Rowe - Squire Charles
Source:
H.W. Beckwith History (Chicago: HH Hill, 1881) p 398
Squire
Charles ROWE, New Ross, was born in Devonshire, England, January 31, 1830, and
is the son of William and Elizabeth (BOND) Rowe, both natives of Devonshire.
His father was a carpenter and joiner, and in 1856 went to Australia for two
years, then back to Devonshire, and died there in 1858. He had seen Bonaparte
deliver himself to English authorities, and had seen the remains of the great
nation builder and world destroyer when they were brought to Paris. Charles' mother
died in 1878, in Somersetshire, England. Both were members of the Episcopal
Church of England. Charles Rowe served seven years' apprenticeship with his
father, at carpentering and joining, in London. Being desirous of going to sea,
in 1849 he shipped as ship carpenter in the vessel Lord Hungerford, and sailed
to Madras, Bay of Bengal, Cape of Good Hope, St. Helena, and to Demarara, where
their cargo of 360 coolies were disposed of. He then sailed to Trinidad with
sugar and rum, and thence to London after a thirteen months' voyage. About two
weeks later he shipped again, in the Vernon, to Madras, Calcutta, etc., out
this time nine and one-half months. Remaining but a short time in London, he
shipped the third time in the Fairy, bound for Newfoundland. Within three days'
voyage of that place they fell in with an ice field, and on account of the
drunkenness of the captain barely escaped destruction. At St. Johns took a
cargo of codfish, and shipped to Cuba on the Camilla, then went to Santiago,
and from there to Kingston, Jamaica. At Kingston Mr. Rowe joined an Englishman
of war, 1851, and was two years on the West India station, then went to New
Orleans, January 1853. He next sailed as a sailor on the vessel Franklin
Pierce, and went to Liverpool. After one week he shipped as second mate in the
vessel John Cummins, and returned to New Orleans at the time of the yellow
fever. He then made a trip to Cairo, Illinois, when there was but one house
there. He traveled to Paduca and back to Cairo, to St. Louis, and then to
Quincy, Illinois. He then worked for a time at Payson, on threshing machine
frames, then at his trade; next went into central Illinois with cattle, that he
might see the country. During the following winter he taught writing lessons,
then clerked in a dry-goods store. In April, 1856, he was married to Jane WARD,
daughter of an emigrant from England, and whom he had met on board the vessel
John Cummins. He then settled in Adams County, Illinois, where he followed his
trade. He served three years in the late war. He was six weeks a private, then
made first lieutenant, and finally captain. He resigned his commission at
Montgomery, Alabama, and engaged in raising cotton for one year. Leaving the
south, he settled in Boone County, Indiana, in 1867, where he worked at his
trade. In 1872 he moved to Walnut township, Montgomery County, where he farmed
two years, and afterward worked at his trade. In 1878 he was elected justice of
the peace, and has also been deputy tax collector for two years. In 1880 he moved
to New Ross. M. Rowe has seen much of the world. His family have been ten
children, two dead. Those living are Victoria, now Mrs. Web. BOWERS ; Florence,
now Mrs. MCLAUGHLIN ; George, Charles, Emily, Malinda, Sophia, and Dean. Mr.
Rowe is a thorough democrat, and an Odd-Fellow. Mrs. Rowe is a member of the
United Brethren Church, and her father was a United Brethren preacher for forty
years.
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