The Rowlett family has quite an interesting history. We have had many Rowletts who were important to history or had did great things of their own or for the family. We have written books, built businesses, settled new areas, documented history, fought for our country, and given our all so that the next generation will be able to do well.

Rowletts are spread throughout the United States and Western Europe, although we have been told that we originated from France. My family came through London and didn't arrive to the US until the end of the 1700s, where we became the first to settle in Philadelphia, while other Rowletts had arrived several generations earlier in Virginia. There has been much question as to whether or not the two lines are related, or whether we simply both ended up with the same name. Variations of the Rowlett name later followed both due to record keeping spelling errors and in some cases intentional changes. We all have interesting stories of our family, perhaps the most interesting and eluding is whether or not they are all branches to the same story beginning. Now, through the modern technology of DNA study, we may soon be able to tell the earliest part of our story.

I am a descendant from a long line of Rowlett males. Currently I can trace my ancestry back to Samuel Rowlett of London England, and his son John Rowlett (Sr), who was the first Rowlett of the Philadelphia area. Our family remained in Philadelphia for a generation from John's arrival in April of 1796, to the late 1830s after the first several children were born to his oldest son David Edwards Rowlett. Although John remained in Philadelphia with his second wife, two daughters, and younger son John Jr, David Edwards Rowlett and the youngest brother George Bousefield moved to north eastern Indiana (where Jay County is presently), right along the Ohio border. We settled a new town here and both David and George's children grew up. Some of the cousins went on to fight in the Civil War, and one of George's sons died. One of David's sons, Ezekiel, along with some of the family, moved to Nebraska with their families by the late 1870s. Our family settled a new town here where my ancestor Ezekiel was also a photographer. Ezekiel's son, Thomas William Rowlett, worked several farms (owning some of them) throughout the Nebraska, Oklahoma, Missouri, areas, where his twelve children were born. (I have a photo of the family on their farm in Ainsworth Nebraska, in the year 1923, showing both Thomas William and his wife with the surviving ten children, most of whom were now adults. There is also another photo showing some of the grand-children the same day.) In about 1925, this part of the Rowlett family split up and most went to California (near LA and Hollywood areas). Over the next few decades our family moved throughout the country, some to the Oregon area, others to the nearby states, some remaining in California, and my father's family moved out here to Oklahoma (where some of his mother's family lived).

My Rowlett line:

1. Samuel Rowlett, born about 1745 in London England, was a baker.
2. John Rowlett (Sr), born 1772 in London England and later moved to Philadelphia, was an accountant for the Bank of North America, published the very historically important book "Rowlett's Tables of Discount and Interest", an over 200 page hand written and hand calculated spreadsheet of interest calculations for any amount and length of loan that could be needed. John's 1st, 3rd, and 5th born children remained in Philadelphia, while his 2nd and 4th moved to Indiana, a nice pattern for the mathematician father.
   
3. David Edwards Rowlett, born 1800 in Philadelphia, later moved to Indiana in the mid-late 1830s, owned a brick manufacturing business (according to a newspaper record on GenealogyBank.com and the US Census records confirming he was "engaged in manufacturing").
4. Ezekiel Rowlett, born 1834 in Philadelphia, moved to Indiana with his family when he was only a few years old. He became a photographer and later helped settle a new town in Nebraska, just as his father had done in Indiana.
5. Thomas William Rowlett, born 1860 in Indiana, was a farmer when the family moved to Nebraska. Thomas moved around the nearby states, working various farms, some of which the census records show that he owned. He had one of the largest families yet, twelve children, one died shortly after birth and another resulting from medical conditions. The other ten moved on to various other areas of the country, including several to California.
6. Gold Standard Thomas Rowlett, also known as "GS Thomas Rowlett" or "Standard Thomas Rowlett" (according to later census records), born 1898 in Oklahoma, had a most interesting name. Named after the winner of a debate for what would back our currency, his immediate older sibling was a sister two years older than him named Free Silver Freda Rowlett, also named after the other side of the money debate. Gold Standard Thomas Rowlett moved with his parents and most of his siblings to the LA and Hollywood area of California in 1925. He became a landscaper / gardener in this developing area, a fitting career for the city dwelling son of a farmer. According to census records, he was doing quite well for himself, making as much or more than an auto mechanic, nearly doubling or tripling the income of other professions. Although he had a hard working family, one of his sons would follow and stand out the most in becoming a very successful businessman.
7. Harley Edward Rowlett, born 1928 in California, was the first of the new generation born in the family's new residence. His marriage ended and his children ended up with his wife. I do not know much about him as a result of this outcome (and what I have found from the rest of the background is largely due to research and communication with others). Harley later remarried and lived in Oregon with other Rowlett family until he died in 1979 (a year after his father, who had remained in California).
8. Harley Rowlett's daughter and sons initially moved to Oklahoma, then the sons briefly moved to Arkansas, and finally all rejoined in Texas (with my father later returning to Oklahoma where I had been born). Most of them are still living and have several children and grandchildren residing in Texas and Oklahoma.