Official Lafayette FLGenWeb Site
Lafayette County Bios
J. A. Rowand
As the broad lands of the United States have been peopled by the nations of the earth its area has fast fallen under the plow in order to give food to the millions, and, necessity becoming a virtue, the agriculturists have turned to its arid desert stretches of the west and the broad, vast swamps of the south to make them subservient to the needs of the people that they might return to them bounty and give them sustenance. In this work of colonization the progressive farmer of the south is taking a foremost part in reclaiming vast stretches of waste land and transforming it into fertile fields, yielding two or even three crops annually under climatic conditions that have no equal in any part of the world. One of the first to settle in the Elkton district of Florida, where he now owns a valuable farm of one hundred and twenty acres, was J. A. Rowand, a native of this state, his birth having occurred on the Suwaneeriver, in Lafayette county, January 13, 1862.He is a son of William F. and Caroline Elizabeth (Johnson) Rowand, the father a native of North Carolina and the mother of South Carolina. Rowan county, North Carolina, was named in honor of the great-grandfather of our subject who was a native of France and came to the United States during the Revolutionary war, fighting in the ranks of the French for independence. Another earlier ancestor was a member of Sir Walter Raleigh’s staff. The great-grandfather settled in North Carolina, there reared a family and subsequently passed away. The grandfather of our subject was an agriculturist and died when William F. Rowand was but nine years of age. The latter was reared to manhood and became one of the large plantation owners of the period, who owned many slaves. He valiantly served his country through the Mexican war and after coming to Florida took part in the Seminole Indian campaign and married subsequently in Lafayette county. He was a saddler and harness maker, following that trade for ome time, and in 1860 moved from Madison, Florida, to Orange county, on a place located where Oviedo now tands. There he remained for two years and then went to Sanford, where he died on the 25th of December, 1897, at the age of nearly seventy-three years. Caroline Elizabeth Johnson came to Florida in early childhood with her parents, the family making settlement in Lafayette county where Mayo now stands.She died in 1880 at the age of forty-four years, her death occurring in Orange county. Mr. and Mrs. Rowand were the parents of five children: Mary Martha, the deceased wife of Alexander Vaughn, her death occurring in 1908; William Rayford, who died in 1892; Georgia Elizabeth, the wife of T. A.Grange, of death occurring in Orange county. Sanford, Florida; J. A., of this review; and James C., residing in New York city.
J. A. Rowand was reared under the parental roof and acquired a common-school education, remaining at home until the death of his father. Subsequently he took up railroad construction work and traveled considerably in the states of Florida, Georgia and Alabama and also worked for a number of years at the trade of housebuilding, putting up a number of residences alongthe east and west coast of Florida. In April, 1903, he came to Elkton, St. John county, where he purchased his present farm. He had a capital of less than eight hundred dollars to start out with, as he had lost heavily in a fire while residing in Arcadia. He at first purchased forty acres of land of which five acres were cleared, and has since added to his property which now comprises one hundred and twenty acres, of which one hundred are cleared and under cultivation as potato land. Mr. Rowand has erected a number of substantial buildings and made such other improvements as are considered essential by the progressive farmer for intensive and profitable soil cultivation. He has instituted modern equipment and such conveniences as he deemed necessary and thereby greatly enhanced the value of the property. When he came to this district there were only a few native-born residents here and he was among the first outsiders to locate. Besides his farming interests Mr. Rowand is local representative of the Model Land Company, a subsidiary corporation of the Florida East Coast Railroad Company and also of the Coast Line Canal & Transportation Company and the Boston & Florida Land Company, deriving a gratifying additional income from these sources. On January 1, 1891, Mr. Rowand was married to Miss Mary Jane Du Pont, who was born at Federal Point, Putnam county, Florida, on the 20th of April, 1863, her father at that time owning all of the land at Federal Point. She is a daughter of Cornelius and Frances Virginia Du Pont, of whom more extended mention is made in connection with the sketchof C. A. Du Pont. Mr. and Mrs. Rowand have one child, William Allen, at home. By his indefatigable industry and energy J. A. Rowand has attained success in a remarkably short time and is known today as one of the substantial men of the Elkton district, in the development of which he has played such an important role. He is a man of strong character and has made himself felt in the rural community, his sterling traits having won the high regard and confidence of all those with whom he has come in contact. Although he has not sought or ever held public office he takes a laudable interest in all matters of public importance and is well informed upon the issues of the day which come up in the political life of his section, his state and the nation.
Source for Biography: Chapin, George M., Florida, 1513 - 1913, Past, Present and Future, Four Hundred Years of War and Peace and Industrial Development, (c) 1914, Volume 2, p. 474-475