I am trying to get a handle on the the Nehemiah Dowells of Breckinridge Co, KY. At the moment, I am particularly interested in learning why an obituary published in 1885 has been attributed to one man and not to another. I have found two versions of the obit. The first and most fulsome is that included in Beverly Sandefur's web page at the following: http://genealogy.com/users/s/a/n/Beverly-M-Sandefur/GENE1-0009.html#CHILD36 "The following was taken from The Breckenridge County News: 'Mr. Nehemiah Dowell, the oldest man in the county, died last Tuesday at his home three miles from Stephensport. His death was very sudden and unexpected, although he had long since passed the age said to be allotted to man. He was born in Bedford Co.,Va. But he himself had no means of knowing the exact time though the event was supposed to have occurred at least a century ago, as his son Harrison is upwards of 80 years of age. He says that his father was twenty or twenty-one years old at Harrison's birth, which would make him 102. He was one of the pioneers in the settlement of this section, and for the first seventy years of his life underwent many hardships. For thirty years , however, he has laid on his oars and rested from hard labor. He has been a wonderful man and the history of his life would be doubtless interesting. '" The second version is from Cox's book, "Kinfolk", p. 238: "Green River, KY. Newspapers, Vol. 11, by Robert D. McMannaway, 1993, p. 142. Owensboro Tri-Weekly Messenger, 1885, Saturday, 11 Jul 1885. NEHEMIAH DOWELL, the oldest settler of Breckinridge County, died Tuesday (which would be 7 July 1885) near his home in Stephensport. He was born in Bedford County, Va. about 100 years ago, but doesn't remember the exact dates. His son Harrison is now over 80 years old, and recalls his father noting that he was 21 years old when Harrison was born. Many descendants survive." Please note that neither obit gives a birth date for this Harrison Dowell. Looking at the first one, we can compute it however. If Nehemiah died in 1885 at 102, his birth would have been in 1783. To 1783 we add 21 years and have 1804 as the birth year for Harrison. The second obit explicitly says that this Harrison is over 80 years old in 1885. If he were only 81, his birth would still have to have been in 1804. (Subtracting 81 from 1885) If he were 82 or 83, it would have been earlier. Both Cox and Sandefur assign the obit to the Nehemiah who is said to have been born 30 Dec 1793 and have identified the "Harrison" of the obituary with "Benjamin H. Dowell". If this assignment is correct, then the obituary is wrong...which means that in 1885, Benjamin H. didn't know his own birth date yet from some source both Cox and Sandefur have learned that he was born 1 March 1816 which would make him on 69, not over 80, at the time of his father's death. Yet there is another Nehemiah out there who better fits the age perimeters given by the obit. That is the Nehemiah who is usually said to have been born in about 1786. Almost nothing is known about the fellow. He is the son of Elijah based on the court record which appoints him the administrator of Elijah's estate and specifies that he is the son of Elijah. This Nehemiah is also said to be the brother of a Harrison who was born in abt 1807. Cox includes in her write-up of Elijah several passages from the County Court Minutes for Breckinridge Co. She gives no dates for any of them. (If anyone else has those passages with the dates, I would greatly appreciate the information.) But they appear to be from about 1820/1821. In one of them a Harrison Dowell, under 21 but over 14, chooses his older brother Nehemiah to be his guardian. If the ages and dates are correct in the obits, then the relationship between Nehemiah and Harrison is wrong. If the ages are wrong in the obit, and the relationship is right, then it still needs to be proven, not merely asserted, that Benjamin is to identified as being the same person as Harrison and why at the time of the obit he was unclear of his own birth date and yet 100 years later both Cox and Sandefur think that they know it. Can any one tell me what the sources and reasoning for the identification of the Nehemiah who died in 1885 with the son of Micajah rather than the son of Elijah might be? Renee L. Dauven