From Proud Heritage, Volume I by DCPA, currently out of print.
Robert Montgomery Rowland, son of John Rowland and Margaret Leeper Rowland, and Mary A. (Polly) Kerley Rowland, daughter of James Kerley and Alice Brothers Kerley, were early settlers in the Richardson/Plano area and are buried in the Jacob Routh Cemetery there, as are a son and a daughter and several grandchildren who died young.
Robert M. Rowland, born Tennessee 10 March 1804, and Mary A. Kerley, born Tennessee 20 September 1811, were married in Tennessee in 1829 and lived in Hartsville, Tennessee and Simpson County, Kentucky before coming to Dallas County around 1854 with their nine children: Elizabeth Jane Rowland Gough Moore, James F. Rowland (who served as representative from Dallas County to the Twenty-first Legislature of Texas), Lydia T. Rowland Shelton, Martha Alice Rowland Skiles, Rev. William Henry Rowland, Mary Rowland Groner, Margaret Lou Rowland Fouche, John Rowland and Robert A. Rowland. Robert Montgomery Rowland died 17 July 1881 and Mary Kerley Rowland on 23 May 1875.
Their fifth child, William Henry Rowland, was born in Hartsville, Tennessee 15 February 1839 and came to Dallas County as a teenager. He was an early member of Tannehill Lodge A.F. &: A.M. No. 52. In the 1860 census of Dallas County when he was 21 years of age, his occupation was listed as “farm laborer”. He apparently was working on the farm of his brother-in-law, Charles Skiles. In 1861 he answered the call to arms by enlisting in Company C, 6th Texas Cavalry and served under General Sui Ross, as did his brother, James F. Rowland, and cousin, James Kerley. Another brother, John, served with General Gano. William was very seriously wounded near Grand Junction, Tennessee on the Mississippi-Tennessee line and was taken prisoner. He eventually escaped and made his way back to Texas, where he worked in the commissary while recuperating from his injuries. Some time after the war’s end he moved to Azle in Tarrant County and on 3 September 1868 he was married to Martha Cheatham Fowler, daughter of Meridith Fowler and Diana Cheatham Fowler of that city. In 1871 he helped organize the Ash Creek Baptist Church in Azle and served as one of its early pastors.
Rev. and Mrs. Rowland had nine children, seven of whom lived to reach maturity. They were: Charles H., Robert M., William, James, Benjamin, Margaret Ruth and Bernice. Rev. Rowland died in Fort Worth 9 August 1920 and is buried in the Ash Creek Baptist Church Cemetery in Azle, as is Mrs. Rowland who died in 1935.
Their daughter, Margaret Ruth, married on 21 June 1911 James Murphy Popplewell, Jr., of Birdville, Texas, and a grandson of Simcoe Popplewell who was one of the first land owners in Dallas. They moved with their four children: James M. III, Bernice, Lyn Ruth and Mary Elizabeth, to Irving in Dallas County in 1923 and there a fifth child, William Row land Popplewell, was born. The Popplewell family resided in Irving until 1935 when they moved to Dallas. Mrs. Popplewell was a Dallas resident until her death on 14 October 1982 at the age of 94.
There have been many, many changes in Dallas County since Robert Montgomery Rowland brought his family there to make a permanent home over 130 years ago. Descendants of this family total a goodly number, many of whom still live in the area. Descendants of James F. Rowland, also of Elizabeth Jane Gough Moore, Lydia Shelton and Martha Alice Skiles were living in the Richardson area fifteen or twenty years ago, and I’m sure many must be living in the county today.
By Bernice Popplewell Evans, Rockport
