George Rowley's biography, Charlotte, Eaton County, Michigan

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SUBJECT: George W. ROWLEY
SUBMITTER: Jan Lubitz Sedore
EMAIL: am0773@a1access.net
DATE: Dec 07, 2000
PASSWORD>
SURNAMES: ROWLEY, TIFFANY, ROTE, NUMBERS, COLLINS
THE PAST & PRESENT OF EATON COUNTY
EATON COUNTY, MICHIGAN
Page 527 – 528

GEORGE W. ROWLEY
George W. Rowley has been engaged in the insurance business in the
city of Charlotte for more than a score of years and is one of the
well known and representative citizens of the county, which has been
his home from the time of his birth and which he loyally represented
as a soldier in the Union ranks during the war of the Rebellion. Mr.
Rowley was born on the homestead farm, in section 13, Chester Township,
this county, October 25, 1845, and is a son of the late Marcus and
Jerusha (Tiffany) Rowley, who had taken up their residence in Eaton
County the preceding year. The father secured eighty acres of wild
land, and by hard work and good management he developed the same into
a good farm, continuing to reside on the homestead until the 4th of
march, 1861, a day memorable as marking the inauguration of Abraham
Lincoln to the presidency, and Mr. and Mrs Rowley then removed to
Charlotte, where they passed the remainder of their lives, secure
in the esteem of all who knew them. The father was born in the state
of New York and the mother in Pennsylvania. They became the parents
of two sons and two daughters, namely: George W., who figures as the
immediate subject of this sketch; Lafayette, who was a soldier in
the Ninth Michigan volunteer Cavalry in the civil war, having been
a member of Company A, and who died in Charlotte, in 1901; Ursula,
who is now the wife of Herbert L. Rote and a resident of Oklahoma;
and Phylura, who was the wife of David Numbers, deceased, and lives
in Fulton County, Ohio. George W. Rowley passed his boyhood and early
youth on the home farm, assisting in the work and management thereof
until he had attained the age of eighteen years. In the meanwhile
the war of the Rebellion had been in progress, and shortly before
his nineteenth birthday anniversary, on September 17, 1864, Mr. Rowley
went forth to do what he could to uphold the Union cause on the battlefields
of the south. On the date noted he enlisted in an independent cavalry
regiment known as Merrill’s Horse, becoming a member of Company L
and continuing in service with this command until the close of the
war, having received his honorable discharge, at Chattanooga, Tennessee,
June 15, 1865. He then returned to Eaton County, where he continued
to be identified with agricultural pursuits for a number of years.
Since 1884 he has been established in the insurance business in Charlotte,
his agency being one of the most important in the county and controlling
a large support. He represents a number of the leading fire, life
and accident insurance companies of the Union and has written a very
large amount of insurance within the more than twenty years of his
identification with the business here. Mr. Rowley is aligned as a
supporter of the Republican Party, and served nine years as deputy
county clerk, while for eighteen months he represented his ward on
the board of aldermen of the city of Charlotte. He perpetuates the
more gracious memories of the days of the civil war by retaining membership
in the Grand Army of the Republic, while he is one of the representative
members of the Masonic fraternity in Eaton County, having attained
the thirty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, and
is also a member of Saladin Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., Grand Rapids.
He is a charter member of Charlotte Temple, K. T., and was for a time
Recorder of the Commandery; also charter member of the Fraternal Order
of Eagles. He is also affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows and is a charter member of the local lodge of the Knights
of Pythias. Mr. Rowley has been identified with the volunteer fire
department and about twenty years ago he served for five years as
engineer of a steamer – from 1876 to 1878 – and from 1880 to 1885.
December 20, 1889, witnessed the marriage of Mr. Rowley to Miss Catherine
A. Collins, the nuptial ceremony was performed by Rev. Wolcott B.
Williams. She is a daughter of Philo Collins, who was a mechanic and
engineer by vocation and who was a son of Sylvester Collins, one of
the very early settlers in Eaton County. Mr. and Mrs. Rowland have
two children: Mark L. and Agnes M., both of whom remain at the parental
home.