John W. Rowland and Anna Whitus
John Woods Rowland was the third son of William Rowland and Elizabeth Brown. John was born on 13 Nov 1859 in Rutherford County and died on 2 September 1946 in Harriman in Roane County, Tennessee. John married twice, first to M.J. Jenkins in Rutherford County on 5 April 1883; she may have been Mary Jane Jenkins, daughter of Eli Jenkins and his wife, Nancy. They had no known children.
John subsequently married Anna Lou Whitus on 18 February 1892 in Rutherford County. Anna was born on 16 August 1867, probably in Bedford County, and died on 27 May 1951 at the home of her daughter, Jennie, in Lenoir City, Loudon County, Tennessee. Anna was the daughter of George Washington Whitus and Nancy Lavina Puckett. Both John and Anna are buried at Willard Park Cemetery in Harriman.
John held a variety of occupations over the years, according to census data. In 1880, he lived with his older brother, Granville, and worked as a farmer; by 1900, he had moved his young family to Roane County in eastern Tennessee, where he told enumerators that he worked as a laborer. Ten years later, he was working in coal mines in adjacent Morgan County, in the mining community of Petros, and in 1920, at the age of 60, he had moved back to Harriman in Roane County and earned his living as a drayman. These communities are all around the same general area, where Roane and Morgan Counties join.
In the 1930 census, two of John and Anna's grandchildren -- Mara D. Rowland (aged 6) and Dougie L. Rowland (aged 5) lived with them in Harriman. We do not know who their parents were at this point.
The census data conflicts on whether John could read or write; he told some enumerators that he could, while other census enumerations indicate that he could neither read nor write; no deeds or legal documents have yet been located that might indicate whether he could sign his name.
John Woods Rowland (b. 13 November 1859, Rutherford, TN - d. 2 September 1946, Roane, TN)
m. 18 February 1892, Rutherford, TN
Anna Lou Whitus (b. 16 August 1867, prob. Bedford, TN - d 27 May 1951, Lenoir City, Loudon, TN)
Children:
i. Leonard Elgin Rowland (13 Nov 1892-5 Oct 1957, Cincinnati, OH); m. Maude Lavinia Lay
ii. Erwin W. Rowland (22 Aug 1895-17 Jul 1970); m1. unknown (listed as widowed in 1930 census), m2. Mary Elizabeth Carter
iii. Kate Rowland (26 Feb 1898-30 Mar 1975); m. Millard Posey
iv. Harry Lee Rowland (9 Dec 1900-3 Feb 1956); m. Lula Kathryn Branham
v. Jane Belle Rowland ("Jennie Bell") (19 Oct 1903-13 Dec 1983); m. William Collins
vi. Roy Hayes Rowland (10 Mar 1906-30 May 1978); m. Carrie Mae Lowe; m2 Marie Ritter; m3. Hannah Coward
vii. John Wesley Rowland (3 Jul 1909-6 Sep 1986)
viii. Florence Eva Rowland (5 Jul 1913-23 Oct 1970); m. Floyd Adkisson