Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Rowell, Nat J 
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Deb Haines http://www.rootsweb.com/~archreg/vols/00003.html#0000719 February 2, 2008, 2:39 am

Author: Past & Present Will County, 1907

Nat J. Rowell, deceased, was a representative of one of the old and prominent 
families of Joliet. He was but a child when his parents removed to this city 
and he became one of the leading business men here, dealing at different times 
in gravel and sand, also conducting a real estate and insurance business, 
while for a short time he was editor of one of the local papers. His birth 
occurred in Clarkson, Monroe county, New York, June 26, 1857, his parents 
being Hopkins and Mary E. (Blood) Rowell, who were likewise natives of Monroe 
county. The father's birth occurred in Clarkson in 1809 and he continued to 
make his home there until 1860, when he came with his family to the west, 
locating in Will county. He settled on a farm near Joliet and there carried on 
general agricultural pursuits for twelve years, after which he removed to the 
city to live retired. Indolence and idleness, however, were utterly foreign to 
his nature and he found it impossible to entirely put aside business 
interests. He therefore dealt to a greater or less extent in real estate and 
so continued up to the time of his death. Both he and his wife passed away in 
Joliet. Nat J. Rowell attended the public schools and supplemented his 
preliminary education by study in Joliet Academy. He afterward became a 
student in the University of Minnesota, where he remained for a year, and 
subsequently he spent four years in the Chicago University, from which he was 
graduated in the class of 1878. Returning to Joliet he became interested in 
newspaper work and for one year was city editor of the Republic and Sun. He 
then accepted a government position in the treasury department at Washington, 
D. C., where he remained until 1885, when he returned to Joliet and 
established a real estate office, buying and selling city property. He engaged 
in that business together with insurance until when he began dealing in 
gravel. He owned several large gravel pits on East Washington street and 
conducted a thriving business as a dealer in gravel, cobble stones and sand. 
He built up an excellent trade, his sales largely increasing annually until he 
became one of the well-to-do business men of the city, continuing in that line 
until his death. Mr. Rowell was married in 1892 to Miss Amie W. Strong, a 
native of Joliet and a daughter of William A. and Charlotte A. (Buell) Strong, 
the former a native of Waterloo, New York, and the latter of Rochester, that 
state. Mr. Strong was born in 1828 and was educated in the public schools of 
his native city, subsequent to which time he clerked in his uncle's store in 
Waterloo for five years. He then came west with his uncle in 1850, settling in 
Joliet, where they established a hardware business under the firm, style of W. 
A. Strong & Company. This connection was continued for five years, after which 
the firm became Brooks & Barrett and subsequently Strong & Company. Mr. Strong 
continued his connection with the enterprise throughout all these years until 
1865, when he withdrew from the hardware trade to become president of the 
Joliet Gas Company, which position he held for several years. Turning his 
attention to the field of real estate operation, he purchased one hundred and 
twenty-five acres of land adjoining Joliet and laid out the subdivision of 
Glenwood. In this way he contributed much to the substantial development and 
improvement of the city. About the same time he was elected mayor of Joliet 
and filled the office for one term, his administration being characterized by 
a spirit most business-like and beneficial. He was also a director in the 
First National Bank of the city and for a few years he was connected with the 
business of quarrying stone, but real estate chiefly claimed his time and 
attention during the latter part of his life and he negotiated many important 
realty transfers, whereby the improvement of the city was enhanced, while his 
individual success was also augmented. He always made Joliet his home, but his 
death occurred in St. Clair, Michigan, and his wife passed away in 
Thomasville, Georgia, March 20, 1889. Both were consistent communicants of the 
Episcopal church. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Rowell were born three children: Lilla, 
Robert Strong and Nat J., all of whom are with their mother. The death of the 
husband and father occurred in Joliet, October 23, 1904. He was always a 
republican, but never an office seeker, yet in community affairs he was deeply 
interested and was a co-operant in many plans and measures which were based 
upon the needs and possibilities of the city for general development. He held 
membership in the Episcopal church, to which his wife yet belongs, and in its 
activities was greatly interested. His helpful spirit as manifest in church 
relations and in citizenship, his genial manner as displayed in social circles 
and his genuine worth of character, caused his death to be deeply regretted by 
many friends as well as his immediate family. Mrs. Rowell owns a beautiful 
stone residence at No. 523 Western avenue—the old Strong homestead—where she 
and her children reside, and in social circles in Joliet she is quite 
prominent.

Additional Comments:
PAST AND PRESENT OF WILL COUNTY, ILLINOIS By W. W. Stevens President of the 
Will County Pioneers Association; Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing 
Company, 1907

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