The ROWE Family

Rowe-Ibach Family

Harvey Rowe, third of the sixteen children of the Bert Rowe family of rural Winfield, attended the Rose Valley school near home, then Winfield High School where he was on the basketball team. However, in the spring of his sophomore year, he quit school to plant crops after his father broke his leg. After working several years for farmers and batching, he did county road work, then took a job driving a delivery truck for the Ranney-Davis Company. He roomed in Arkansas City with the Frank Nichols family. (Mrs. Nichols was sister-in-law to his sister, Esther Glass of Dexter.) It was there that he met Marian Ibach, friend of Carol Nichols, both students at the junior college.

Marian, daughter of J.D. and Myrtle Ibach, finished junior college and taught one year of rural school before she and Harvey were married in 1930. They lived on rented farms for several years, then moved to the Ibach farm where they lived with her farther and her brother Paul's family until about 1940, after her father's death and Paul's purchase of the farm.

They spent approximately two years, rich in experiences, but unsatisfactory economically, in Arkansas and Missouri before returning to Cowley County. They farmed and Harvey worked for neighbors until he ranked third in the state on a test for work for the State Highway Department. After a stint on Hwy. 166 in Sumner County, he got the care of the stretch of Hwy. 1-60 through Cambridge, to which they moved.

Daughters Alberta and Carol had been born in their early years on a rented farm, and Myrna was born while they lived on the Ibach farm. The girls all graduated from Cambridge High School.

Seeing no chance for further advancement working high- ways, Harvey found employment with Cities Service pumping station, first at Welch, Oklahoma, to which he commuted weekly, then at the local station. In May 1954, at fifty-four years of age, Harvey died suddenly in his sleep.

That August, Marian started back to college and was graduated Cum Laude from Southwestern College in 1956. She taught four years in Cambridge High School, then went to Emporia and earned a Master's Degree in Library Science in 1961, That fail she became librarian at El Dorado Junior College, the duties were shared with another librarian. Marian retired to the home in Cambridge where she prepares a monthly church newsletter, has established a small community library, and gardens.

Alberta and Joe McChesney, now retired from employment with Cities Service and its successor companies, live at Dexter. She is the family genealogist. They have two daughters and three grandchildren.

Carol and Roland Jordan live at Grenola, where he farms and she works at the Winfield State Hospital. They have four children and ten grandchildren.

Myrna took nurses training at Newton Memorial Hospital, married the divorced Jack Walton, and is a surgical nurse at Wesley Hospital in Wichita. She has one son.

Submitted by Marian Ibach Rowe
Scanned out of the Cowley County Heritage book, pg 279.

Rural Albert Rowe Family

Bert and Mabel (Fisher) Rowe married in Liberty Township, Cowley County in June 1896, Bert came to the county in the mid 1880's from Missouri. His family settled in this country in Virginia in the early 1600's, moving to Ohio after the Revolutionary War and then on to Missouri after the Civil War.

Mabel's family were early settlers of Cowley County, coming from Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Her father, Justus Fisher, had taught at the Shawnee Mission Indian School in Kansas City, Kansas for a time before moving to Cowley County in 1876 or 1877 and marrying Esther Williamson.

Bert and his older brother, Ben, were in partnership for a few years until their families started to grow, then they dissolved the partnership.

Bert and Mabel farmed, raised cattle, and mules. They also raised sixteen children. Morris, Lena, Harvey (my father), Esther, Reed, Howard, Carol, Oscar, Cleo, Earl, Justus (who drowned at twelve or fourteen years old), Violet, Donald, Paul, Cecil, and Nita.

The Rowe boys liked to hunt and one winter two of the younger brothers, Donald and Cecil lived in a canyon cave and hunted and trapped. Oscar, Donald, Paul, and Cecil served in the Armed Forces during World War II.

There are three daughters and one son living today. Violet married Howard Speer, had one son and two daughters, and still lives in Cowley County. Carol became a nurse and married Charles Lilly, who passed away in 1980, they had five sons and she lives in Midlothian, Illinois. Paul and his wife Angeline (Angy) live in Sedan, Kansas and Nita and her husband Frank Brown live in Oxford, Kansas. They have one son and two daughters.

The remaining members of this extended family are in touch each year when they attend a family reunion in Island Park the Sunday before Labor Day.

Submitted by Alberta Rowe McChesney
Scanned out of the Cowley County Heritage book, pg 279.

The Rowe Family

The Rowes were first known to live along the Dee River in northwest England. They had been natives of England for centuries. About 1611 some of the family immigrated to the Virginia Colonies along the eastern seaboard. William Rowe, Sr., of the Virginia Colony, had a son, John, who married Jane Walker, of the Walker family who originated the Walker Strain of fox hounds and Johnnie Walker Whiskey. They moved west through the Cumberland Gap into Tennessee, then later to Kentucky. When the Indian Treaties of 1795 and the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 offered land, John and Jane (Walker) Rowe's oldest sons joined with the Truman family and others for the westward parade to Ohio, stopping in Fayette County, where they lived for 50 years. It was here that Morris Bigelow Rowe, born in 1827, grew to manhood, married and was called into "The War between the States." About 1866 the Rowe's crossed the prairies, settling near Independence, Mo. One of the Truman young ladies married a Rowe, and had a son, Moses Truman Rowe. In 1870 the Morris Bigelow Rowe family moved south to Dade County near Springfield, Missouri. In the spring of 1882 or 1883 the Rowe families were on the move again. Morris Bigelow Rowe's oldest son had been to Texas and helped drive cattle north "on the old Chisholm Trail" to Abilene, Kansas. Relating the stories of free land and tall, lush grass to the Rowe families, they started west across Kansas. The families settled at Cambridge, except the Morris Bigelow Rowe family, who moved on west to Medicine Lodge. In the spring, around 1900, Morris Bigelow Rowe's sons, Benjamin and Albert, returned to Cowley County where they purchased land, in Liberty township, southeast of Winfield. The family thought they had found their "Garden of Eden."

Another pioneer family from the eastern seaboard had moved westward to Prospect, Marion County, Ohio. Their son, John H. Mounts, born at Prospect, also fought in the Civil War. They moved to Cowley County by way of Sedan, Kansas, in Chautauqua County, and John Mounts married a young lady of the Royer family. Years later in Cowley county, one of their daughters, Carrie Alice Mounts, met and married Benjamin Davis Rowe. Their first son, Guy married Nina Engelhardt. They were the parents of Phyllis, Harold and Herbert. Daniel Merle, their second son, married Veryl Archer and they were the parents of Charlyne, Virginia, Kermit and Danny. Duane Rowe, their third son, married Sylvia Huff; their children are Bill, Nelda, Norma, Joan and Carl. Their fourth son, Charles Rowe, married Marie Peterson.

Benjamin and Albert Rowe started farming as partners. Around 1908 the partnership dissolved and Benjamin bought a 160 acre farm in Liberty Township. His sons farmed in Liberty Township, except Charles, who became a chiropractor in Wichita. They purchased a thrashing machine in the early 30's and began custom thrashing. In 1937 they bought a new John Deere thrashing machine, which is still in the family. Although combines became popular, they still did a lot of thrashing kaffir corn out of the stack. In the early 1940's Merle Rowe bought a grinder and did custom grinding for the neighbors.

Duane's family farmed approximately 200 acres, and maintained a herd of 20 dairy cows and 50 stock cattle. Duane and Sylvia moved to town in the early 60's; Duane passed away in 1969 and is buried in the Rose Valley Cemetery. Sylvia resides in Winfield now. Their children are still in Cowley County. My wife, Norma, and I purchased a farm near Winfield in the early 60's. We have a partnership with our daughter and her husband, Raylene and Bob Mattocks. They live in Great Bend with their two daughters, Shelley and Mindi. Raylene is a Probation Officer and Bob works at the Barton County Community College. (The Rowe Brand is the R with a horizontal bar - across the center)

Submitted by Bill Rowe
Scanned out of the Cowley County Heritage book, pg 279 & pg 280.