Robert Hughes Dowdle

Robert Hughes Dowdle was born April 6, 1830 in Moulton, Alabama to Robert and Sarah Ann Robinson Dowdle. Robert is a Pioneer of Cove. Robert was a veteran of the Utah War Indian Wars.

History

Soon after Robert's birth, his family moved to Macon, Alabama until 1843 when they lost the land due to "a pretended and false debt." They move to King Creek, Mississippi soon after. The year following, the day before Robert's 14th birthday, the Dowdle family was converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and began preparations to move with the other Saints in Nauvoo, Illinois. The Dowdle family reached Winter Quarters, Iowa in July of 1847.1 

Soon after their arrival, Robert's father died. Robert and his siblings moved to Missouri for a time to get work so that they could travel across the plains. The Dowdle family secured enough money to cross the plains, joined the James C. Snow company on July 5, 1852 and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on Oct 9. After their arrival, they settled in Santaquin, Utah.1

Robert married Hanrietta Messervy on March 27, 1857 in Santaquin, Utah. In 1858, Robert participated in the Utah War in Echo Canyon. After, Robert was called set apart as a member of the 46th Quorum of Seventy for the Church.2

In 1860, the Dowdle family moved to Cache Valley. They settled in current-day Cove and made a homestead in the area. Sometime in the late 1860s, the Dowdle family moved to Franklin, Idaho. Robert's daughter Etheland said about the move,

"The family as they grew older thought they would like to live in town, as Franklin was beginning to be quite a town, so to speak. There was a home arranged and the family went to town to live."1

The Dowdle family moved to Cove in 1876. Robert entered the practice of polygamy by marrying Janet Lowe on Oct 3, 1869 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Robert's daughter Nellie said about her father,

"He was sociable. He liked to go around and visit all his friends. He liked apple cider. One time on the 24th of July when he went around visiting his old cronies, the apple cider was fermented, and he got drunk. When he returned home I remember my mother saying: 'You old fool you.' He was humorous, he liked to tell stories. He would not talk about his childhood, however; he would just say two or three words. He tended to be a little lazy. He wasn't mean, he never raised a hand against his children. He taught us to pray. He expected allot of us. He was silent around the house, he kept his mouth shut. He loved Robert Hazen, he lived for that boy. There was a large spring on our farm, the water was used to water our fruit trees, garden and quite a lot of our wheat and alfalfa. He later sold this spring to the town of Franklin for their water supply."1

In 1905, Robert sold his farm in Cove and moved to Preston, Idaho.1

Epilogue