276
It took some time to create a home in the wilderness with hand fashioned materials and they were no doubt still clearing and building when Wesley A. Rowland, a young bachelor, come to this neighborhood. He had been sent by his father William Rowland to find a home site and to build a house to which his family could come later. The Rowlands were originally from Fairfield District, South Carolina, but more immediately from Alabama. "W. A." landed at Caryville with several negro slaves and traveled almost due south until he reached a point near where the town of Huttig now stands. Here he built the house to which William Rowland brought his wife and children in 1843.
The Rowland settlement was several miles southeast of the Brown settlement but, despite the lack of easily traveled roads, the two families considered themselves near neighbors. Neither had nearer neighbors than the people of Marion, Louisiana, who were twelve or fifteen miles farther south.
However, it was not long until this two-settlement community began to expand. We do not know just who the next settlers were---probably the Hog family---although the Jamesons and the Harpers also came early.
Mr. Hog was a pioneer, a prominent farmer and slave owner but the lure of Texas was too strong for him. After a few years at Lapile he moved there to locate permanently. In later years his son, who was born in Texas, became first native-born governor to the state.
- Dr. James A. Rowland another son of William or "Billy" Rowland
(as he affectionately became known) arrived in 1846 to settle, several
miles northwest of his father's home, on four hundred acres of land which
he bought for one dollar and a quarter per acre. Before coming from Alabama
to practice his profession in the wilds of Arkansas, Dr. Rowland had been
a student of the Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia, and a graduate
of the Charleston, South Carolina, Medical College. His wife, a grand daughter
of Tandy Walker the well known Alabama interpreter and his three year old
son came with him to Arkansas. Like the older Rowlands they did much to
develop the part of Union County in which they settled.
Words
Study Questions
Related Sites