William Osborn McDowell
Encyclopedia
William Osborn McDowell (1845–1927) was a financier and businessman, and a founder and member of numerous patriotic and international organizations, and a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...

 in 1913. His business ventures included railroads, mining, and land speculation. He reorganized the Montclair Railroad (N.J.), the New York, Ontario and Western Railway
New York, Ontario and Western Railway
The New York, Ontario and Western Railway, more commonly known as the O&W or NYO&W, was a regional railroad with origins in 1868, lasting until March 29, 1957 when it was ordered liquidated by a US bankruptcy judge. The O&W holds the distinction of being the first major U.S...

 of New Jersey, and the Midland Railroad
Midland Railroad
The following railroads have been named Midland Railroad:*Florida Midland Railroad *Florida Midland Railroad *Midland Railroad *Midland Railroad *New Jersey Midland Railway...

 of New Jersey, and consolidated many others. He was president of the San Antonio Silver Mining Company of Nevada, the Patent Company of Newark and New York, the Coal and Iron Exchange and the Greenwood Lake Improvement Company.

Organizations

He was a founder of the American Institute of Christian Philosophy, the Sons of the American Revolution
Sons of the American Revolution
The National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution is a Louisville, Kentucky-based fraternal organization in the United States...

, the Daughters of the American Revolution
Daughters of the American Revolution
The Daughters of the American Revolution is a lineage-based membership organization for women who are descended from a person involved in United States' independence....

, and the Order of the American Eagle. He raised money to complete the Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886...

’s pedestal, lobbied for the establishment of a national university in Washington, D.C., and initiated the Columbian Liberty Bell project, which sent a replica of the Liberty Bell
Liberty Bell
The Liberty Bell is an iconic symbol of American Independence, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Formerly placed in the steeple of the Pennsylvania State House , the bell was commissioned from the London firm of Lester and Pack in 1752, and was cast with the lettering "Proclaim LIBERTY...

 on tour throughout the U.S. He founded the Cuban American League of the U.S., which supported Cuban independence, and the Pan Republic Congress, which strove for the standardization of international weights and measures, customs regulations, and the resolution of international disputes. His interest in international affairs led him to become a leader in the universal peace movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, founding the Human Freedom League, and the League of Peace
League of peace
League of peace is an expression coined by Immanuel Kant in his work Project for a Perpetual Peace. The league of peace should be distinguished from a peace treaty, or pactum pacis, because a peace treaty prevents or terminates only one war, while the league of peace seeks to end all wars forever...

, a forerunner of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

.

McDowell was the founder of the Sons of the American Revolution
Sons of the American Revolution
The National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution is a Louisville, Kentucky-based fraternal organization in the United States...

 (SAR). The founding of the SAR was, and still is, a matter of controversy. The SAR had its origins in McDowell's efforts to found the New Jersey Society of Sons of the Revolution (SR) in 1889. The SR was re-organized in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 in December 1883 and required that any societies founded in other states would be subordinate to the New York Society. A key philosophical difference between the two organizations was that the SR saw itself as an elite social organization whereas McDowell wanted the organization to become a mass movement with broad and generous membership requirements. As McDowell was unwilling to accept the subordination of the New Jersey society to the New York Society the result was that McDowell founded the SAR on April 30, 1889. Almost one year later, on April 19, 1890, the three existing societies of the SR (New York, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia) founded the General Society Sons of the Revolution.

Daughters of the American Revolution

McDowell was also instrumental in the founding of the Daughters of the American Revolution
Daughters of the American Revolution
The Daughters of the American Revolution is a lineage-based membership organization for women who are descended from a person involved in United States' independence....

 (DAR) in 1890. This again led to a schism in 1891 when Flora Adams Darling
Flora Adams Darling
Flora Adams Darling was an American author. She is primarily noted for playing a role in founding the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1890....

 (Vice Regent of the DAR) resigned from the DAR to form the Daughters of the Revolution (DR) which would not accept collateral descendants as members. Mrs. Darling's actions were prompted by McDowell's ambition to exploit the SAR and DAR as organizations on which to build a presidential campaign. (Reference - New York Times, July 30, 1891)

McDowell was married to Josephine Timanus McDowell (1850–1921). They had seven children - Pauline T. Akins (b. 1874), Nora McDowell Culver (d. 1944), Rachel Kollock McDowell (1880–1949), Malcolm McDowell (1880–1920), William Timanus McDowell, Ezra Osborne McDowell (1886–1979) and Eulilee McDowell Cook.

Rachel K. McDowell was a reporter for the Newark Evening News (1902), religious news editor of the New York Herald
New York Herald
The New York Herald was a large distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between May 6, 1835, and 1924.-History:The first issue of the paper was published by James Gordon Bennett, Sr., on May 6, 1835. By 1845 it was the most popular and profitable daily newspaper in the UnitedStates...

(1908), and became the first religious news editor of the New York Times in 1920, where she remained in that position until 1948. She lectured on religion across the country and on radio, and wrote a weekly article for The Presbyterian. She was founder of the Pure Language League for newspaper writers, to discourage the use of blasphemous and profane language.
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