If you missed part 1 – Richard IV & Rebecca (Holt) Rowell and their seven sons – catch up here: https://asonofvirginia.blog/2024/06/20/richard-iv-rebecca-holt-rowell-of-surry-county-virginia-my-3x-great-grandparents-and-their-seven-sons/
The Rowell brothers on their own
We ended part 1 in 1859 by which time all five Rowell brothers had received their modest inheritance. In 1860 four of the five brothers were living in Surry County while one was in neighboring Isle of Wight County. Eldest brother Richard Francis “Frank” Rowell, now 33, wife Martha Drew (Smith) Rowell, 32 and their children James R., 11, an unnamed girl, 6 (!)[1] and Charles E., 11 months, were living in Surry County and farming. Frank owned real estate valued at $500 and personal property worth $300. Listed with the family is a free black man named John Clayton (35).[2]
Brothers Patrick H. Rowell, 22 [he was actually 26], Thomas J. Rowell, 22 and William E. Rowell, 18 living and working as laborers on the farm of William W. Bell in the Cabin Point area if Surry County.[3] Youngest brother Josiah D. Rowell, 17, blacksmith,[4] was one of several young men living in the Town of Smithfield in neighboring Isle of Wight County with merchant William H. Stephenson.[5]
The Civil War Begins
When the Confederates fired upon Fort Sumpter on 12 April 1861, Virginia was in the middle of a convention to decide whether or not to secede from the Union. Seven states had already voted to secede including South Carolina (December 20, 1860); Mississippi (January 9, 1861); Florida (January 10, 1861); Alabama (January 11, 1861); Georgia (January 19, 1861); Louisiana (January 26, 1861) and Texas (February 1, 1861).[6] Other states, including Virginia were still weighing a decision. On 13 February, the Virginia Convention began with 152 elected delegates to decide the question subject to ratification by statewide referendum. Representatives of the new Confederacy address the convention. There were heated arguments on both sides over constitutional theory, the power imbalance between Virginia’s eastern versus western regions, and preferential tax treatment on the enslaved. Then on 4 April, eight days before the firing on Fort Sumpter, Virginia’s Convention, voted against secession by a vote of 90-45. Despite that vote, delegates continued debate. On 15 April, a delegation returning from a meeting with President Lincoln in Washington, DC, addressed the convention. They reported that in response to the surrender of Fort Sumpter, Lincoln was calling for each state to send their militia to put down the rebellion. The response from convention delegates and the public was a shift in favor of secession. Despite warnings like the one from Alexander H. H. Stuart of Staunton, one of the men who met with Lincoln, who said “Secession is not only war, but it is emancipation; it is bankruptcy; it is repudiation; it is widespread ruin to our people,” on 17 April 1861 the delegates held another vote to secede. This time is passed by a margin of 88-55. Virginians went to the polls on 23 May and ratified the decision by a margin of 132,201 to 37,451.[7] Three more states soon followed suit including Arkansas (May 6, 1861), North Carolina (May 20, 1861) and Tennessee (June 8, 1861).[8]
The Rowell brothers answer the call
Even before the final secession vote, state and local leaders began calling for volunteers for military service. Men from across Virginia joined various local militia units, many of which would be soon reorganized into Confederate troops. The Rowell brothers were no exception and all five of them enlisted in 1861 and 1862.
Richard F. Rowell, age 35, became the first to join. On 20 April 1861, he enlisted for a one year term as a Private in Company G [Surry Cavalry], 13th Virginia Cavalry.”[10] This company was quickly reorganized as Company E, 5th Virginia Cavalry Regiment (Mullin’s). Private Richard F. Rowell was present on extant muster rolls for July 1861-February 1862 for Company E (Capt. Travis W. Taylor’s Company), which was attached to the 3rd Regiment, Virginia Infantry. He mustered in on 26 June 1861. On 16 April 1862, the Confederate government passed “An Act to further provide for the public defense,” requiring white men between the ages of 18-35 to serve a three year term. Part of that Act stated “That all persons under the age of eighteen years or over the age of thirty-five years, who are now enrolled in the military service of the Confederate States, in the regiments, squadrons, battalions, and companies hereafter to be re-organized, shall be required to remain in their respective companies, squadrons, battalions and regiments for ninety days, unless their places can be sooner supplied by other recruits not now in the service, who are between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five years; and all laws and parts of laws providing for the re-enlistment of volunteers and the organization thereof into companies, squadron, battalions, or regiments, shall be and the same are hereby repealed.”[11]Perhaps he was discharged and returned to his family and farm in Surry County. At the time, his three children ranged in age from 13-4.
Patrick H. Rowell, age 26 and Thomas J. Rowell, age 23 followed suit two months later enlisting on 22 June 1861 as Privates in Company I, 3rd Regiment, Virginia Infantry for a one year term. While organized as an Infantry unit for lack of cannon, in April 1862 it became a light artillery company known as the Surry Light Artillery. Its commanders were first Captain Thomas W. Ruffin and later Captain James D. Hankins.
Thomas J. Rowell, age 23,died on 18 April 1862,at Benns Church in Isle of Wight County, which was being used as a Confederate Camp.[12] He had enlisted 10 months earlier. On 2 May 1862, one of his comrades in arms, Benjamin W. Jones, in a letter to a friend penned the following: “Before I close, let me tell you of the sudden death of one of the men, Thomas J. Rowell, whom you knew. Tom was apparently well only the day before, was cheerful and talkative, and no one thought that death was so near him. But on the next morning he was stricken with something like a congestive chill, and died before noon. His remains were sent home under charge of a detachment from the Company.” [13]
Patrick H. Rowell’s Company was meant to be an artillery company, but because they had no cannon they were organized as an infantry unit.[14] In April 1862, the company was transferred to the artillery and branded the Surry Light Artillery. He was mustered in on 8 July at Smithfield. He is listed as present on the July-Aug 1861 muster, but a notation states, “Absent sick from 9 Aug to Aug 31.” He was still absent at 31 October with the notation “absent sick since the 9th day of Aug 1861.” He apparently returned to duty shortly thereafter as he was listed as present from November 1861 through April 1862, at which time he accepted a $50 bounty to reenlist for the duration of the war. On 13 March 1862, he received a 60 day furlough for disability describing him as 25 years old, 5’2” tall, fair complexion, blue eyes with light hair. A notion about him reads “the soldier has a very frail delicate constitution” and suffers “asthma and physical disability the result of typhoid fever.” When he returned to duty is not known, but he is counted present on extant muster rolls for May 1863 through October 1864. On 25 Oct 1864 he was again furloughed for 60 days doctors finding that “he suffers from diarrhea culminating in fever & disability by reason of which he is unfit for duty.”[15] He was still absent on 1 March 1865 when the muster roll noted that he was “absent – sick – furlough.” Patrick Henry Rowell was mustered out of the service on 15 February 1865.[16] In 1915 Patrick H. Rowell applied for a Disabled Confederate Soldier Pension noting that he turned 81 years old on 3 June 1915. He stated that he was “home on furlough at the time of the surrender.” He gives his profession as farmer but says he is not able to work much due to “infirmities of age.” He records his $150 in annual income, $578 in real estate and personal property valued at $310. He also declared that he “served faithfully during the entire war.”[17]
Patrick H. Rowell’s 1862 60 day furlough certificate for disability noting that “The soldier has a very frail delicate constitution” and “asthma and physical disability the result of typhoid fever.”
On 3 May 1862, just weeks after their brother’s death, William E. Rowell, age 21, and Josiah D. Rowell, age 19, both enlisted as Privates in Company B – Martin’s Battery, 12th Battalion, Virginia Light Artillery. Both were subject to conscription for three-year term as required by the 16 April 1862 passage of the first Confederate conscription act.
Josiah D. Rowell, age 19, died of typhoid fever on July 7, 1862, near Richmond.[18] He served just over two months. During the four years of the Civil War, 204,000 men on both sides were killed in battle while 388,580 died of disease.[19] Among the most common diseases killing soldiers were diarrhea or dysentery, measles, typhoid, malaria and rheumatic fever. A lot of people living in close quarters and unsanitary camp conditions were responsible for many of these deaths.[20]
William E. Rowell is listed as present on extant company muster rolls from April-June 1862 and through May-June 1864. He was issued clothing receipts in July, August, October and December 1864 as well as January 1865. He was paroled on 15 April 1865. Martin’s Battery, in which he served, was organized in April 1862 with men from North Carolina and Virginia. The unit was attached to the 12th Battalion Virginia Artillery. The men from North Carolina were transferred to the 13th North Carolina Artillery Battalion. Martin’s Battery served at Suffolk, then was assigned to F.G. Boggs’, B.F. Eshleman’s, and N.A. Sturdivant’s Battalion of Artillery. Attached to the Department of Richmond, it was primarily on duty south of the James River. The unit had one man wounded at Kelly’s Store and in February 1864 and totaled 48 soldiers. In March 1865, it was converted to heavy artillery and manned the guns on the outer line below Richmond. Captain S. Taylor Martin was in command.[21] In 1884 Hardesty’s historical and geographical encyclopedia included a Surry County supplement. It provided a biographical sketch of numerous Surry County residents. William Edward Rowell’s entry reads as follows: “son of Richard Rowell, who died in 1855, and Rebecca (Holt) Rowell, who died ten years previous, is a farmer, owning 48 1/2 of land near Bacon’s Castle, enriched with marl and adapted to grain, fruits, etc. February 15, 1870, he married Laura A., daughter of Zachariah and Virginia C. (Bell) Hollan. The birth of W. E. Rowell was on the 9th of February 1841, and his wife was born December 8th, 1855. They are the parents of three children: Walter Wallace, born August 19, 1871; Lizzie Lee, July 28, 1876; Virginia Viola, March 23, 1883. Mr. Rowell enlisted in 1862, Company B, 12th Virginia Light Artillery, was in all the prominent battles of Virginia and some in West Virginia and was with Lee at the surrender. Thomas J. and Joseph D. Rowell, brothers of William E., enlisted in 1861. Thomas J. died at Camp Cook in Isle of Wight County, and Joseph D. died near Richmond. Zachariah Holland [his future father-in-law] enlisted in 1863 in the Surry Light Artillery and lost his life the following year in the battle of Port Walthall Junction. The post office address of William Edward Rowell is Bacon’s Castle, Surry County Virginia.”[22]
Life after the War
Following the war, the surviving Rowell brothers all returned to farming in Surry County.
Richard Francis “Frank” Rowell (1826-1884)
In 1870, Frank Rowell was living in Surry County in Cobham Township. He was farming and owned $1,000 of real estate and $150 of personal property. The U.S. federal census for that year lists Frank Rowell, age 60 [he was 43], his wife Martha, age 51 [she was 43] and their children James, 21 and a laborer, Caroline 14, Charles, 11, John, 4 and Josiah, 2. John Hansler, 18, a black mail was listed with the as well although it listed no occupation.[23] In 1880, Richard Rowell, 54, farmer, his wife Martha, 51 and their youngest two children, sons John C., 16 and Josiah T., 12 were still at home. Their daughter Carrie V. had married John F. Gray and they were living nearby with Frank and Martha’s Charles E. Rowell, 21.[24] Richard Francis “Frank” Rowell died on 1 December 1884 at the age of 57. He was interred at Lower Surry Church Cemetery [the Old Brick Church] near Bacon’s Castle.[25] His wife Martha Drew (Smith) Rowell died in 1916 and was interred beside her husband.[26]
Richard Francis “Frank” Rowell (1826-1884) and Martha Drew Smith (1827-1916) had the following children and grandchildren:
Digression (a field trip to Surry County)
In 1984, I visited Surry County when I was home from college on break. I had lunch with three grandsons of Richard Francis Rowell including Charles Gray Rowell (1894-1988), Joseph Wheeler Rowell (1896-1991) and Thomas Jefferson Rowell (1900-1996). All three were sons of Charles Everett & Lucy (Hunnicutt) Rowell above. We sat on the porch of Charles Gray Rowell’s house and talked about old times in Surry, and I picked their brains on the family tree. They knew my 2x great grandfather Patrick Henry Rowell who died when they were teenagers. They also knew Pat’s son and my great grand grandfather William Richard Rowell (1884-1968). The brothers recalled that when they were boys, my great grandfather [their first cousin once removed] who was a decade or more older, scared them by telling them about a public hanging at Surry Courthouse. Charlie’s wife Ethel (Roach) Rowell gave me a book she authored about Lawnes Creek Parish in Surry County, which I still have. There is a lot to be said about modern research methods, but if you are not asking your elders about their experiences and recollections, you are missing something important. Have some specific questions, but make sure you ask some open-ended ones too. Use a recording device so you can listen without taking notes. And take photos of everyone. I did neither as a young person and now regret not having photos and audio of days like these.
William Edward Rowell (1841-1897)
In 1870, a newly married William Rowell, 26, a farmer, with personal property valued at $250 along with his wife (married January 1870) Laura (Holland) Rowell, 15. William Gay, his wife and two children were listed as were William’s older brother Patrick Rowell, 35, single, and a farmer, Joseph Haskell, 20, farm laborer and an elderly free black couple named Joseph Crocker, 90 and Nancy Crocker, 80.[27] In 1880, W.E. Rowell, 38, farmer, wife Laura Rowell, 24, children Walter W. Rowell, 8 and Lizzie L. Rowell, 3 and a woman named Margh Davis, 30were living in Surry County.[28] The couple had a third child in 1883 named Virginia Viola “Virgie” Rowell. William E. Rowell died on 23 March 1897 at the age of 56 and was interred at the Lower Surry Cemetery.[29] In 1900, a widowed Laura Rowell, 44 lived in the City of Newport News, across the James River from Surry County and ran a boarding house. Her daughter Virginia, 17 lived with her. One of the boarded was a young man name Joseph T. Holzbach, 22. He and Laura’s daughter Virginia were married on 17 October 1900.[30] After having one child, Virgie died in 1903.[31] Laura Rowell moved in with her daughter Virgie’s widowed husband Joseph T. Holzbach and his second wife Susan Rebecca “Susie” Rowell, who was his 1st wife’s first cousin, daughter of Patrick Henry and Sallie Judkins (Berryman) Rowell. She is listed with them in the 1910, 1920 and 1930 censuses.[32] Laura (Holland) Rowell died in 1935 and was interred beside her husband.[33]
William Edward Rowell (1841-1897) and Laura Annaliza Holland (1855-1935) had the following children and grandchildren:
Patrick “Pat” Henry Rowell (1834-1916) my 2x great grandfather
In 1870, Partick H. Rowell, age 35, was living with his newly married brother William E., 26 and his wife Laura (Holland) Rowell, 15. Both men were listed as farmers. On 21 January 1878, now age 43 married a 33-year-old widow with one son. Sarah Judkins Berryman (1844-1933), daughter of William Holt & Sarah Honeycutt (Judkins) Berryman, married John R. Seward on 31 March 1870 and their son John Walter Seward was born in 1874 before his father died the following year. The newly married Rowell’s lost their first child in 1878 – an unnamed son.[34] In 1880, the U.S. federal census for Surry County includes P.H. Rowell, 45, Sally J. Rowell, 35, and Walter J. Seward, 6.[35] In 1900, when the next census was recorded, Patrick H. Rowell, 65, Sallie J. Rowell, 55, her son John W. Seward, 36 and his wife Mattie, 24 and the now three Rowell children Susan R., 19, Patrick P., 17 and William R., 13 were farming in Surry County. The census noted they had been married 22 years and that Sallie had given birth to six children with four living.[36] The 1910 census included Patrick H. Rowell, 76, farmer, Sallie J., 66, keeping house, and their youngest son William R. Rowell, 24, farm laborer.[37]Partick Henry Rowell died on 29 January 1916 at the age of 81 and was interred at Old Castle Cemetery in Surry County.[38]
Check out my blog post A Second Field Trip to Surry County – Visiting Old Castle Cemetery here: https://asonofvirginia.blog/2023/02/26/a-second-field-trip-to-surry-county-visiting-to-old-castle-cemetery/
After his death, Sallie remained in Surry County listed as living with her son Putnam P. Rowell in both 1920 and 1930.[39] In both censuses Putnam P. Rowell was farming. In 1930, Put, 48 and single is listed with Sallie J. Rowell, 86, mother. Sarah “Sallie” Judkins (Berryman) Seward Rowell died on 16 August 1933 at the age of 88 years 9 months and 8 days.[40] She was interred beside her husbands at Old Castle Cemetery in the Alliance are in Surry County.[41] They had the following children and grandchildren:
Closing Thoughts
After reading about Patrick Henry Rowell’s “very frail delicate constitution” and “asthma and physical disability the result of typhoid fever,” and the fact that he did not marry until he was 43 years old, I wonder how close I came to never having been born!
My Rowell line of descent:
[1] I have seen unnamed children in the census many times, but usually two years old or younger. This is Carrie Virginia Rowell as confirmed by later records.
[2] Ancestry.com. 1860 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch; Year: 1860; Census Place: Surry, Virginia; Page: 915; Family History Library Film: 805379
[3] 1860 U.S. Federal Census, Surry County, Virginia; Ancestry.com
[4] He was very likely an apprentice blacksmith at 17 years old and having been too sick to be bound out to a trade until November of 1858 per is guardian account [see Part 1].
[5] Ancestry.com. 1860 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch; Year: 1860; Census Place: Surry, Virginia; Page: 918; Family History Library Film: 805379
[6] Order of Secession of Southern States, American Civil War, http://www.thomaslegion.net/orderofsecessionofsouthernstates.html
[7] Virginia Convention of 1861. Encyclopedia Virginia; https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/virginia-convention-of-1861/
[8]Order of Secession of Southern States, American Civil War, http://www.thomaslegion.net/orderofsecessionofsouthernstates.html
[9] Lankford, Nelson. Virginia Convention of 1861. (2020, December 07). In Encyclopedia Virginia. https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/virginia-convention-of-1861.
[10] https://www.fold3.com/memorial/660307417/richard-francis-rowell-civil-war-stories/facts
[11] Matthews, James M. Documenting the American South, The Statutes at Large of the Confederate States of America, Commencing with the First Session of the First Congress; 1862. Public Laws of the Confederate States of America, Passed at the First Session of the First Congress; 1862. Private Laws of the Confederate States of America, Passed at the First Session of the First Congress; 1862: Electronic Edition. https://docsouth.unc.edu/imls/statutes/statutes.html#statu151
[12] Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Virginia; The National Archives, Page 6 – Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Virginia 1861, https://www.fold3.com/image/9632678?xid=1945
[13] Jones, Benjamin Washington. Under the Stars and Bars: A History of the Surry Light Artillery (Richmond: Everett Waddy Co., 1909), p. 290.
[14] Jones, Benjamin F. Under the Stars and Bars: History of the Surry Light Artillery, (Richmond: Everett Waddy Company, 1909), p. 12
[15] Rowell, Patrick H. Complied Military Service Record, Index to Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations From the State of Virginia, 1861-1865, The U.S. National Archives, 1962; Fold3.com
[16] U.S. Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, Historical Data Systems, Online publication – Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2009.Original data – Data compiled by Historical Data Systems of Kingston, MA from the following list of works. Copyright 1997-2009, Historical Data Systems, Inc. PO Box 35Duxbury, MA 02331. http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=civilwar_histdatasys&h=73255&ti=0&indiv=try&gss=pt
[17] Rowell, Patrick H. Confederate pension rolls, veterans and widows, Virginia Department of Accounts, 1902; Library of Virginia
[18] Historical Data Systems, comp. U.S., Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2009; Historical Data Systems, Inc.; Duxbury, MA 02331; American Civil War Research Database
[19] U.S. National Park Service: Civil War Facts 1861-1865; https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/facts.htm#:~:text=The%20483%2C026%20total%20Confederate%20casualties%20have%20been%20divided,wounded%20in%20action%204%2031%2C000%20prisoners%20of%20war
[20] Dorwart, Dr. Bonnie Brice. Disease in the Civil War, Essential Civil War Curriculum; https://www.essentialcivilwarcurriculum.com/disease-in-the-civil-war.html
[21] Wallace, Lee A., Jr. Surry Light Artillery and Martin’s, Wright’s, Coffin’s Batteries of Virginia Artillery, pp. 43-86
[22] Hardesty’s historical and geographical encyclopedia [with Surry county supplement New York, NY. (1884), p. 429; Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, Virginia.
[23] 1870 United States Federal Census, Cobham, Surry, Virginia; Roll: M593_1680; Page: 120B, Ancestry.com
[24] 1880 United States Federal Census, Cobham, Surry, Virginia; Roll: 1392; Page: 47A; Enumeration District: 107; Ancestry.com
[25] Richard Francis Rowell Gravestone. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/111251155/richard-francis-rowell
[26] Martha Drew Smith Rowell Gravestone. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/111251277/martha_drew_rowell
[27] 1870 United States Federal Census. Surry County, Virginia; Ancestry.com
[28] 1880 United States Federal Census. Surry County, Virginia; Ancestry.com
[29] William E. Rowell gravestone, Find-A-Grave; https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10125078/william-edward-rowell
[30] Virginia, U.S., Marriage Registers, 1853-1935, Library of Virginia; Richmond, VA; Ancestry.com
[31] Virginia Voila Holzbach gravestone. Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current, Ancestry.com
[32] 1910, 1920, 1930 U.S. federal census. Newport News, Virginia; Ancestry.com
[33] Laura A. Rowell gravestone. Find-A-Grave; https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/232283548/laura-a-rowell
[34] Infant Son 1878 on gravestone at Old Castle Cemetery in Surry County.
[35] 1880 U.S. federal census, Surry County, Virginia, Ancestry.com
[36] 1900 U.S. federal census, Surry County, Virginia, Ancestry.com
[37] 1910 U.S. federal census, Surry County, Virginia, Ancestry.com
[38] Virginia, Death Records, 1912-2014; Ancestry.com
[39] 1920 & 1930 U.S Federal Census, Surry County, Virginia, Ancestry.com
[40] Virginia, Death Records, 1912-2014; Ancestry.com
[41] Patrick Henry Rowell Gravestone. Old Castle Cemetery, Surry County, Virginia; https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/89664838/patrick-henry-rowell
A Son of Virginia 