Chistian Dowlan is legendary in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania for the feat of raising 21 children from two wives (Historical Papers - Franklin County and the Cumberland Valley, Pennsylvania, by Jacob H. Stoner, 1947, The Craft Press, Inc, Chambersburg, Pa.). His first wide was Anne Hamilton (Pennsylvania Marriage Records). The name of hius second wife is not known.Most of these children were raised in a one-room cabin that is now a historic site in the city (The Burns Cabin - http://articles.herald-mail.com/1997-07-23/news/25130693_1_log-cabin-18th-century-cabin-original-cabin). The story indicates that the oldest of these children left home as soon as they could work, and may have never known their younger siblings.
My third great grandfather, Simon Samuel (S.S.) Dowlan was born in Waynesboro (West Virginia Register) in 1828. He married in Martinsburg, then in Virginia, and lived out his life there after it became part of West Virginia. Christian Dowlan is the only Dowlan associated with Waynesboro during the early part of the 1800s (US Cencus records), when S.S. Dowlan was born. Chistian Dowlan's descendents later spelled the surname "Dowlin" (US Census records. I believe that S.S. Dowlan's father is likely Christian Dowlan of local legend, but I have no direct evidence to prove this... only evidence by default.
Chirstian Dowlan is tracked by US Census records in Waynesboro from 1810 to 1860. S.S. Dowlan first appears in US Census in 1860 in Martinsburg.
