Rowley Registry
Published Local Histories

Nathan -

Henry -

Walter -

In 1868, Mr. Stewart went to Kankakee, Ill., where he married Miss Rachael E. Rowley, the marriage taking place November 30, 1868. She is a daughter of William G. and Elizabeth (Riesdorph) Rowley. The former was born in Kentucky, of Pennsylvania parents, who were temporarily residing in that State for the purpose of settling an estate, consisting of a plantation, including the negroes, which his mother had inherited. The family returned to Philadelphia, Pa., where William G. grew to manhood. Elizabeth Riesdorph, mother of Mrs. Stewart, was born and reared in New York City, and was a descendant of early Holland settlers of what is now New York City.

Mrs. Stewart was born in Sullivan county, New York. Her father was a lumberman in the early days in that State. His wife died in New York State in 1863, and the following year, he removed with his family to Muscatine county, Iowa, where they remained about a year when they removed to Kankakee, Ill., arriving there April 9, 1865, the day that General Lee surrendered. The father bought a farm about ten miles from Kankakee, and Mrs. Stewart, who was then quite a young girl, taught school in that locality two terms. Shortly after her marriage, the Rowley family and Mr. Stewart came to Kansas in the fall of 1868. They crossed the Kaw river and went to Shawnee county where her father had homesteaded the previous spring. After living in Shawnee county for ten years, Mr. and Mrs. Rowley returned to Indiana where they remained until 1882, when they came to Butler county and later removed to Wichita where the father died. Mrs. Stewart was one of a family of nine children, the two younger sisters being of the second marriage of her father. The children are in order of birth as follows: Nathan, deceased; Henry, deceased; Rachael, Mrs. Stewart, the subject of this sketch; Mary, married Aaron Blakeman, Baldwinsville, N. Y.; James, lives in Idaho; Lucy, married Thomas St. Denis of Wichita, and is now deceased; Walter, lives in Alaska; Emma, married Charles Richards, lives in Seattle; and the two half sisters are Cora, married Harry Foster, Muskogee, Okla., and Kate, married Mr. Davenport of Seattle, Wash (..paragraphs deleted)

To Mr. and Mrs. Stewart were born the following children: Walter C., was a resident of Pittsburg, Kans., and died at Neosho, Mo., in 1913, aged forty-three years; Ernest H., a farmer, Fairview, Okla.; Carrie, the wife of F. A. Berry, near Fort Cobb, Okla.; and Charles Duwayne, operator for the Santa Fe railroad at El Dorado, Kans. He served in the United States marine corps and was on duty on the battleship, North Carolina, when the bodies of the Maine victims were taken from Havana harbor to Arlington cemetery, on board the North Carolina. He received his discharge at Norfolk, Va., shortly afterwards

Mrs. Stewart resdes[sic] at El Dorado and is an unusually capable woman. She is a prominent member of the Woman's Relief Corps, having been a member of that organization for a number of years. She has been a delegate to five State conventions of that order, and was a delegate to two National conventions, one at Washington, D. C., and the other at Rochester, N. Y. She is also a member of the Eastern Star and the W. B. Club, and is a member of the State Federation of Women's Clubs. Mrs. Stewart bears the distinction of having served on the first jury in Butler county composed of women. She is an extensive traveller and is well informed