 Birth | November 2, 1889 34 23 |
 Historical Event | Spanish-American War between April 1898 and August 1898 (Age 8 years)Note: The Spanish-American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, the result of American intervention in the Cuban War of Independence - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish%E2%80%93American_War |
 Death of a paternal grandmother | Mary Eliza Shemwell January 14, 1900 (Age 10 years) |
| Death of a sister | Ellen Mary Dowell May 7, 1900 (Age 10 years) |
 Census | June 1, 1900 (Age 10 years) |
| Census | April 16, 1910 (Age 20 years) |
| Death of a mother | Martha Ellen “Mattie” Wilson October 4, 1916 (Age 26 years) |
| Historical Event | Polio Epidemic 1916 (Age 26 years)Note: Over 7,000 deaths and 27,363 cases reported in America's worst polio (infantile paralysis) epidemic - http://goo.gl/ZBEQA1 |
| Historical Event | World War I between 1917 and November 1918 (Age 27 years)Note: The United States enters 'The Great War' where more than nine million combatants were killed- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I |
| Historical Event | Spanish Influenza Epidemic 1918 (Age 28 years)Note: Spanish Influenza killed over 500,000 people in the United States, and somewhere between 20 and 40 million in what has been cited as the most devastating epidemic in history - http://virus.stanford.edu/uda/ |
| Census | January 9, 1920 (Age 30 years) |
| Historical Event | The Great Depression October 1929 (Age 39 years)Note: The Wall Street Crash sets off the Great Depression, the most severe worldwide economic depression in the 20th century - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression |
| Census | May 6, 1930 (Age 40 years) |
| Death of a father | George Washington Dowell Jr. August 8, 1931 (Age 41 years) |
| Census | May 2, 1940 (Age 50 years) |
| Historical Event | World War II between December 1941 and August 1945 (Age 52 years)Note: The United States enters World War II after the attack at Pearl Harbor, a global war that involved the vast majority of the world's nations and including all of the great powers - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II |
| Historical Event | Korean War between 1950 and 1953 (Age 60 years)Note: The Korean War was a war between the Republic of Korea (South Korea), supported by the United Nations, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), at one time supported by the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War |
| Historical Event | Vietnam War between 1946 and 1975 (Age 56 years)Note: The Vietnam War was a long, costly armed conflict that pitted the communist regime of North Vietnam and its southern allies, known as the Viet Cong, against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. The divisive war, increasingly unpopular at home, ended with the withdrawal of U.S. forces in 1973 and the unification of Vietnam under Communist control two years later. More than 3 million people, including 58,000 Americans, were killed in the conflict. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War |
 Death | June 2, 1972 (Age 82 years) |