BIOGRAPHIES:  Edwin Ruthvin ROWLEY, Pepin, Pepin Co., WI

************************************************************************
USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE:  These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in
any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or
persons.  Persons or organizations desiring to use this material,
must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal
representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb
archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission
to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access.

Submitted by Nance Sampson, Pepin Co. Archives File Manager on 19 November 2004
************************************************************************

**Posted for informational purposes only - submitter is not related to the
subject of this biography and has no further information.

Edwin Ruthvin Rowley, farmer and blacksmith, Pepin, was born in
Chittenden county, Vt., April 29, 1837.  His parents were Nathaniel and
Olive (Evans) Rowley.  Nathaniel's grandfather was a native of Ireland.
Mrs. Olive Rowley was of Scotch descent.  Mr. and Mrs. Rowley died in
Pocahontas county, Iowa; the former in 1875, the latter in 1877.  When
Edwin R. was a small child, the family removed to Chautauqua county, N.
Y., thence to Mercer county, Pa., and in 1844 to Crawford county, Pa. 
He received no schooling whatever, and at nine years of age ran away
from home and began life as a chore boy on a farm.  At fourteen he sent
to Conneaut, Ashtabula county, Ohio, and began to learn the
blacksmithing trade.  At seventeen he came to Southport (now Kenosha),
Wis.  Later he followed his trade successfully at Batavia and Freeport,
Ill., and Steven's Point, Wis.  In 1859 he went to California, walking
overland, and there remained about eight years, during which time he
visited all the principal cities in the state and met with numerous
adventures.  He had several encounters with grizzly bears, worked in
the mines, and served for some time in the secret service, or vigilance
committee, which constituted about the only government known in
California in those days.  He witnessed the hanging of twenty-five men
at one time in Placerville.  Soon after this event he started on his
return journey, crossing the snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountains,
descending through the Carson valley, and thence into Utah.  In 1868 he
arrived at Fort Dodge, Iowa.  In 1870 he came to Oxford, Wis., thence
went to Baraboo, where he engaged in the hop culture.  In 1876 he came
to Pepin, where he carries on a small farm in connection with his
trade, and leads a quiet, retired life, the enjoyment of which he has
fully earned.

-Transcribed from the "Historical & Biographical Album of the Chippewa
Valley Wisconsin, 1891-2," page 782.


© All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm