Calhoun County AlArchives Biographies.....Rowan, Peyton 1816 - living in 1893
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Ann Anderson alabammygrammy@aol.com May 15, 2004, 2:05 pm

Author: Brant & Fuller (1893)
   PEYTON ROWAN, one of the pioneer business men of Calhoun county, was born in
South Carolina in 1816. He is a son of James and Sarah (Fullen) Rowan, the
former of whom was a son of William and Nancy (Gorman) Rowan, both natives of
South Carolina. Sarah Fullen, wife of James Rowan, was a daughter of William and
Mary Fullen, the former of whom was a Revolutionary soldier and an officer of
Gen. Nathanael Greene. James and Sarah Rowan moved to Alabama in 1820 and
located near the present site of Birmingham, remaining there until the land
sales occurred in 1823, when he purchased land in St. Clair county and remained
there until his death at ninety-three years of age. In 1823, when he located in
St. Clair county, he located in the woods and cleared the farm upon which he
lived the rest of his life and upon which Peyton Rowan was reared. The latter
attended school in the old fashioned log school houses, with the puncheon floor
and seats and plank desks fastened to the wall. In 1837-8-9 he attended the
academy at Bingham, and one year at Ashville, which completed his education.
Previously to this time, however, he had accepted a position as clerk in a
store, and after his education was completed he returned to that occupation. At
the end of five years his employer, Almeth Byers, gave him a half interest in
the business and from that time he conducted it for twenty years. When the war
came on they sold out their entire stock of goods for Confederate money and a
few bales of cotton, which latter they divided among the women to spin into
articles for their own use, and in this way never realized any benefit from the
goods they sold. At the end of the war, neither one of them having any property,
they decided to dissolve partnership. Mr. Rowan removed to Jacksonville in 1866
and soon afterward opened a general store there. Since that time he has been in
business in this place. In 1890 he was instrumental in establishing the Tredegar
National bank at Jacksonville, and was elected president of the institution, a
position he still retains. He is also a large stockholder in the Jacksonville
Mining and Manufacturing company and owns a large part of the stock of the
Broken Arrow Coal company, of which he is president. He has but little to do
with politics, but in 1842, he was elected treasurer of St. Clair county and
held the office by successive re-elections for fourteen years. He has been a
Mason since 1847. In 1856 he was married to Miss Annie B. Forney, sister of Gen.
W. H. Forney, whose memoir appears elsewhere in this work. By this marriage he
had four children. Of these, John F. is a graduate of the university of Virginia
and of the medical department of the same university. He afterward graduated in
medicine from the university of the city of New York and then took a quiz course
for one year. He then passed a rigid examination preparatory to enter the city
hospital, in which he became assistant physician for one year and afterward had
charge of the hospital one and a half years. After this he established himself
in the practice of his profession in New York city, remaining there until 1890,
when the boom struck Jacksonville, Ala., and his father persuaded him to return
home. His father was so deeply interested in business that he gave up his
medical practice and joined him in business. The next child was Sallie L., then
Emma and George A. The latter is also a graduate of the university of Virginia
When the bank was organized he was elected its teller, but soon afterward his
assistance being needed by his father in his large business, he retired from the
position of teller in the bank to assist him and his elder brother. Both Peyton
Rowan and his wife are members of the Episcopal church.



Additional Comments:
from "Memorial Record of Alabama", Vol. I, p. 615-616

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