Jeff Dowell, Jr. at one year old

Jeff Dowell, Jr., bottom right.  He was just a baby here.  Next to him on the left is his brother James.  Uncle Jimmy died in the late 1970s.  He had married my mother's sister, Elnora; her only sister.  Their three children and the seven of us, therefore, were "double cousins".  In the back row are their two brothers Theodore (Uncle "Thidore", as everyone in the family pronounced it), and Burton.  Uncle Theodore and Uncle Burton also married sisters, Cecil and Vera Roberts, respectively.  Cecil and Vera were my mother's first cousins.  So these four Dowell brothers married two sets of Roberts family sisters; two daughters of Lonzo Roberts (my grandfather), and two daughters of Blaine Roberts (my great-uncle).  Uncle Burton died in the 1980s and Uncle Theodore in the late 80s or early 90s.  Aunt Cecil died in the 70s, and Aunt Vera is still with us.  She visits Mom often.  She has Parkinson's Disease, but seems to be holding her own.

Back, left to right:  Theodore Dowell, Burton Dowell; Front, left to right: James Dowell and Jeff Dowell, Jr. (My Dad).  These are the four youngest boys of Jeff and Lucy Dowell at that time.  There would be one more boy and two more girls born in the next few years to make a total of 12 children in all before my gradfather died in 1928.  This picture was taken in the back yard of my grandparent's house.  This house was still lived in by my Grandmother Dowell when I was born.  I can remember visiting her there often.  She died before I turned five.  She had lived there with the second oldest of her sons, Uncle Harlan, until her death.  Then for a few years her youngest son, Uncle Leonard lived there with his family until the house burned down around 1975.