USA > New Hampshire > Genealogical and family history of the state of New Hampshire : a record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation, Vol. II > Part 50
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Abigail S. Moulton, mother of William T. Rowell, was a daughter of Jacob S. Moulton, who was born May 3, 1770, and died February 26, 1843, in Chichester. He was married, July 13, 1794, to Nancy Tilton, born September 4, 1771. Their chil- dren were: Samuel S., Marcia, Nancy and Jacob (twins), the first of whom died at the age of one year, Nathaniel P., Caleb, Nancy and Abigail S. (X) Arthur William, only son of William T. and Lizzie M. (Stone) Rowell, was born June 27, 1870, in Manchester, and was educated in the public schools of that city, being graduated from the high school in 1889. He was graduated from Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, in 1893, and spent the next year in the employ of the Providence General Fire Extingusher Company as a drafts- man. He returned to Manchester in May, 1894, and has since been employed largely as a private tutor in that city, and teacher in and principal of the Spring street evening school of Manchester. Dur- ing two years of this time he was assistant princi- pal of the Valley Falls evening school and two years principal of the same school. For the last eleven years he has assisted the Board of Assessors in their work each spring, and is now clerk of the Board of Assessors under the new system which went into effect January 1, 1905. On August 22, 1904, he or- ganized the Northern New England Coal Com- pany, of which he is the treasurer and director, and has charge of its office work. He is a member of Mechanics Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, of Manchester, and one of the trustees, also a member of the executive committee of the degree team, and of Arbutus Rebekah Lodge of the same order, and is active in promoting the welfare of both organizations. He is a regular attendant of the Hanover Street Congregational Church and a mem- ber of the Society. His political affiliations, like those of his father, are with the Republican party. His only other official service was that of inspec- tor of the check list in Ward Three, Manchester. He was married December 26, 1897, to Alice O. Spaulding, daughter of Warren E. and Hattie (Storer) Spaulding. (See Spaulding.) Mr. and Mrs. Rowell have three children: Bertha Eunice, Mildred Louisa and Lucien Adrian.
(III) Philip, third son and child of Valentine
and Joanna ( Pinder) Rowell, was born March 8, 1648, in Salisbury, and lived in Amesbury, near the present corner of School and Pleasant streets. He was a shipwright and at one time kept an inn. During the latter part of his mother's life, and after her marriage to Richard Currier, she and her husband lived with Philip. He was married, January 5, 1670, to Sarah, daughter of Abraham and Sarah (Clement) Morrill, of Salisbury. In his last years he carried mail between Newburyport and Portsmouth. He was killed by Indians in an at- tack on Amesbury, July 7, 1690, and his estate was settled by his widow, then living with her second husband, in 1699. It was valued at two hundred and fifteen pounds, a fortune in those days. Their children were: Jacob, Sarah, Thomas, Abraham, John, Job, Hepzibah, Judith and Aaron. The mother married (second), July 3, 1695, Onesiphorus Page, and (third), May 27, 1708, Daniel Merrill. She was received in the Salisbury Church in 1698, and had three of her children (who were probably then minors), John, Job and Judith, baptized in 1699. Her last years were passed in South Hamp- ton, New Hampshire, with her children.
(IV) John, fourth son and fifth child of Philip and Sarah (Morrill) Rowell, was born in 1683 in Amesbury, and baptized April 30, 1699, in Salisbury. In 1729 he went to Chester, New Hampshire, and settled, June 14, on the north part of lot No. 114. On July I of that year he bought lot No. 50, and with Beniah Colby divided the two lots crosswise. He died February 1, 1736, in Kingston, New Hampshire. He married, March 2, 1715, Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel and Dorothy Colby. She was born December 7, 1694, in Amesbury, and was liv- ing in Chester in 1741. Three of their children were born in Amesbury and the others in Chester, namely: Enoch, Judith, Benoni, John and two daughters, whose names are not preserved, though it is known that one was the wife of John Sand- ers.
(V) John, third son and fourth child of John and Elizabeth (Colby) Rowell, enlisted in Captain John Goffe's Company of Colonel Joseph Blanch- ard's Regiment, in the expedition against Crown Point, April 24, 1755, and his service ended July 23, of that year. This regiment rendezvoused in Salisbury, on Daniel Webster's farm, at Fort Salis- bury. On March 10, 1760, he enlisted in Captain John Hayes' Company, under John Goffe, who was now a colonel, in the expedition under Colonel Haviland against Canada. This regiment cleared a road to Charlestown, New Hampshire, opposite which point on the Connecticut river a block house was constructed, and here John Rowell hecame ill and died, October 12, 1760. His wife's name was Elizabeth, and their children were: Moses, Benja- min, Patience, Samuel, and two daughters. one of whom married a Bowles and the other a Newell, both of Wentworth, New Hampshire.
(VI) Samuel, third son and fourth child of Joh111 (2) and Elizabeth Rowell, was born in the latter part of the year 1754, on a farm in Chester near the Londonderry line, not far from the birth- place of John Stark. The first record of Mr. Rowell is found when he enlisted, at the age of twenty years, in Captain Henry Dearborn's company of Colonel Stark's regiment, for Revolutionary ser- vice. At the battle of Bunker Hill this regiment formed the left wing of the colonial forces behind the rail fence filled in with stones and topped with hay. This was the point of most desperate attack
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by the British and of their greatest slaughter. In August, 1775. Samuel Rowell became a member of Dearborn's Company of seventy-seven men under Colonel Benedict Arnold, in the expedition against Quebec. Rowell was taken ill at Dead river, and was sent back with others disabled by the hard- ships and exposures of that ill fortuned expedition. lle received ten pounds for five months' service at this time. He again enlisted, November 29. 1775. in Captain Titeomb's Company, Colonel Poor's Regiment, and was sent to the northern Continental army under Brigadier-General Sullivan in New York. He was at his home in Chester in April fol- lowing. when he signed the association test. He soon after enlisted for twelve months in the army that marched by way of Albany to the relief of the former expedition in Canada. They met Arnold at the mouth of the Sorel river, and soon after Rowell was mustered into a company that went to the sup- port of Washington in the vicinity of New York, and participated in the battle of Long Island. Tra- dition says he was made a prisoner and thrown over the side of the ship on which he was eonfined while wrestling with one of his guards on the deck. It so happened that he fell in the water on the landward side of the vessel and escaped by swim- ming to shore. He participated in the battles of White Plains and Trenton, and soon after returned home, having served much longer than his term of enlistment. On July 20, 1777, he again enlisted in the first company raised in New Hampshire for the expedition under General Stark against Bur- goyne. He was in Colonel Moses Nichols' Regi- ment, which fired the first gun in the battle of Bennington and turned the tide of the war in fa- vor of the colonies. Rowell was discharged at the expiration of his term. September 28, 1777, and re- ceived for time and travel the sum of thirteen pounds, two shillings and ten pence in Continental money, equivalent to about two dollars in silver. Mr. Rowell was soon after inarried but did not long remain out of the military service. He enlisted, April 28, 1778, at Weare, in Colonel Moses Kelly's Regi- ment for nine months' service, and soon joined Washington at Valley Forge. The New Hamp- shire troops were in the hottest of the fight at Monmonth, and rested through the summer at White Plains, New York. Samuel Rowell partici- pated in the campaign in Rhode Island during the late summer, and received sixty pounds of depre- ciated currency, worth about seven pounds, for his service during this year. He again enlisted, April, 1780, in Captain Nathaniel Hutchins' Company, Colonel Joseph Cilley's First New Hampshire Regi- ment, for eleven months, and spent the summer under his old commander, Arnold, on the Hudson. He was present at the execution of the unfortunate Major Andre, and was discharged in March. 1781. nearly six years after his first enlistment in 1775. After the war Mr. Rowell resided for some years in the eastern part of Weare, and appears to have owned several tracts of land there at various times. lle sold a tract in "the gore" in 1794 and moved to Chester in 1795. Ile settled on the road from Martin's Ferry to Auburn, in that part of the town now a part of llooksett. Deeds show that he had purchased land there as early as 1785. His house was burned down in 1805. He was quite feeble in his later years, owing to his great exposures during his military service, and he was granted a pension in 1818. He died June 11. 1830, and was buried in the old graveyard at Martin's Ferry. Ile is de- seribed in his enlistment papers as being five feet,
eight inches in height, with light complexion and blue eyes. He was a very determined man, and was known to his neighbors by the sobriquet of "Old Iliekory." long before that name was applied to General Jackson.
Mr. Rowell married, November 27, 1777, in Weare, Sarah, daughter of Paul and Betty Duston. She was born April 15, 1758, in Chester, near the birthplace of her husband. Her father was a com- panion and friend of Mr. Rowell in the army and had removed to Weare in 1762. He was a son of Timothy and Sarah (Johnson) Duston, and grand- son of Thomas and Hannah (Emerson) Duston. Thomas Duston was an officer in King Philip's war, and his wife's feat at Pennacook in escaping from her Indian captors is well known in history, she being the only woman to whom a monument has been erected by the public for heroism. Two have been placed in her memory, ohne at Haverhill, Mas- sachusetts, and the other at Pennacook. Mrs Rowell was an ardent Methodist. and cherished her faith to the end of her life. When over eighty years of age she sustained a fracture of the hip, by a fall on the ice, and died August 27, 1842, at the home of her daughter in Barnet, Vermont. Her children were : Samuel, Betsey, Dustin. Lydia, Sarah, Mary. James C. and John P., the last born in Chester, the others in Weare.
(VII) John Page, youngest child of Samuel and Sarah ( Duston) Rowell, was born October 15, 1796, in Chester (Hooksett), and was reared upon his father's farm. He had little opportunity for edu- cation, but was a reader and was well informed for his time. He inherited or imbibed the martial spirit of his father, and enlisted at the age of eighteen years in the expedition for the defense of Portsmouth in 1814, during the second war with England. His service extended from May 24 to July 4, 1814. under Captain George Evans, in the Seventeenth New Hampshire Regiment. After the war he was active in the militia and served five years as captain of the Chester company. He in- herited the homestead farm and cared for his par- ents in their old age. In 1828 he moved to Amos- keag and was employed for a time in the mills there, but subsequently returned to the farm and served the new town of Hooksett in various official capacities. As justice of the peace he presided at numerous minor trials. In 1842 he purchased a farm on the River road in Manchester, and repre- sented that town in the legislature in 1843. He sold the farm to his son after the death of his wife, but continued to reside upon it and died March 20. 1875. lle was a devout member of the Methodist Church and long served as class leader. A staunch Demo- crat. his first presidential vote was cast for James Monroe, and one of his happiest days was that upon which, as one of the marshals, he acted as escort to President Andrew Jackson from Amoskeag to Concord. He was industrious and accumulated a competence. No stain ever rested upon him, and his daily prayer was that he might be spared from both poverty and riches. He married, May 10, 1820. Betsey, daughter of James and Nancy Emerson of Chester, where she was born October 3. 1796. Their children were: John L., Ephraim K., Elizabeth E .. Stephen Sargent. William Henry, James R. and Frank D. The fourth, fifth and sixth died in in- fancy. and the third at the age of fifteen years. The first and second were engaged in business in Manchester, where they died, and where the young- est passed away in his twentieth year.
(VIII) Ephraim Kelley, second son and child
Roland Powell
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of John P. and Betsey (Emerson) Rowell, was born November 21, 1822, in Hooksett, and spent most of his boyhood in what is now Manchester. A part of his youth was passed upon his father's farin, where he was active in such labors as he was able to perform during the summer, and the winters were employed in gathering such instruction as the rural schools afforded. He was endowed with sound judgment and an observing mind and absorbed knowledge that was useful to him through life. He was early trained in habits of industry and was able to accomplish an advancement of his fortunes in his mature years. In 1842 he moved to Man- chester and was actively engaged in business for the next thirty-four years. He handled much real estate, and came to be regarded as one of the best judges of values in the city. With the Yankee instinct for trade, he was successful, but no charge of trickery or equivocation ever rested against him. His personal character was clean and his foresight made him a reliable and wise counselor. After 1876 lie occupied the old family homestead in the north- ern part of the city until his death, October 5, 1896. He was an ardent Democrat, butt preferred the quiet of home life to partisan strifes, and never sought an office or affiliated with any kind of societies. He married, April 27, 1847, Mary Amanda, daughter of Robert and Lucinda (Gould) Davis. She was born May 30, 1827, in Hooksett, and died September 30, 1892, in Manchester. She was a loving wife and among the kindest of mothers, and possessed quali- ties that endeared her to all around her. Her church membership was with Grace Protestant Episcopal Church of Manchester, and her funeral held in its house of worship was one of the largest in its history. She was the mother of two sons, Roland and Charles Edgar.
(IX) Roland, elder son of Ephraim K. and Mary A. (Davis) Rowell, was born February 22, 1849, in Manchester, and received his education, as far as schools go, in the public schools of his native city. He was graduated from the high school in 1867 and the following year entered the office of the Manchester Union, as a printer's apprentice. Four years later he went to Boston as a journey- man and remained there until the spring of 1873. Returning to Manchester, he took up the study of law, and was admitted to practice at the May term of the supreme court at Plymouth in 1876. Upon the establishment of the Manchester police court he was appointed its clerk and held the office over a year, under Judge J. W. Fellows. In 1875, for the first time in its history, the city government of Manchester passed into the hands of the Democrats, and Mr. Rowell was elected clerk of the common council. In 1882 he went to Boston and remained three years, moving thence to Chicago. After an- other period of four years in Boston, he resided in Lowell eight years, and returned to his native place in the fall of 1897, and residing there until his death. Mr. Rowell was much interested in his- torical research and was a most pleasing and con- prehensive writer on that and kindred topics. He devoted considerable time to the history of the Rowell family, and published a work upon "Samuel Rowell (VI) and his Descendants," in 1898. He was a very active member and librarian of the Man- chester Historical Association and of the Manches- ter Old Residents' Association. His work on topics of local historical interest was thorough and pains- taking, as are all his published works, and will prove of great value to present and future readers.
His personality was as pleasing as his literary work, and he was esteemed by many of his contempor- aries. Mr. Rowell was a vestryman of Grace Church of Manchester, affiliated with Highland Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Lo- well, and was a Thirty-second degree Mason, hav- ing passed through the Knight Templar and Scot- tish Rite bodies and the Mystic Shrine. He was a past chancellor in the Knights of Pythias, a past grand of the Odd Fellows and a member of the Sons of the American Revolution. His interest in topics of human thought was wide spreading, and his participation in works calculated to promote progress and the general welfare of mankind is indicated by the affiliations above noted. He mar- ried at Chicago, September 5, 1883, Susan Alida Crosby, daughter of Alphonso and Sarah J. (Fair- field) Crosby. She was born November 18, 1853, in Albion, Maine. Mr. and Mrs. Rowell occupied a handsome residence on Chestnut street, Manches- ter, which is the abode of cheerful hospitality and contains many evidences of cultivated taste. Here Mr. Rowell passed away November 16, 1906, after a long illness.
(Second Family.)
There can be no doubt that the line ROWELL herein traced is a branch of the old Essex county family of Rowell. A very diligent search has failed to discover the date or place of birth or parentage of the first one given below.
(I) David Rowell, born 1761, first appears as a resident of the town of Weare, New Hampshire. His farm was located in the southwestern part of that town, where he was married (first) May 7, 1794, to Mary Brown, who was born May 25, 1774, daughter of Josiah and Deborah (Corliss) Brown, early residents of South Weare, where they settled in 1764. Before 1802 he removed to Croydon, New Hampshire, where his wife was killed in that year by a stroke of lightning. Her infant child, whom she was rocking at that time, escaped unharmed. The vital records of New Hampshire place her age at thirty-six years at the time of death. After the death of his wife, Mr. Rowell returned to Weare and was a resident there according to the records at the time of his marriage October 18, 1804, to Dolly Lovering, of Deering. He soon after returned to Croydon, and died in that town of spotted fever, April II, 1813, at the age of fifty-two years. His children by the first wife were: Anna, Judith, Hilliard, and Stephen. The second wife bore him David, Betsy and Sally. (Mention of Stephen and descendants forms a part of this article.)
(II) Hilliard, third child of David and Mary (Brown) Rowell, was born in Weare, May 6, 1798, and died December 26, 1864, aged sixty-six years. He settled in Croydon, where he was a successful farmer. He and his wife were buried in the East- man Cemetery at Sunapee. He married, April 3, 1825. Philena Keniston, who was born in Weare, November 2, 1802, and died in Croydon, February 15, 1841. Their children were: Danforth, Hilliard, Albert, Eben, David (died young), Sylvester and David Calef.
(III) Sylvester, sixth son and child of Hilliard and Philena ( Keniston) Rowell, was born at Ryder Corner, Croyden, January 16, 1831, and died Oc- tober 15, 1896. He was a farmer and stone mason. He traded extensively in cattle, and was successful in his undertakings. At the time of his death he left a farm of six hundred acres of land on which
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he had a substantial and handsome set of buildings. Among the stone structures of his building which are monuments of his skillful and honest work- manship, is the reservoir of the city Waterworks of Newport. He was very methodical in keeping a record of his business transactions. His books show among other things, the aggregate amount of taxes he paid in Croydon during his life, the amount being two thousand three hundred ninety-seven dol- lars and thirty-four cents. He was an energetic and successful man, whose character was above reproach. He was married, March 25, 1860, by the Rev. J. C. Emerson, of Sunapee, to Sarah C. Dow, daughter of Lorenzo Dow, of Croydon. She was born April 28, 1836, and resides on the old homestead with her son David. The children of this union were: Sarah Jennie, John Wesley, Hilliard Elmer, and David Selwin. Sarah Jennie, born November 25, 1861, married Reuben G. Smith, and lives in North Newport; John Wesley is mentioned in the next paragraph; Hilliard Elmer, April 29, 1867, resides in Sunapee; David Selwin, May 30, 1870, married Annie M. Sawyer, daughter of Andrew Sawyer, of Newport.
(IV) John Wesley, second child of Sylvester and Sarah C. (Dow) Rowell, was born in Croy- don, September 8, 1864, and educated in the public schools. Soon after attaining his majority he en- gaged in lumbering which he carried on until 1897, when he associated himself in business in the firm of Rowell & Young, and from that time until 1905 operated a saw mill at Sunapee. Since the latter date he has carried on the business alone. He cuts annually from two hundred fifty thousand to three hundred thousand feet of lumber, and manufactures all kinds of building supplies except mouldings. Mr. Rowell has served as selectman in Sunapee. He married, September, 1885. E. Belle Colby, daughter of Lafayette and Sylvia Ann (Collins) Colby, of Newbury.
(11) Stephen Rowell, youngest son and child of David and Mary (Brown) Rowell, was born in the town of Croydon, New Hampshire, June 27, 1802, and died in Newport, New Hampshire, Sep- tember, 1877, aged seventy-five years. As has been mentioned in the preceding paragraph, his mother was killed by lightning while he was an infant asleep in her arms. When a boy he was given a good common school education, and after leaving school lie devoted considerable time to teaching, generally of course, but penmanship in particular, for he enjoyed the reputation of being one of the most skillful penmen in all the county. In business life, however, his principal occupation was farm- ing and wool growing, which he carried on ex- tensively and with profit, and he eventually became one of the influential and forehanded men of his town. He lived first in Croydon, afterward in Weare, and spent the later years of his life in Newport. He married, first, Keron II. Bartlett ; second, Irene B. Bartlett, and third, Mary R. Wood- bury. All of his children were born in Weare and were: Richard S., Almond B., George F., Frank- lin P. and Irving G. Rowell.
(III) Franklin P., fourth son and child of Stephen Rowell, was born in Weare, New Hamp- shire, August 26, 1850, completed his education at Francestown Academy and went from that town to engage in business as a machinist in the city of Manchester where he remained for six years. Com- ing thence to Newport he purchased an interest in a grist mill which was operated for three years
under the firm name of Rowell, Wright & Co. Since that time he has occupied a prominent place in the business life of Newport and is looked upon as one of the most enterprising men of the town. At first he carried on the grist mill in partnership with Henry Wright, but afterward sold his interest and purchased of U. H. Dutton the grain and lum- ber business in what is locally known as Korn alley. He also erected a steam grist mill, and dur- ing his residence in Newport has been identified with almost every measure suggested for the wel- fare of the town and its people. He caused to be built and gave to the village the stone drinking fountain at the corner of Sunapee and North Main streets. Mr. Rowell is a director of the First Na- tional Bank of Newport and vice-president of the Newport Savings Bank. In politics he is a firm Republican, one of the leading men of that party in Sullivan county, and in 1893 represented New- port in the general assembly of New Hampshire. For the last thirty-six years he has been an usher in the Congregational Church and performed the duties of that position in Manchester before he moved to Newport. On June 9, 1874, Mr. Rowell married Eliza I. Young of Manchester, New Hamp- shire. She was born April, 1848, daughter of Say- ward J. and Martha (Ireland) Young of Manches- ter. Of this marriage five children have been born : Arthur S., born October 26, 1876, married October 26, 1898, Bessie Joslyn; Stephen Franklin, born Oc- tober 4, 1878; Lena Garfield, born in 18So; Irving W., born April, 1886; Jesse Richard, born April, 1891. Mr. and Mrs. Arthur S. Rowell have two children: Richard, born September 1, 1899, and Sayward, born December 7, 1900. Irving W. Ro- well married in June, 1907, Miss Edith Glidden of Newport, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Emry Glid- den.
William, son of Aaron Rowell, was born in New Milford, Maine, in 1805, and died in Lancaster, New Hampshire, 1857. He was a carpenter and builder, and after 1844 resided in Lancaster. In religious faith he was a Free Baptist. In political sentiment he was a Democrat, and held the office of collector and other minor offices. He married Belinda Rogers, born in Derry, 1803, died in Lan- caster, 1878, daughter of Thomas and Lydia Hall Rogers, of Jackson. Seven children were born to them: Lydia D., William L., James M., Levi W., Victoria A., Catherine and Ellen M.
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