.

i) JoyAlene McDowell born February 10, 1928 in Wheeler, Wheeler County, Texas. She died December 27, 1989 in Happy, Swisher County, Texas. She married Glen Thomas Cox on January 31, 1948 in Clovis, Curry County, New Mexico. They had 3 daughters, Gladene, Sherma, and Lillian.

ii) Bobby Lee McDowell born September 25, 1929 near Dimmitt, Castro County, Texas. He married Dana Rice and had one daughter, Valorie and then divorced. He married Elaine Lapp Case in Claude, Armstrong County, Texas on August 15, 1986. They had one daughter, Jennifer. (Elaine had 3 children from her first marriage, Charles Case Jr, Sherri Case and Douglas Case).

iii) Billy Gene McDowell (twin to Bobby) was born September 25, 1929 near Dimmitt, Castro County, Texas. He married Onita Carr on August 15, 1954 in Hereford, Deaf Smith County, Texas. They had Darwin, Dwila, Deonn, Devin, Dylan and Donnette.

iv) Elmo Allen McDowell born July 21, 1931 in Nazareth, Castro County, Texas. Elmo drowned in the horse tank on October 14, 1932 in Nazareth, Castro County, Texas. He is buried in Tulia, Swisher County, Texas cemetery.

v) Elvin Wendell McDowell born February 23, 1934 in Nazareth, Castro County, Texas. He died September 21, 1995 in Boulder, Boulder County, Colorado. He married first, Vera June Odendahl in Reno, Nevada, they had Kurtis, Shawn and Rick, after her death, he married Louise Eastwood.

vi) Leland Noel McDowell born January 9, 1941 in Tulia, Swisher County, Texas. He married Linda Fogleman on June 16, 1962 in Dallas, Dallas County, Texas. They had Mike, Tracy, and Steve.

vii) Carolyn Francis McDowell (twin to Leland) was born January 9, 1941 in Tulia, Swisher County, Texas. She married Carroll Lowell Robertson on September 9, 1966 in Happy, Swisher County, Texas. They had Rodney, Trish, and Karen.  

Brief history of Kenny and Verna McDowell by Bobby Lee McDowell

Times were rough and we moved a lot in order for daddy to find work, but it didn't seem to bother us kids, because everyone else was going through hard time too. We thought it was natural, we kids didn't know any different. We had lots of good times and we were mischievous, typical kids. Our parents never complained and taught us to work. What wonderful memories I have.

Daddy and mother were married and lived in Wheeler for a while They moved from Wheeler to Dimmitt, after Joy was born in 1928, by covered wagons and a Model T truck, and 1924 Ford Touring car, which was; quite an adventure,; driving on dirt roads (trails), and Buffalo Hill by Canyon, Texas was very steep and hard to get down. Helping daddy move were John McDowell, ;and one of the Davis boys, driving the wagons and teams. Mother and baby Joy went in the Model T truck with Samuel and Minnie McDowell (daddy's parents.).Granddaddy had purchased a place by Nazareth, and daddy and mother were going to Dimmitt to work on a farm.

First move

Daddy worked on a farm there breaking out sod. He did that using horse or mules and a walking breaking plow. Mother grew a garden and help take care of the milk cow and chickens. She washed their cloths using a rub board. It was there the twins, Billy Gene and I were born.I remembers a day when mother put us in a divided apple crate and sat it behind a stove so we could keep warm. I remember I would pick on Bill and mother put some kind of white mittens over his hands to keep me from scratching Bill. I told this story to daddy shortly before he passed away, and it shocked him that I remember that, since he was only a couple months old when the incident happened. It was during a blizzard and daddy was busy pulling people out of snow drifts.

Note: taken from the files of the late Joy McDowell Cox

In February 1929 we moved to Dimmitt, and it was so cold that daddy would get off and walk the team to keep warm. The brakes failed and it was hard to come down the old Canyon hill on the north side of Canyon, Texas. Daddy was a very good hand and was able to rent farm land from Mr. Flynt and Homer Terrell was our nearest neighbor.

Mom could shoot daddy's 22 rifle and was a very good shot. One time when daddy was gone, someone was prowling around outside, and she started shooting, needless to say, they never did that again.

Second move

The family moved to the Richardson place, located 7 miles east of; Nazareth, Texas in a one room house with 3 windows and a one way roof. A windmill provided water and there was an outhouse. This is where we kids would climb on the windmill and ride the tail. It is a wonder we never got hurt.If there was no wind, one of us kids would get up there and turn the wheel, and the other two would catch the cool water. Daddy was working by the day, and did some farming for himself, raising crooked neck Milo. Mother had a milk cow, a red pig (sow), (if a chicken would sit on the fence, this sow would make a run at it, catch it and eat them), raised turkeys, along with growing a garden.This place was located right next to granddaddy and grandmother .

One time a truck load of beans turned over down the road from where we lived, and daddy and Uncle John cleaned up what they left behind. They had enough beans to last us for a year or so. Uncle Tony and Uncle John would shoot jack rabbits for all of us to eat. Back then people were bad about stealing chickens, because there was a place in Tulia who bought them. No one had money, it was a very hard time in history.

That is where Elmo was born, and later drowned in the horse tank). It was a very difficult time for us to loose our baby brother and took a toll on mother and daddy.

Note: taken from the files of the late Joy McDowell Cox

One Christmas while living there, it snowed about 3 inches. On Christmas morning we found Santa's deer tracks in the snow. This was fun and no one could convince us it wasn't Santa's deer tracks.

Another snow we had was so bad, it was very deep and drifted that daddy had to dig a path to the barn to milk and take care of the animals. He wrapped his feet in two of mom's old dresses and tied them over his shoes for overshoes.

During the depression days one couldn't get enough money for maize at the market. It didn't pay to sell it The government set up some help programs for the farmers. They gave dad maize in a rack to burn for heat at Nazareth. Cows were so cheap they drove them down to the corner of the pasture and shot them to get rid of the glut and try to raise prices. The cows were killed and put into a pit. Once while we lived there, there came a really hard rain. After the rain there were fish all over the ground. It must have been a tornado cloud which passed over and picked up the fish and dropped themo over our house. There was a lake, Tom Bower Lake, about 1/4 to 1/2 mile from our house.

Bob and Bill herded cows on Granddaddy's red horse. they had a hard time getting on because the horse would bite. The horse's name was old Dolly. This horse daddy rode when he was going to school many years earlier.

Bill remembered noly 2 or 3 trips they made in and old 27 model Chevrolet. They made a trip to Hereford to visit Great-grandpa and Great-grandma Barnes and had the best trip. Bill remembered most the good blackberry jellythey had there.

Third move

The family moved into a one room house in the field on granddaddy's place. The house was owned by John McDowell (daddy's brother). This house was about twice as big as the one on the Richardson place.

While living there Elvin was born in 1934, about the time of his birth Joy and the twins had whooping cough and had to stay with granddaddy and grandmother.

Daddy bought a 1928 Chevrolet, with solid wheels, and every time it rained we would get stuck down at the corner because it wouldn't shed mud. Then we would have to walk home about a quarter of a mile.

Daddy and Uncle John were working on a road crew building up the road using fresno's and horses, a government project, across the lake located on highway 86 . Daddy job was feeding the teams for the other workers.

Granddaddy had a bunch of' milk cows, and it was so dry that there was no feed for them to eat. Since there was an over stock of animals, the government would buy them for $5 a head, if you let them kill them, so they wouldn't starve to death, and granddaddy sold them some.. (That is where I learned how to milk cows.)

The family, (granddaddy, grandmother, Uncle John, Ella, mother and daddy) killed 7 or 8 hogs and cured it out and killed beef for winters supply of food. You had to prepare for the winter, which we did.

Daddy had 2 mules, Rody and Jack, he used them for farming. Mother had a saddle horse called Dan. Daddy rode him to work one time, and had me ride him back home, and I decided to let him run all the way. Needless to say, I didn't get to ride him again.

Note: taken from the files of the late Joy McDowell Cox

Grandmother had a large cooker pan with peanuts shelled for the purpose of planting. They were so fat, red and looked so good, but grandmother would not let us eat any of them. Bill, Bob and I were always hungry and our mouths watered wanting some of those peanuts. Well, granddaddy got out a one row planter started planting peanuts. He went in for lunch, and grandmother looked out the door, and saw Bob and Bill digging up and eating the peanuts he just planted. She yelled at them and they took off for home. That same day, granddaddy warned Bob and Bill not to bother the little chickens. The twins didn't know anything about those little chickens until them. So of course, they were lying on their tummies on this old box watching the little chickens eat and drink when granddaddy caught them. He swatted them on the seat of thier pants and startled them. The took off and found something

Note: Bill McDowell memories

My memory of the peanut story is a little different Granddaddy stopped us when he returned from the other end of the field. I also remember Bob and I herding the cows along the road. There was a lot of goatheads, sticker patch, over near the Tom Bowers place and when the cows got over there we had to get them out. We had no shoes so we would just run across the goatheads to get the pain over with. Mother would get us down from time to time and pick the  goatheads from our feet. Some time we would ride Granddad's old mare but if one of us had to get down and open the gates we had a very . very hard time getting back on, sometime I had to walk after getting down. We would try to get the old mare up beside the fence so we could climb up the fence to get back on. This was when we were four and five years of age. I also remember mother  fussing about Dad giving Bob and I knives so we could help hand head maize. We worked right along with him.

About Elvin being born, We had a really bad dust storm.  I remember laying awake and hearing Grandmother complain about having to keep us kids, and I have always , HATED  being where I wasn't wanted.

Fourth move

The family moved from there to the Hienkin ( not sure of the correct spelling) place west of Tulia,Texas (about 10 miles) and that was an adventure. This old house had 5 rooms, but it also had ghosts ( they later learned from others who had lived there, they had experienced these ghosts too.) Joy saw one, while she was in bed she saw a lion standing by her bed.

One night I got up to go to the outhouse, and met a bear outside the back door, needless to say, I didn't go outside alone after dark again.

Daddy and mother experienced people walking in the house after going to bed. They would get up and check it out, and no one was there.

Mother raised about 100 turkeys, and one night, about 6 people helped her dressed them and the next morning the buyer picked them up. I have no idea how much she got for those turkeys.

On one occasion, I decided to wax their blue Chevrolet car. He wanted it to look nice and shiny, so he used axle grease. Needless to say, when daddy found out, I had to clean all the grease off the car. It did make the car look pretty, but what a mess to clean off.

We learned that the old house which was haunted burned to the ground several years later. I had kept his run in with the bear a secret for many years, and shortly before his dad passed away, he told him. It didn't surprise Kenny as he had heard simular stories about the Hienkin place before and then told us about his experiences there.

Note: taken from the files of the late Joy McDowell Cox

The Howington place was haunted. One night a car or truck crashed through the wall. The next morning everything was ok. I almost smothered one night because a lion was going around my bed and I would move to get away and get a breath of air. I was afraid to run to Mama. It was a miserable night. Another incident, a man was sitting on a barrel one night and when daddy went and got his gun, the man disappeared. Many other sounds and noises happened. It is said that 20 years earlier a man was killed in this house.

I started school at Lakeview community, Uncle Tony was also going to school there. Mrs. W.R. Franklin was my first grade teacher. I met a lot of kids; Betty, Earl, and Ralph Cox were going there and they had an older sister, I can't remember her name. Ruth Mrie Hardy was the first girl I got to go home with to spend the night. The Franklin's had a girl Lois Calvenia and boy, Harold.

Note: Bill McDowell's memories

The haunted house, that is when Bob took his first chew of tobaco. He and I were helping Dad with the moving. We had loaded the wagonat the old place and had headed for the new location , Dad was bragging about how big we were in helping him, while talking he took out his chewing tobaco,DAYS WORK, was the name of it and cut himself off a chew. Bob said Dad I want a chew, Dad cut him chew without saying a word.They would chew and spit. We got home about supper time so we got up to the table and Bob turned green. He didn't want another chew for years. It was there that Bob and I  fed the owners hogs while he had gone on vacation. We had to take a stick and put it through the handle of the feed bucket so we could carry it  the man paid us by getting us our first stripped overalls that we had on in the picture  standing on a barrel by Dad. We were little guys.

That year was a wet year, I know Dad was trying to cut feed and it was too wet . The wheel that pulled the binder to make it work would only slide to being wet. It was a horse pulled one row binder. That year mother's sister pasted away and our neighbor,the Kempers, took us to Wheeler for the funeral.

We always worked and I had no problem with that, I think it was good young people NEED  to know how to work.

from Bill McDowell

continued on page 2

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