"Portrait & Biographical Record of the Willamette Valley Oregon."  Chapman 
Publishing Company, 1903. p. 270.
 
WILLIAM W. ROWELL

     As the proprietor of the Russ House, Albany, Linn county, W. W. Rowell is
winning a wide popularity in the community, which is not bounded by the limits
of the city or county, but his reputation as a successful landlord is carried
beyond this by those who know him in his business capacity. He is a man of
splendid personality, as well as a successful business man, and since his
purchase of the hotel in 1892 he has built up a good patron age and has
emphatically met with rich returns from his efforts.
     Mr. Rowell was born in Albany, Orleans county, Vt., May 14, 1852, the
descendant of an English family who truly loved their adopted land. Three
brothers of this family had come to the colonies just previous to the breaking
out of the Revolutionary war, and so deeply were they impressed with the
righteousness of the cause of the colonists that they generously gave their aid
in the struggle. The first American born was William, the grandfather of W. W.
Rowell, of this review, and his birth occurred in Vermont, where he represented
both a New Hampshire and a Massachusetts family. The father, Guy E., also owes
his nativity to that state, in which he engaged in farming and stock-raising as
a means of livelihood. Being a prominent man in the affairs of the community in
which he lived he acted often in an official capacity, serving as selectman at
various times. His wife was in maidenhood Betsey G. Page, also a native of
Vermont, and the descendant of an old New England family. At her death, which
occurred in Vermont, she was the mother of  nine children, all of whom are
living, and all located in the New England states, with the exception of W. W.,
and his brother, Z. E., who is a farmer in California.
     William W. Rowell was the second oldest of his father's children, and was
reared on the paternal farm, and educated in the public schools and Albany
Academy. When nineteen years of age he began working at the carpenter's trade,
and continued in the work until he came to California with his brother in 1875.
After engaging for two years at his trade in San Francisco, he spent one year in
Southern California, and then located in Mendocino county, where he became
interested in a stock ranch, which he left in 1888 to settle in Linn county,
Ore. Here he bought a farm located three miles from Albany, and engaged in its
cultivation until 1892, when he sold it and invested the proceeds in his present
lucrative business, which has become very successful under his able management.
     The marriage of Mr. Rowell occurred in Ukiah, Mendocino county, Cal., and
united him with Miss Mary Harter, a native of Iowa, and of the union two
children have been born, of whom Edith is the wife of T. A. Riggs, of Dallas ;
and Oliver is a clerk in the establishment of A. M. Reeves. Politically, Mr.
Rowell is a stanch Republican, true to the party and to the principles which it
advocates. Fraternally, he is a member of the Foresters, the Fraternal Union and
the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks.

     
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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in June 2008 by Diana Smith.  Submitter
has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.