Rowley, Samuel and Ann Taylor

Children on the trek:  Mary Ann, Samuel Jamer, Hannah Eliza, Sarah Jane, Alice Louise, George Walter, John Taylor

Samuel Rowley was born 29 October 1842 Mars Hill, Suckley Parish, Worcestershire, England.  His parents were William Rowley Jr. (1785-1849), and Ann Jewell (1807-1888.   He came to Utah from England when he was a young boy. His widowed mother and 6 brothers and sisters traveled with the Willey Handcart Company. His mother said of this great hardship:
'I had to make the best of it. I had a very real job to do. The children had to be fed and clothed, but the big task and the one I must accomplish, is to get us all to Zion. I must be among the people of my faith and I must get the temple work done for us."


      ”There came a time when there seemed to be no food at all. Some of the men left to hunt buffalo. Night was coming and there was no food for the evening meal. I asked God's help as I always did. I got on my knees, remembering two hard sea biscuits that were still in my trunk. They had been left over from the sea voyage, they were not large, and were so hard, they couldn't be broken. Surely, that was not enough to feed 8 people, but 5 loaves and 2 fishes were not enough to feed 5000 people either, but through a miracle, Jesus had done it. So with God's help, nothing is impossible. I found the biscuits and put them in a Dutch oven and covered them with water and asked for God's blessing. Then I put the lid on the pan and set it on the coals. When I took off the lid a little later, I found the pan filled with food. I kneeled with my family and thanked God for his goodness. That night my family had sufficient."

    Her son Thomas also wrote of their forced march across Rocky Ridge and on to Rock Creek: “In traveling at night, in the frost of that altitude, my right hand froze while I was pushing on the back of the cart and when we stopped at night and my hand got warm, it swelled up, as my brother Samuel said, ‘like a toad’. I could finally go no farther and I laid beside the trail, waiting for the sick wagon. By the time I was picked up, my body was frozen in two places. That night 12 people died and the next morning 3 more joined them. I always thought, I shall be the happiest person, if I could reach Zion alive. However, the Lord had not deserted us and I was ashamed for thinking for a moment that he had.”

Ann’s son, Samuel, had the same determination as his mother. In 1879, Samuel took his wife and 7 children, including a new baby and headed for the Escalante desert. The trip took 6 months and was one of the coldest winters that area had ever known. It was certainly not the coldest that Samuel had known. After 6 months of road building and hardships and suffering, they reached the San Juan on the evening of April 6, 1880. This turned out to be the first trip through Hole in the Rock. (Thanks to Richard Hardy for the information which is believed to have come from Georgiana Hardy Puckett, granddaughter of John Rowley and great-granddaughter of Ann Rowley.)

Samuel married Ann Taylor 23 April 1865. They eventually had 12 children. He and his family were called to the San Juan Settlement Mission while living in Parowan. He is a Hole in the Rock Pioneer, settling the town of Bluff.  He married Julia Ann Westover He married Julia Ann Westover 17 December 1903 Manti, Sanpete, Ut .
Later he settled in Huntington.  He died 7 January 1928 Huntington, Emery, Utah, United States (Sherratt Library, Southern Utah University.)

Ann Taylor was born 23 April 1863 Parowan, IRON, UTAH.  She died in 1901.
Their son John Taylor is buried in Bluff cemetary.  He was only 3 1/2 years old.  He was born 1 Sep 1879 Parowan, Iron, Ut. d. 15 Mar 1883 p. Bluff, San Juan, Ut

More information can be found in Rowley Family Histories By Frank D. Richardson (if you can find the book!)
Several references in Hole in the Rock by Miller
Article about the Rowleys in Blue Mountain Shadows Vol. 6 p. 53-56