DOWIE, JOHN ALEXANDER

(18471907), born in Edinburgh, was for a time a student at Edinburgh University. He afterwards went to S. Australia, where his parents were living, as the minister of a Congregational church. Later on he claimed the power of being able to heal people by means of prayer, and organized the ‘Christian Catholic Church in Zion,’ he himself being the overseer, and at the beginning of 1900 he settled with his followers on the shores of Lake Michigan in Zion City. In 1903 and 1904 he visited England, where he did not meet ’ with much encouragement, and in 1906 his prestige over his followers was lost after the revolt of Zion City. D. was popularly known by the title of ‘Doctor,’ and he himself claimed to be Elijah. Brit. novelist and traveler. Her novels include A Girl in the Karpathians, 1891; Gallia, 1895; Some Whims of Fate, 1896; Love and his Mask, 1901.