Books on the Dowling Family
A Dowling Family of the South
By R. A. Dowling 1959
A Dowling Family of the South (DFS) was originally published in 1959 by R. A. Dowling of Dothan Alabama. It contains a wealth of information on the DOWLING family. Unfortunately, the original research documents used to prepare this book have been lost.
This book is considered the "bible" on this family as it contains information on almost all of the family members from Robert Dowling until the mid-1950s. It contains sections on the three sons of Robert and their descendants. It did make some assumptions about Robert's ancestry that current day information seems to dispute but for his descendants, it contains a wealth of information on this family. This book is now available using the link below..
Before spending much time in this book it is important that you first read the two sections titled Using the Charts and the Preface so you will understand the naming conventions used within the book. To give you a hint, a person born with the Dowling surname is displayed using only their given-name and middle names (where available) and these are CAPITALIZED with the name Dowling being omitted in most cases. There are thousands of Dowlings and their families mentioned in this book but only those closely related to my direct ancestors are in my TMG database..
The original book had been out of print for many years but Higginson's Books produced a hardbound reprint of the book. It is not clear if they are still producing this copy but it may still be available,
About the same time, the son of the original author, Hart Dowling of Dothan, AL, had the book retyped and the charts redrawn. In 2012 he provided me a preliminary copy of the book. Note that THE CONTENT HAS NOT BEEN UPDATED OR CHANGED AND NO NEW NAMES WERE ADDED but a few minor corrections and additions were made. Even the page numbers are the same as the original book.
With Hart Dowling's permission, I added a few extra touches to the book: photos of reunions and an index for the charts. It is now freely available in a searchable PDF file format with the page layout suitable for double-sided printing (so the larger charts will be on opposing pages).
Note that while this book is searchable, I recommend that you download the PDF file in order to search it as a Google Search may not return complete results.
Download a copy of A Dowling Family of the South in searchable PDF format (2.8 MB)
Dowlings Who Served Booklet
The booklet To Dowlings Who Served in America’s Wars was written to honor those Dowlings who served their country during wartime and is available on a series of webpages. You can also download the entire booklet in PDF format. Like the book above, it can be downloaded from the website. If you choose to download it, you will need a PDF reader to view and search it. Most of these names are not included in my TMG database unless they were close relatives. The Google Search form should find all the names in the book both on the webpages and in the PDF file. Click on the heading above to see the contents of the book.
The Dowling Family -- Their Ancestors and Descendants,
A book in remembrance of past generations
By Dr. Carolyn Rowell Haigler
This book published in 2002 contains 217 pages of Dowling history and genealogy and includes wills. probates. marriage and death records. census. cemetery records. land records. pictures and several other court records. The author passed away in March 2018 and currently it is not known where to get a copy of this book. However, it is reported that there is a copy in the Library of Congress.
It states that the Dowling family history originates in Ireland and that a William Dowling and his son Henry came to the Jamestown colony of Virginia sometime during the Great Migration period between 1618 and 1623 just in time to see the first windmill to be built in America.
Henry's son Matthew Dowling went to the Province of South Carolina during a time when there was a large influx of Irish settling the colony. Matthew died in South Carolina in 1674.
Henry's second son. Robert Dowling. had a son. Michael Dowling fought in the wars in the Indian ceded lands of South Carolina under the command of Captain Nelson.
After Michael Dowling died (before 1751). his wife was granted land on Stevens Creek in Edgefield County. South Carolina. near Barnwell. Two of their sons. Robert and William Dowling. were revolutionary soldiers. and from thence came many Dowling generations in South Carolina. Georgia. and Florida.
Some of the surnames contained in this book are: Aldredge, Allen, Altman, Ammons, Barber, Beckham, Bell, Bennett, Blanchett, Boutwell, Bowen, Brackin, Brauda, Brown, Carter, Clelland, Colley, Corbett, Cox, Crawford, Crews, Davis, Dixon, Dryden, Dubose, Echols, Edenfield, Fiveash, Graham, Griffin, Guess, Gunter, Halliford, Hanberry, Hand, Harper, Harris, Hendrix, Herrin, Hickox, Highsmith, Hill, Howard, Jacobs, Johns, Johnson, Jones, Kelly, Kimbrell, King, Knight, Lane, Lee, Lewis, Lyons, Matthews, Moody, Morgan, O'Quinn, Parrish, Pearson, Prescott, Raulerson, Register, Rhoden, Rice, Riggins, Roberson, Robinson, Rogers, Rosier, Rowell, Smith, Stokes, Stone, Strickland, Thomas, Thornton, Turner, Wainwright, Walker, Walston, White, Williams, and many others.
I can do limited lookups if needed from my copy.
From Jamestown to Texas
By Betty Smith Meischen
Betty Smith Meischen's book From Jamestown to Texas discusses the Dowlings part in a migration to Texas. This recently revised book contains more information, new stories of Texas and the early days of the USA, and now has pictures. Much of the Dowling section was adapted from A Dowling Family of the South. It is available at a reduced price from the original, and is also offered in hardback this time. It is available online from the author direct or from Amazon, Barnes & Nobles or 2500 other booksellers by special order.
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