My Genealogy Hound

William H. Rowan, a prosperous and well-known farmer and stock raiser, of Pulaski County, was born in Saline County, in the year 1845, and is a son of Thomas and Ruth (Rowland) Rowan, of Alabama, in which State they were reared and married, and in 1836 moved to Arkansas, when it was yet a Territory. The parents settled in Saline County, where the father died about the year 1848, when William was only two years old. The mother was afterward married to Obediah Snow, who died in Saline County, and passed away herself in 1887, in Pulaski County. She was a daughter of Amos Rowland, of Alabama, who fought in the Revolution, and was under General Jackson at the battle of New Orleans. He afterward moved to Saline County, where he resided a great many years, and finally died there at an advanced age. William H. Rowan was the eighth of nine children, and was reared principally in the wilds of Saline County, and, owing to the impossibility of finding schools in that section during his youth, his education was somewhat limited. When only fifteen years old he joined Company E, First Arkansas Infantry, and served twelve months, when he was discharged on account of his youth. In that time, however, he operated through Virginia, Tennessee and Mississippi, and took part in a great many battles, Shiloh being his most notable engagement. After his discharge he returned home, but soon afterward joined Col. Logan’s regiment of cavalry, and did dispatch and scouting duty, until the close of the war, when he surrendered at Benton, Ark., in 1865. He was captured at that place, in 1862, and kept a prisoner for two weeks. In 1866 he was married, in Saline County, to Miss Cynthia Scott, of Mobile, Ala., a daughter of Patrick Scott, who died in that State. Mrs. Rowan died about one year after her marriage, leaving one son, Walter, who resides with his father. Mr. Rowan is about the oldest settler in his vicinity, and owns 200 acres of land near Alexander, with 100 acres under cultivation, besides eighty acres near Little Rock, all of which he has accumulated by his own industry and enterprise. He is a stanch Democrat.