Thomas Dowty
Thomas Dowty, the father of Thomas Dowty, was a South Carolinian, born about 1785. His grandfather, David Dowty, was a farmer and dealer in blooded horses, and removed to Kentucky, and thence to Athens County, Ohio, where he died. His son, Thomas Dowty, emigrated to Wayne County in 1811, settling on a farm east of Wooster, on the State road. Here he entered eighty acres of land and remained a few years, when he went to Franklin Township in 1814, where he entered 160 acres of land, now owned by the heirs of Adam Weiker. He settled in the woods, built a cabin, lived in it without a floor, etc., and staid to 1830, when he removed to the farm now owned by his son, Thomas Dowty, and here his death occurred in 1842. He was married to Rosa Sowards, a Kentucky lady, and raised six children. He was re-married to Hannah Young, of Holmes County. Thomas Dowty, his son, was born November 27, 1806, in Athens County, Ohio, and was married October 20, 1836, to Sarah Ann Cavenee, of Columbia County, Pennsylvania. David Dowty, we were informed by Thomas, who was his cousin, was the first white boy born in Wayne County, that event transpiring in Wooster, his father's name being Daniel Dowty. The farm upon which Thomas Dowty now lives is said to be the first one entered in Franklin Township, and by old James Morgan. Upon his premises, and near his house, in 1874, he constructed a beautiful fish pond, supplied from a strong spring, in which are many varieties of fish. He is a generous and warm-hearted man, charac- terized by a true Southern hospitality, sociableness and friendliness of feeling.
From History of Wayne County, Ohio, From the Days of the Pioneers and First Settlers to the Present Time, by Robert Douglass, 1878