My gggrandfather, William Andrew Yowell(1833-4/19/1885)was born in Va but moved to MO shortly after his marriage to Catherine Ann Wise(1832-6/15/1903). During the Civil War he fought with Shelby. After the war, he followed Shelby to Mexico. Once there, he sent for wife Catherine and 4 sons (Charles Marion Yowell(8/1856-1946, twins John Wesley Yowell(2/1861-?)and Francis(Frank)Edgar Yowell(1861-?)and infant William(Willie)who later died and is buried in Mexico City. They travelled from MO to New York, boarded a ship and sailed to Vera Cruz. They lived in Mexico City for 4 years. Then they travelled by covered wagon to Waco, Texas and our family continues to live in the area. There is some confusion about exactly what W.A. did while in Mexico. One account says he went there to construct the first street car tracks in Mexico city and another implies that he continued to serve with Shelby. "Fallen Guidon" by Davis pg 76 mentions Yowell and Berry, long a family friend of the Yowell's.

Very confusing... if you run across references to Yowell in Mexico, please advise me. Perhaps W.A. Yowell started out with Shelby but ended up on the construction crew??

I have just begun to research the C.M.Yowell side of the family. I discovered that the library of congress has posted manuscripts online that were taken as part of the WPA Federal Writers Project. There is one about W.A. Yowell & C.M. Yowell, written by my grand-aunt, Ollie Yowell Sisco (C.M.'s daughter who was a school teacher). I have her original copy, but I didn't know until recently that it was included in this larger body of work. I think you would enjoy reading it. Here is the link to the web page, just type Yowell into the keyword search (I think a second page then pops up and you have to enter Yowell in the search box a second time). It describes their time in Mexico.

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wpaintro/wpahome.html

If I run across any more personal info/narratives specific to the Mexico topic, I will be sure to contact you.
Thanks for your interest, I am happy to help. Good luck with your project.
Warm regards, Debbie Yowell Farley, Killeen, Texas