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Rowley Cemetery, also know as Riverview Cemetery, overlooks the Ohio River… It is final resting place to family members of the some of the earliest settlers of the area, and the pioneer founders of the town of Sciotoville…
The Dillons and Rowleys like many early residents, came down the Allegheny River to the Ohio River on flat boats that had cabins constructed on them for comfort…Nancy Dillon and William Rowley were both born in 1801 and both died in 1880 and had ten children… Their parents were born in the 1700’s… Born in New England, they left the comfort of their colonial homes for the wilds of the new territory…
The Rowley Family has a Mayflower Connection… Moses who was the son of Henry Rowley, born in England, married Elizabeth Fuller in Mass. in 1652... Elizabeth was the daughter of Mathew Fuller, the son of Edward Fuller a Mayflower passenger…The Rowleys trace their roots back to England where Henry Rowley was born 1598 and in later years moved to Plymouth, Massachusetts… Henry’s family grew and migrated northeast and westward… William "Bill" Rowley, the eldest son of William Henry continued south on the Ohio and settled into Scioto Co., Ohio…
The Rowley Family saw success and tragedy… William Rowley the Third was murdered in 1893... Below is an article taken from the Portsmouth Daily Times on September 23rd-
“A Dastard's Deed”
{ Kenneth Blake is a murderer and a fugitive from justice. He was a blacksmith and lived with his family at Harrisonville, this county. William Rowley, a farmer of the same neighborhood, was his victim and according to the evidence already at hand the killing was one of the most audacious ever committed in the county. Our special correspondent at Scioto P. O. sends us the following brief account of the affair: "A cowardly crime was committed Saturday evening about four o' clock, on the public highway, near George Clark's about Sciotoville. Kenneth A. Blake, while coming from town, met William Rowley, insulted, challenged him to fight, then shot and killed him instantly. Rowley, we judge, was about thirty-five years old and was considered in most respects a fine man. He leaves a wife two children with many friends. The funeral was preached by M. H. Brown, at the old Presbyterian church, of Pleasant Valley, Sunday about three o' clock. The house would not begin to hold the congregation present. Blake the man who did the shooting, while he has not done any crime before, was considered by many as a hard character. At last reports he was at large, having came home after doing the deed, and then taking to the woods and has not been seen since. It seems that at the bottom of the crime was an envious feeling between the two men. When they met a quarrel arose about the workmanship of Blake on a wagon he had made for a customer. The lie was passed and the two men alighted from their vehicles and started toward each other. Blake drew his revolver and shot Rowley who died immediately. The strangest and most unaccountable feature of the murder is the fact that Blake boasted to several person that he had killed Rowley and yet the perpetrator of the deed walked out of the community and is still at large. Those who witnessed the murder and those to whom Blake confessed his deed were dazed by the audacity of the man, and not one thought of trying to prevent his escape. }
James Rowley, grandson to William Henry, was the owner of the Sternwheeler the “Mary Golden” that ran from Vanceburg Kentucky to Portsmouth along the Ohio River regularly… Launched for it’s maiden voyage in 1896 the ship caught fire and sank in 1903...
Edward and Catherine Dillon were born in Pennsylvania in the 1770’s and migrated here just after the turn of the century… They were both listed on the tax records of 1807...
Frederick Woolford was born in Virginia in the late 1700’s and came here by the 1820 census to make a life in the new land…His namesake remains in the Woolfords Landing Campground on Front Street in Sciotoville…
Joseph Allard, born in 1792 came to America in 1832 from England… His first wife Mary Gardner Allard died as soon as the ship landed in the United States… He later remarried in Scioto County in 1833...His namesake remains at Allard Park where the high school football games are played…
Elias Marshall was the son of Samuel Marshal who was one of the first known residents here… Marshall erected a small cabin at the mouth of the Little Scioto River with the Ohio and was instrumental in establishing Porter Township and the town of Sciotoville… The first elections were held at his home and the first tavern was erected just below him on the river… His sons established the first store in the newly platted Sciotoville… Elias served as Sciotoville’s first postmaster in 1844 when the new office opened…Marshall Avenue in front of the high school retains their namesake…
Walter Beloat, (1780-1842) was the teacher at the first school erected here in 1817...Walter and his brother George both served in the War of 1812...
One of the Rowley daughters married Andrew Barnett who served in the Civil War in the Ohio Infantry… His grave is marked as a veteran…J.K. Johnson buried here also served in the Civil War in the West Virginia Infantry…
The Brown Family represented here also staked claim to early land, having the first store here operating out of their house in 1835... Brown’s Glen namesake remains where descendants from the Brown Family still reside…
Several other early residents interred here were born in the 1700’s and died in the mid 1800’s… Their pioneering spirit were the foundations of the local communities we live in today…
To find this cache, take Hastings Hill Road to Myrtle Street then turn right on Pearl Street…Rowley Cemetery sits back from the roadway with a public right-of-way along a grassy area back to it…
PARK IN A VACANT DRIVEWAY ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE ACCESS OR ALONG THE ROADWAY AND WALK BACK TO THE CEMETERY… DO NOT DRIVE ON THE GRASS…
The cache is available from dawn to dusk like most cemetery caches are…You are looking for a camouflaged medium size pill bottle with a log book…Bring a pen and your love of history and enjoy the view of the beautiful Ohio River…
Be sure to notice the headstone that reads as follows:
"Remember me as you pass by...
As you are now, so once was I...
As I am now, so you will be...
Prepare my friends to follow me."
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Unatvat