macdowell, mcdowell

You say that the family may have moved to Scotland in the 1700s. Most McDowells in ireland are descended from Scots settlers who arrived here in the 1600s, so the family were probably originally from Scotland anyway.

Researching in Ireland in the 1700s is very hard going due to the general lack of records. If you don’t know where they lived it’s a needle in a haystack. Ideally you need to know the person’s exact denomination and the townland or parish they lived in to have any chance of finding them, and even then there may not be any records for that location.

Possibly DNA testing may be a way of matching with others who have additional information about where the family originate. Family Tree DNA reportedly has more people with Ulster roots than any other company. That obviously increases the chances of finding a match. You might want to try them or, if you have already tested, you can transfer your results to them for no fee.

The North of Ireland Family History Society is running an Ulster DNA project and can offer FTDNA testing kits at a reduced price.  http://www.nifhs.org (Go to DNA project on the website).

A fairly common alternative spelling found across Ulster is Madole (reflecting how the name is generally pronounced here.) Always worth bearing in mind when searching documentary sources in Ireland.