Nancy Anna Dowell (maiden name: Campbell) was born around 1843 in Rockville, Indiana, to Joseph Campbell and Rachel Tenbrook. Her father was a prominent miller and, according to one early account, was a “well-known wrestler, an unerring shot and a swift runner.” He served as a local militia captain and was a “strong adherent to the principles of the Whig party.” Joseph died sometime in the early 1840s, and Rachel followed on January 5, 1844. After her parents died, Nancy went to live with her uncle Abram Tenbrook in Wapello County, Iowa. Abram brought Nancy to Jacksonville, Oregon, around 1852.

Nancy married Benjamin Franklin Dowell in Jacksonville on October 24, 1862, and they had three children together: Fanchon, born around 1863; Anna, born around 1865; and Benjamin, born on March 22, 1870. By all accounts, Nancy was a strong-willed, politically-savvy woman who played an active role in her community. She served on the Women’s Centennial Board, arranged meals for local July 4 celebrations, and presided over a “woman’s condolence meeting” after President James Garfield’s death in 1881. Nancy also supervised her husband’s newspaper, The Oregon Sentinel, while he was away, and she occasionally drafted articles and acted as editor.

The family moved to Portland, Oregon, in 1885, and Benjamin died there on March 12, 1897. Soon afterward, Congress granted Nancy an $8 monthly pension for Benjamin’s service in the Indian Wars. In the 1910s, she moved in with her daughter Anna and her son-in-law Patrick Bannon. According to one local editor, Nancy “took an active part in philanthropic work both in Portland and out and became widely acquainted with people of the state, rich and poor alike.” She died in Portland on January 12, 1931, and was buried in the city’s River View Cemetery.

Images: Nancy Anna Dowell (Courtesy Oregon Historical Society Digital Collections).