John Q A ROWLAND William H ROWLAND Myrtle Idelle ROWLAND Sarah Elizabeth ROWLAND Roberta May ROWLAND John W ROWLAND Vernie F ROWLAND Martha Jane ROWLAND Walton Maize ROWLAND Edward Doyle ROWLAND Maggie Ella MCSWAIN Sarah A NONAME Mini tree diagram

Bedford Forrest ROWLAND1,2,9,10,5,6,3,4

also known as Bedford ROLEN8

Aug 18668 - about 19177,6,4

Life History

about 1864

Born in Kentucky.8

(less likely)

Aug 1866

Born in Kentucky.1,2,3,4

(most likely)

16th Feb 1898

Married Maggie Ella MCSWAIN in Arkansas County, Arkansas.27,2

22nd Apr 1899

Birth of daughter Myrtle Idelle ROWLAND in Ethel, Arkansas, Arkansas.1,8,5,4

13th Nov 1900

Birth of daughter Sarah Elizabeth ROWLAND in Ethel, Arkansas, Arkansas.2,11,12,8,5,13

3rd Oct 1905

Birth of daughter Roberta May ROWLAND in Ethel, Arkansas, Arkansas.14,8,15,16,5,17

about 1907

Birth of son John W ROWLAND in Ethel, Arkansas, Arkansas.8,5,4

about Sep 1908

Birth of daughter Vernie F ROWLAND in Ethel, Arkansas, Arkansas.8,4

about 1911

Birth of daughter Martha Jane ROWLAND in Ethel, Arkansas, Arkansas.19,20,10,5

2nd Nov 1911

Birth of son Walton Maize ROWLAND in Ethel, Arkansas, Arkansas.21,18,16,6,22,5,23,24

before 1914

Death of daughter Vernie F ROWLAND in Ethel, Arkansas, Arkansas.4

before 1914

Death of son John W ROWLAND in Ethel, Arkansas, Arkansas.18,5,5,4

24th May 1914

Birth of son Edward Doyle ROWLAND in DeWitt, Arkansas, Arkansas.25,18,16,2,26,22

about 1917

Died in Ethel, Arkansas, Arkansas.7,6,4

about 1917

Buried in Rowland-Jones Family Cemetery, Ethel, Arkansas County, Arkansas.5,6,4

Notes

  • Bedford was enumerated with his parents in the 1880 census in Lyon County, Kentucky.,  He is reported as age 19 here, so born about 1864.  Other census ages make it more like 1866.  His father's parents are reported born in Virginia and Kentucky, the same as other Rowlands born in Kentucky.  On is another John Rowland in Morgan County, Kentucky in 1880.  This John may be a cousin, whose father was a brother of Bedford's father John, both born in Virginia.

    The location of their residence is reproted here as Ladys Spring.  Ancestry reports it as Ladies Spring, which may be the official spelling.

    1880 Federal Census, Lyon County, Kentucky, 12 June, Ladys Spring District 3, Enumeration District 144, page 10, Hse/Fam #53
    Rowland, John W M 51 Head Farmer KY VA KY [b abt 1829]
    Rowland, Sarah A  W F 38 Wife Keeping House Has Consumption KY NC VA [abt 1842]
    Rowland, William  W M 19 Son Farm Laborer KY KY KY [b abt 1861]
    Rowland, Bedford F  W M 16 Son Farm Laborer KY KY KY [b abt 1864]

    Arkansas, County Marriages Index, 1837-1957
    B F Rowland
    Gender Male
    Age 33, Birth Year abt 1865
    Residence Ethel, Arkansas, Arkansas
    Spouse's Name Maggie McSwain
    Spouse's Gender Female
    Spouse's Age 21
    Spouse's Residence Ethel, Arkansas, Arkansas
    Marriage 16 Feb 1898 Arkansas County
    Marriage License Date 14 Feb 1898

    Maggie McSwain's husband was enumerated as Benjamin F Rowland in the 1900 census.  But he is reported as Bedford in the 1910 census (where the family name is also spelled Rolen).  He passed away before the 1920 census.  His great granddaughter Shirley Rowland Mitchell reported his name as Bedford Rowland.

    1900 Federal Census, Arkansas County, Arkansas, 5 June, Prairie Township, District 7, page 11A, Hse #181, Fam #186
    Rowland, Benjamin [Bedford] F  Head  W M Aug 1866 34 Married 3 years  KY KY KY Farmer
    Rowland, Maggie E  Wife  F W Aug 1876 23 Married 3 years  AR NC NC
    Rowland, Myrtle  Dau  F W Apr 1899 1  AR KY AR
    Rowland, Sarah  Mother  F W Jan 1845 55 Widow KY SC SC

    Benjamin (Bedford) Rowland's family name is spelled Rolen by the census enumerator in 1910.  The anme Benjamin should be Bedford.

    In the 1910 census we find Jane Padgett boarding with Maggie and her family.  In 1900 she had been boarding in the household of Maggie's father Phillip, along with her mother Lavinia Padgett.  In 1880, the Padgetts had been next-door neighbours of Phillip.

    1910 Federal Census, Arkansas County, Arkansas, 22 April, Prairie Township, District 13, p 4A, Hse/Fam #59
    Rolen, Bedford Head M W 46 KY KY KY Farmer
    Rolen, Maggie  Wife  F  W 33 AR NC NC [born abt 1877]
    Rolen, Myrtle I  Dau  F  W 11 AR KY AR
    Rolen, Sarah E  Dau  F  W 9 AR KY AR
    Rolen, Roberta M  Dau  F  W 4 AR KY AR
    Rolen, John W  Son  M  W 3 AR KY AR
    Rolen, Vernie F  Dau  F  W 1yr 1mo AR KY AR

    The family name is spelled in the expected manner Rowland in the 1920 census for the household.  In 1920, wife Maggie E (recorded as Maggy E in 1920) is a widow, head of her household and listed as a farmer.

    There was another Bedford Rowland, born about 1917 or 1918, who was the first husband of Bernice June McSwain.  Bedford and Bernice are enumerated as a couple in LaGrue Township of Arkansas County in the 1940 census.  Both he and Maggie's husband were named Bedford Rowland.  We would expect that the younger is the elder's son, and his birth in 1918 fits with the elder Bedford's death some time before the 1920 census.  But he does not appears inwidow Maggie's household in 1920.

    Where was 2-years-old Bedford in 1920 and 1930?  In both years, the youngest child in Maggie's home is Edward, who is reported as 5 and 15 respectively.  Note, however, that granddaughter Shirley Rowland Mitchell does not include a child named Bedford in her list below of Bedford and Maggie's chidlren.

    I have reported Ethel as the birth place of all the children and the place of death for Benjamin, based on continuous presence of the family there.

    ---------------------------
    Philip K. and Martha Elizabeth Padgett McSwain had among their children a daughter named Maggie Ella McSwain.  She married Bedford Forrest Rowland.  They had the following children:

    Myrtle...born 1899...married Ray Allsup (He was not from Ethel)
    Sarah Elizabeth ...married Jim Jones (You may have listed him as James)
    Roberta.....married Leon Girard
    Martha.....married Walter Allsup (also not from Ethel)
    John...died before adulthood
    Walton ..... married Laura Snead (from Cabot)
    Edward.......married Ruth Snead (from Cabot)

    After Bedford Forrest Rowland died, Maggie married Will Porter (You may have him listed as William. They had no children together, but Will Porter had a son and I think a daughter. I do not remember for sure.  When Maggie died, Will Porter married again.  I met this lady but do not remember her name. She may have been a school teacher, and she wrote songs and a few were actually recorded and played on the radio.

    --  Shirley Rowland Mitchell, email to Orville Boyd Jenkins, 26 July 2013
    ---------------------------

    I note that Vernie, reported in the 1910 census for this family, is missing from Shirley's list, and does not appear in the 1920 census.  This probably indicates that she also, like Johm, died before the 1902 census.

    "Bedford Forrest Rowland, I was always told, is buried in a family cemetery behind the house where Sarah Elizabeth and Jim Jones lived.  Maggie had that house built after Bedford died.  They had had a house further back in the woods, but when he died, her brothers helped her build a new one.  So the cemetery is in some woods between two fields.  There are no tombstones, just rocks or bricks to designate a grave.  There are a few more buried there, but I don't know which grave belongs to which person."
    --  Shirley Rowland Mitchell, email to Orville Boyd Jenkins, 7 April 2015

    There was no entry for the Rowland Family Cemetery, so I established this as a cemetery on Find a Grave and put up a memrial for Bedford, and for his wife Maggie in Mt Pleasant Cemetery in Ethel, and linked them.

    -----------------
    Bedford Forrest Rowland
    Birth 1866 Kentucky
    Death 1917 Ethel, Arkansas County, Arkansas

    Bedford was born in Kentucky, son of John Rowland and Sarah A (Maiden name unknown), both born in Kentucky. The Rowlands originally came to Kentucky from Virginia, where John's father was born. In the 1880 census, Bedford was 16 years old, born about 1864. Other sources indicate it might have been 1865 or 1866.

    He moved to Ethel, Arkansas, near the White River, and lived the rest of his life there. In Ethel he met and married Maggie Ella McSwain, daughter of Phillip K McSwain and Martha Elizabeth Padgett.

    According to his granddaughter Shirley Rowland Mitchell, Bedford is buried in a family cemetery along with several others of the family, in unmarked graves on the old Rowland-Jones farm. He died between 1914, when his last child was born, and the 1920 census, when Maggie was a widow. Shirley suggest it was about 1917.

    Only natural stones mark the graves, no monuments. The graves are in a woods behind the house where his daughter Sarah Elizabeth Rowland and her husband James (Jim) Jones later lived with her family after Maggie died. The original house on the property was farther back in the woods.

    Spouse Maggie Ella McSwain Porter (1876 - 1915)
    Children:
    Myrtle Idelle Rowland Allsup (1899 - 1972)
    Sarah Elizabeth Rowland Jones (1900 - 1975)
    John W Rowland (1907 - 1914*
    Vernie F Rowland (1908 - 1914)
    Edward Doyle Rowland (1914 - 1970)

    Burial Rowland Family Cemetery, Ethel, Arkansas County, Arkansas, In a private cemetery in the woods on the old Rowland farm in Ethel
    Created by Orville Jenkins Apr 08, 2015
    --  Find A Grave Memorial #144746651, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=144746651
    -----------------

Sources

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