|
 CHARLES
ROWLEY. In the career of Charles Rowley we find one of
the best examples of the thrifty, enterprising descendants of that sturdy
New England stock, which characterizes the Western Reserve, and has made it
so justly famous as one of the great centers of intelligence, morality
and prosperity. He came from an old English family, his quite remote
ancestors being among the very first settlers and pioneers of Connecticut.
His grandfather, Eli Smith Rowley, born about
the middle of the eighteenth century, was a man of strong character and
convictions, and thoroughly patriotic. When but fifteen years of age
he enlisted in the Revolutionary war, and was captured by the British; but,
though a mere boy, he managed to make his escape, and by traveling at night
again reached the Colonial ranks, where, by his valiant service, combined
with his extreme youth, he acquired a distinction that was truly deserved.
His military life was most appropriately referred to by Hon. Peter
Dyckman in an address delivered on July 4, 1876, at Jefferson, N. Y., in
which he said: "I know at least one Revolutionary hero, taking his
lasting rest among the ever silent of yonder cemetery. Many are the
scenes he has portrayed before my mind in reciting 'deeds immortal' like
until this. * * * Among the noble patriots who have left a
record of deeds of daring and patriotism, we may upon this Centennial
Anniversary day inscribe upon the banner of Liberty the name of Eli Smith
Rowley." At the close of the war he engaged in the pursuit of
farming, which was conducted until at a very advanced age he quietly retired
from active life.
Edward Rowley, his son, was born October 23,
1788. When quite young he left school to learn the cabinet maker's
trade, which, though later returning to the family trait of farm life, he
followed till near his death, April 1878. He was a most excellent
workman, and manufactured the finest grades of household furniture, coffins
and caskets to be found at that day. His school days were quite
limited, yet being of a studious nature, and a great observer, he became
well educated, possessed an excellent address, and was a fine musician.
He was a prominent member of an ardent worker in the Presbyterian Church of
Jefferson, N. Y., where the greater part of his life was spent, always
taking an active part in the religious and better side of life. In
business affairs he was successful, rearing and educating a large family,
then retiring in comfortable circumstances. Of his first marriage
three sons were born: Frederick, the eldest, joined the
"forty-niners" in California, and there accumulated much property;
returning, he served two terms as sheriff of Schoharie county, N. Y., where
he spent the remainder of his life. Of the other sons, Harvey
is still living in western New York, and Edward, who went South when quite
young, became a wealthy planter in Georgia, enlisted in the Confederate
Army, and was probably killed during the war, as he has never been heard
from since. His first wife having died, Edward Rowley, Sr., was
again married, this time to Miss Lydia Decker, who was a member of an
old family which has long been prominent in the lumber and agricultural
regions of Michigan and southern Canada. She was a woman of
considerable executive ability, especially in domestic and church circles,
yet of a mild, loving disposition which was ever manifest. She died
April 27, 1877, at the age of seventy two years, at Stamford, N. Y., her
husband following her a few months later. Of this union five children
were born: Elizabeth (Mrs. Edwin Sweet), now living in Eminence, N.
H.,; Sarah (Mrs. James Merchant), who died at Jefferson, N. Y., in
April, 1878; Eli, the elder son, who was the first man in Schoharie
county to offer his services to his country, at the beginning of the
rebellion, did noble service in the Union cause, where by hard service and
exposure, he contracted in lung trouble that ended in his death on July 24,
1867, at the age of thirty-two years; Charles; and Mary Jane
(Mrs. Dr. E. W. Gallup), now living at Stamford, New York.
Charles Rowley was born in Jefferson, N. Y.,
January 11, 1838, and died at North Fairfield, Ohio, November 28, 1891.
Of his life and character perhaps no matter sketch can be given than the
following, which appeared in the Norwalk, Ohio, Experiment - News, shortly
after his death: "On a farm, in Jefferson, N. Y., in the year 1838,
Charles Rowley was born, the youngest son of Edward and Lydia Rowley.
The name has since won for itself a respect and confidence so universal that
only a most true and earnest man might hope to win. It is the fact
that the life and death of Charles Rowley presents everywhere models
of a pure life and a pure quality of heart, so much so that the
Experiment News has gathered the few simple details of a life not great
in glory and tinsel of cheap fame, but rich in true nobility of heart.
"What may have been the home training of Mr. Rowley
on that New York farm is best attested to his after-life. We do not
gather figs of thistles; neither do men of the noblest refinements of nature
come from other than noble parents. Nor did the precepts of those
God-fearing parents fall on stony soil. Almost from boyhood earnest
industry, the plodding step to success, marked the progress of the youth in
his studies. After several terms spent in the best school of all, the
position of teacher studying the developing sturdy natures of scholars,
Mr. Rowley completed his education in the Franklin litary Institute, at
Franklin, New York.
"In 1860 Mr. Rowley left his home for Michigan,
where he became secretary for extensive milling and lumbering interests,
owned by a cousin, Charles Decker, splendidly fitting him for the
successful prosecution of his own business interests in after years.
In April, 1863, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Stevens, of Ripley,
Huron county, and took his bride to Michigan with him, this time to enter
the retail store of J. L. Woods, now President of the Euclid Avenue
Bank of Cleveland. In November, 1886, he came to North Fairfield and
engaged in the mercantile business, which was conducted most profitably by
him up to the time of his death. He was also the owner of a fine farm
near the village, the management of which occupied much of his time and
attention. He was a director of the Norwalk Savings Bank Company, and vice
president of the Huron County Mutual Insurance Company. In politics
Mr. Rowley was always a stanch Democrat, fearless in his opinions, but
not giving offense by advancing them against contrary opinions. He was
always a faithful worker in the interests of his party, and though in a
community noted for its radical Republican sentiment and with an adverse
majority of three to one against him, has been repeatedly elected school
director, till forced to decline to serve longer because of ill health.
He has also held the offices of township clerk and township treasurer, an
almost impossible accomplishment for a Democrat in Fairfield.
"During his early life Mr. Rowley was a member
of the strict school of the Presbyterian Church. Of later years, and
since his residence in Fairfield, he has been an active and devout worker in
the Congregational Church. As a sincere Christian, firm in the faith,
he met death without fear and in calm and hopeful resignation. His
private life was without reproach. In his family he was a loving and
always solicitous father, striving by example rather than precept to to
inspire all about him with his own earnestness of purpose. He was
liberal in giving thorough educations to his children, denying them
nothing that would better fit them for the struggle of life. Among his
neighbors no man shared more fully the public confidence. It is
related of him that in many cases large sums of money were deposited with
him for safe keeping, the owners showing a confidence that they did not have
in any bank or saving institution.
"At the time of his death Mr. Rowley was a
comparatively young man, but too faithful devotion to business laid the
foundations of disease too deeply for human skill to remove. For
fourteen years he ahs suffered in health, at times seriously. Last
spring an attack of grip fastened its clutches onto him, developing
complications of disease which gradually drew him down until he was forced
to his bed, nearly seven weeks before his death. Nervous prostration
in its worst form resulted, and he quietly breathed his last at 6 o'clock A.
M. November 28."
He leaves surviving him his widow; four sons, of whom
the eldest, Edward F., is conducting the business he left, and
is president of the North Fairfield Savings Bank; Arthur E., who
after graduating in the literary department of the University of Michigan,
and being admitted to the bar, is now practicing law, in partnership with
Hon. G. T. Stewart, at Norwalk, Ohio; two small boys, Charles Scott
and Leveret Alcott; and one daughter, Anna L., now attending
college at Oberlin. In the quiet village cemetery at North Fairfield
his remains are resting in the beautiful family vault erected shortly after
his death. |
