Here is the cousin group shot. Brian has a similar photo from a different angle, with a different set of hidden faces at his site:
http://bjrowlison.googlepages.com/home
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
The Cousin Group Photo - July 21, 2007
Here is the cousin group shot. Brian has a similar photo from a different angle, with a different set of hidden faces at his site:
http://bjrowlison.googlepages.com/home
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Thanks, Mary & Brian
Thanks to Mary and Brian for hosting our 2007 Rowlison family reunion. The weekend progressed like a well-oiled machine with a series of fine venues that provided a great atmosphere to re-connect with family members.
An event like that takes extensive planning and organizing and your efforts were greatly appreciated by all.
Jerry, on behalf of "all"
An event like that takes extensive planning and organizing and your efforts were greatly appreciated by all.
Jerry, on behalf of "all"
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Lena Rowlison
Lena was our honored Rowlison family member. Lena's parents were Gustavus Adolphus (Dolph) Rowlison and Madge Bryan. Dolph was the oldest child of James and Rhoda Rowlison, born in Indiana in August, 1866 and a infant as they began their trek west that winter.
Max & Leota - 45th
We were honored to have Max and Leota share their 45th wedding anniversary with us on Saturday.
Max is a grandson of James and Rhoda Rowlison.
Visit to Moulton, Iowa
After we left Kirksville, we traveled North across the Iowa border to the little town of Moulton to see where J. D. Rowlison moved his growing family after their stay in Missouri. This is now a very small town surrounded by very good corn cropland. It is easy to see why James D. would have moved from the wooded hayland south of Kirksville to this part of Iowa if he was interested in raising corn.
There are four or five old buildings probably from the late 1800's in Moulton. The upper floors of these classic buildings are in use, which is not often the case in these towns. I spoke with some people who were landscaping the front of the library this Sunday afternoon and learned a bit about the past of this little town.
This is a view of cropland just south of Moulton and is typical of much of the surrounding area. The family moved here in 1874 and were down the road to Nebraska by the winter of 1878-1879. Martha Ann was the only Rowlison baby born in Moulton. James and Rhoda left Iowa with a brood of six youngsters.
Jerry
Photos near the Kirksville farm
This location is my best guess for the location of J. D. Rowlison's farm in Missouri. The tree line over my shoulder is Bear Creek. The road behind me is State Route 11 about 1/4 mile from highway 63. The farm description included a reference to the N. W. Railroad. The St. Louis, Kansas City and Northern Railroad is listed on a reference to Troy Mills. I found another reference that called it the St. L. K. C. N. W. Railroad so the N. W. reference makes sense. This hay land is typical of this immediate area. The better crop land is on the North side of Kirksville.
This is the convenience store 2 miles west of Highway 63 and apparently near the site of the Troy Mills Wollen Mills, though the folks in the store did not know where the Troy Mills name originated.
And this is the antique store on the west side of Highway 63 south of Kirksville and just north of the Route 11 intersection. These folks identified the creek behind them and to the south as Bear Creek. They also said that a railroad had once been along the present site of highway 63. I place the farm to the southwest of this store, possibly across on the south side of Bear Creek.I declared this to be a successful day of exploring and hunting.
Jerry
Monday, July 23, 2007
We found the Kirksville farm...
Well, we're pretty sure we found approximately where the Kirksville farm was.
I mentioned to the breakfast group in Kewanee on Sunday morning that Rita and I were returning to Nebraska via a detour to Kirksville, Missouri. We have the text of a local newspaper add that JD ran when he put the farm up for sale in 1874. The sale ad was as follows:
Fifty Acres Farm for Sale
This farm is situated on Bear Creek, four miles south of Kirksville, and one and one half east of Troy Mills on the N. M. Railroad.
The ad goes on to describe the farm, forty acres fences, 25 in cultivation, rolling, a well, orchards, etc. Asking price was $25 per acre.
We drove south of Kirksville on highway 63, a four-lane divided road with wide shoulders and ditches. Kirksville development makes it a bit uncertain to determine where central Kirksville may have been 140 years ago to start your four mile clocking and the development extends about four miles to the south with a Days Inn not far from the target location. We noticed an antique dealer called The Old Inn Mini Mall and stopped there after scouting the neighborhood. The folks there were very friendly informing us that Bear Creek was behind their location, there used to be railroad tracks that ran parallel to the road and Troy Mills was two miles west of us.
We drove to the west on state highway 11 and found several business using the Troy Mills name. We stopped at a convenience store. No one could tell us where the name came from. We later Googled the name and found that Troy Mills was a wollen mill that operated in 1868 - when the Rowlisons lived there, and that a small community grew up around it.
We went back to the east stopping at about the location that best fit these descriptions. We were on highway 11 about 1/2 mile west of 63. The creek is a couple hundred yards north of the road, there are wooded areas over much of the land with small cultivated plots between but mostly hay fields. I took several pictures in each direction from that point and am relatively certain that we were within no more than 1/2 mile of JD's farm.
I've often joked that JD had seen his best farm land where he was born in Jefferson County, Indiana. We've been there and it is very good for corn and tobacco. I'd been near Kirksville, Moulton, and in Peru, Edgar and Hoxie and always felt that JD had generally migrated to poorer and poorer farm land as he moved west - no offense intended Kansans, but I was raised on a corn farm. We drove north of Kirksville and the land in that direction compares favorably with any, but I cannot fault old JD for wanting to move on from his farm south of town to find a better setting.
They moved to Moulton, Iowa in 1874; he must have gotten somewhere near his $25/acre. Moulton is only about 40 miles to the north of Kirksville, just across the Iowa border. We made that drive quickly and checked out the little town. I don't have any information on the location of that farm, but the general farm land situation there is much better than at his farm south of Kirksville, at least from this corn farmer's perspective.
It was Sunday afternoon but there was a landscaping project underway at the library with the librarian supervising. I had a good conversation on the history, development and decline of the community. The library has a full collection of old newspapers that may warrant a return visit someday.
I've now visited the areas of each of JD's farms, if not the exact locations. Ironically, I actually need to take Vaunden's legal descriptions and track down the several Edgar area locations to say I've seen each location, as well as the actual Hoxie farm. Still, generally speaking, the farmland in Jefferson County must have been a gnawing memory for him all along that trail. I suspect that the population pressure there made it tough, or impossible for a new farmer to get a toehold on land and the open country to the west must have been a strong draw.
JD and Rhoda arrived in Kirksville with Dolph as a baby less than one year old. They left for Moulton seven years later with Dolph at age 8, Maggie was six, George was 4, Minnie was two and Charles was born in May of that year (1874) before they moved, probably in the fall.
Martha was born in Moulton in 1877 and they were living in Peru Bottom, Nebraska when Myrtle was born in 1879. That litany of the dates of birth of those seven kids as well as the prospect of making those multiple moves is worth re-reading and pondering for a bit.
People move, or populations migrate for a variety of reasons but usually they are either trying to find something or are trying to leave something. I wonder what were the motivations of JD and Rhoda. Maybe he (they?) was just restless.
G'day for now - Jerry
I mentioned to the breakfast group in Kewanee on Sunday morning that Rita and I were returning to Nebraska via a detour to Kirksville, Missouri. We have the text of a local newspaper add that JD ran when he put the farm up for sale in 1874. The sale ad was as follows:
Fifty Acres Farm for Sale
This farm is situated on Bear Creek, four miles south of Kirksville, and one and one half east of Troy Mills on the N. M. Railroad.
The ad goes on to describe the farm, forty acres fences, 25 in cultivation, rolling, a well, orchards, etc. Asking price was $25 per acre.
We drove south of Kirksville on highway 63, a four-lane divided road with wide shoulders and ditches. Kirksville development makes it a bit uncertain to determine where central Kirksville may have been 140 years ago to start your four mile clocking and the development extends about four miles to the south with a Days Inn not far from the target location. We noticed an antique dealer called The Old Inn Mini Mall and stopped there after scouting the neighborhood. The folks there were very friendly informing us that Bear Creek was behind their location, there used to be railroad tracks that ran parallel to the road and Troy Mills was two miles west of us.
We drove to the west on state highway 11 and found several business using the Troy Mills name. We stopped at a convenience store. No one could tell us where the name came from. We later Googled the name and found that Troy Mills was a wollen mill that operated in 1868 - when the Rowlisons lived there, and that a small community grew up around it.
We went back to the east stopping at about the location that best fit these descriptions. We were on highway 11 about 1/2 mile west of 63. The creek is a couple hundred yards north of the road, there are wooded areas over much of the land with small cultivated plots between but mostly hay fields. I took several pictures in each direction from that point and am relatively certain that we were within no more than 1/2 mile of JD's farm.
I've often joked that JD had seen his best farm land where he was born in Jefferson County, Indiana. We've been there and it is very good for corn and tobacco. I'd been near Kirksville, Moulton, and in Peru, Edgar and Hoxie and always felt that JD had generally migrated to poorer and poorer farm land as he moved west - no offense intended Kansans, but I was raised on a corn farm. We drove north of Kirksville and the land in that direction compares favorably with any, but I cannot fault old JD for wanting to move on from his farm south of town to find a better setting.
They moved to Moulton, Iowa in 1874; he must have gotten somewhere near his $25/acre. Moulton is only about 40 miles to the north of Kirksville, just across the Iowa border. We made that drive quickly and checked out the little town. I don't have any information on the location of that farm, but the general farm land situation there is much better than at his farm south of Kirksville, at least from this corn farmer's perspective.
It was Sunday afternoon but there was a landscaping project underway at the library with the librarian supervising. I had a good conversation on the history, development and decline of the community. The library has a full collection of old newspapers that may warrant a return visit someday.
I've now visited the areas of each of JD's farms, if not the exact locations. Ironically, I actually need to take Vaunden's legal descriptions and track down the several Edgar area locations to say I've seen each location, as well as the actual Hoxie farm. Still, generally speaking, the farmland in Jefferson County must have been a gnawing memory for him all along that trail. I suspect that the population pressure there made it tough, or impossible for a new farmer to get a toehold on land and the open country to the west must have been a strong draw.
JD and Rhoda arrived in Kirksville with Dolph as a baby less than one year old. They left for Moulton seven years later with Dolph at age 8, Maggie was six, George was 4, Minnie was two and Charles was born in May of that year (1874) before they moved, probably in the fall.
Martha was born in Moulton in 1877 and they were living in Peru Bottom, Nebraska when Myrtle was born in 1879. That litany of the dates of birth of those seven kids as well as the prospect of making those multiple moves is worth re-reading and pondering for a bit.
People move, or populations migrate for a variety of reasons but usually they are either trying to find something or are trying to leave something. I wonder what were the motivations of JD and Rhoda. Maybe he (they?) was just restless.
G'day for now - Jerry
Beginning of the Rowlison Family Blog
The 2007 Rowlison Family Reunion in Kewanee, Illinois was held on July 20-21, 2007 with 55 in attendance. This was my first reunion since earlier Walton picnics in Nebraska before we moved to California in 1984. I was impressed with the interest in maintaining connections with family members in our dispersed locations and in preserving the memories of our grandparents, great grandparents and more distant ancestors.
My mother, Mildred Johnson, nee Cassell, etc., had a hand in developing the little brown book of descendants of Isaiah Walton and Eliza Hall in the 1950's. I inherited her collection of notes and correspondence and even a healthy dose of her genealogical interest. My genealogy file has grown to include my father's family, Rita's lineage as well as several families of our grand children's other "sides". But none of these other families approach that of the Walton's in scope and depth.
There was enough interest in the subject to prompt me to initiate this blog as a candidate medium to continue the conversation with those who attended the Kewanee festivities, those who missed the party or whoever.
So, here we go....
Jerry Johnson
July 23, 2007
My mother, Mildred Johnson, nee Cassell, etc., had a hand in developing the little brown book of descendants of Isaiah Walton and Eliza Hall in the 1950's. I inherited her collection of notes and correspondence and even a healthy dose of her genealogical interest. My genealogy file has grown to include my father's family, Rita's lineage as well as several families of our grand children's other "sides". But none of these other families approach that of the Walton's in scope and depth.
There was enough interest in the subject to prompt me to initiate this blog as a candidate medium to continue the conversation with those who attended the Kewanee festivities, those who missed the party or whoever.
So, here we go....
Jerry Johnson
July 23, 2007
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