Ebenezer Rowley

I personally don't know much about Ebenezer, I have asked my two older brothers about him, Larry was only 7 years old when he died and doesn't remember much, Gerald would only say he was a nice man. In pictures that I have seen of him he seemed to like the grand kids. As you can see.

L to R, Gerald Coile, Kenneth Williams, Larry Coile, Ebenezer, Roger Williams.

In this picture I know that Kenneth Williams is behind Ebenezer, I believe that is Gerald leaning on his leg. So that means that the other two boys must be Roger and Larry falling over the dog.

In talking to Larry, my brother, whose is the one in the picture above being run over by the dog, he said one of the things he remembers about Ebenezer is that he loved to set out in the yard and play with the grand kids. As you can see in these pictures. Another thing that Larry told me about Eben was that every Sunday morning you would find him reading the comics from the Sunday newspaper.

Eben was born on September 14, 1869 somewhere close to Padua or Bentown as the 1870 census lists him at age 1 year living with his father in Padua Township.

Page 1, Eben's father, mother, sister and one brother are listed at the bottom of this page.

Page 2, Eben's brother, Eben and Eben's grandpa William Rowley are listed at the top of the page.

According to Glenn Rowley, Eben's second son, Eben's father (Edward O. Rowley) died in Iowa when he fell into a large boiling pot of Maple syrup. It seems that Edward Rowley and family were on their way to California, Edward doing work along the way so they could get there. It was during the fall and it was time to collect the sap from the maple trees to make syrup. This was done using large pots and apparently he fell into one that was boiling hot. As you can see from the census below that in 1880 the family was already back living in Normal, Il.

Middle of page, Eben's mother, Loanza, doing housekeeping, Sister, Mabel, a woolen mill apprentice, 3 brothers, 2 of which were in school 1 still at home and one sister in school. Loanza is listed as a widow.

I know very little about his early life, he and Cora were married Feb. 10, 1898 in Bentown, Il. At some time they lived in or near Blairberg, Iowa, as their oldest child Ethel was born there on Mar. 26, 1904. They did move back to Il soon after as their next oldest son was born at Proctor, Il as was my mother Edith. I know that Eben was a farm hand as most of the census's list him as a farm laborer

This is the 1910 census, it shows the family living in Proctor, Il., Eben as being 41, Cora 33, Ethel 6, Frank 4, Lucy 2 and Glen 11 months. They are listed as being married 12 years. It shows where each was born, and where each of their parents were born, which I believe Cora's mothers birth place is wrong. It lists Eben as being a farm laborer.




This is the 1920 census, it shows them living in Arrowsmith township, Eben as being a farm laborer

This is the 1930 census, as you can see by looking at it that the family lived in Cheney's Grove township. According to mom they lived just west of Saybrook on the farm that was directly west of Shaffens hill. Mom always said that she went to the one room school which was south of the farm. Mom said that Ethel was one of her teachers when she went to school and as the census shows Ethel was a teacher at this time. Glen, Frank and Lucy had left home by this time. Eben was still a farm laborer and it looks as if he had two men living with them who were also farm laborers.

According to Gerald(my oldest brother), Eben and Cora went to live with my mom and dad sometime after Eben retired. Ethel(Eben's oldest daughter) and Bill Wilken owned a house in Saybrook on the east end of town. Ethel and Bill told Mom and Dad they could live in that house rent free as long as Eben and Cora lived with them, which they did until Dad finished building the house on Jefferson St. At that time, Eben had died and Cora moved into the house on Jefferson st with Mom and Dad.

Eben died April 1, 1946 in Saybrook.