KINFOLK

THE ROW FAMILY IN AMERICA

We had few leads to aid us in our research on the Row family in America. All we had was just word of mouth tradition. We were sure that when the first settler came to the new world the name had the German spelling of "Rau," and we had heard stories of the thick German accent of Benjamin Row and to a lesser degree of his son, Andrew Jackson Row. Since Andrew was born in this country it seems probable that the family may have been in a settlement of German speaking folk in the early years after their Settlement.

The Row family in Barbour County, West Virginia, and their families are all descendants of Benjamin (Bennie) Row and his wife Sarah Rinehart. On October 29, 1977, we were searching the records in the court house in Woodstock, Virginia, and was surprised to find their wedding license. It was recorded in the Marriage Register for the years of 1772 to 1853 on page 343.

Benjamin Row married Sarah Rinehart, March 4, 1830. They are one set of the great-great-great-grandparents of Marion and Howard Brady, and of Adriel and Sharon Thrash (Schaible). Troy had always been under the impression that this couple were married in Germany before coming to this country. It now seems more probable that it was the parents of Benjamin Row who came over from Germany and settled in Page Co., Va. This may be the place of Benjamin’s birth. At any rate we know that he had a grist mill in that county before moving to Barbour County, W. Va.

We inquired around and learned that a great-grandson of Fultz lived in Newport so we visited him. He told us that the property had been in the hands of his family except for a short period, since buying it of Benjamin Row. Row sold the dam site after the dam and mill had been destroyed by a flood. The Fultz family rebuilt it, and twice more it was destroyed by floods, and once by fire before it was abandoned. We went to see the place where it had been located. There were still traces of the dam and an abandoned mill house was still standing in Newport, Va.

Benjamin and Sarah moved with their family to Barbour County, (W. Va.) where he again established a grist mill. Alva Row of Junior is another great-great grandson of Benjamin Row, and in 1952 he published a four page history of the Row family. Much of what follows concerning this family is from his little booklet He evidently had not done research in Page County for he wrote that it was not known if the mill had ever been rebuilt in Newport after Row sold the property to Fultz. It was rebuilt three times before the site was abandoned.

The new grist mill was built on the Tygart Valley River near Gage, W. Va., He also built a store and a blacksmith shop, and purchased land extending down the river about one and one half miles including all of the land east of the river where the town of Junior now stands. The settlement which grew up a mile north of the null was first called Rowtown. The builders of the railroad, which ran through the settlement, changed the name to Junior.

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More "ROW" History - This is info that I found on the Internet. RmB

See also: "From Rowtown to Junior" by Troy R. Brady (Pop Troy's Anthology)
(RE: Sarah Frances Carter Sluss, b. 1824 ---- 1850 Census shows her as wife of Andrew Sluss, b. 1805 who was 39, and four children - Rebecca 8, Mary E. 6, Roxannah 4, Noah 1. Based on an inquiry made by Steven Cockrell on 5-23-2001, he stated that the family died in Barbour County, so that raises a couple of questions. What happened to her husband and possibly the three oldest children, and where does Lil' Andrew (child mentioned earlier) fit in? RmB)

Some of the information below was supplied by Alva Row and his daughter, Yvonne Row Gillespie, of Junior and Glenville, W. Va. (The following is a quote from Alva Row's little book):

A. J. Row died intestate, but he left a map of his property in and around Junior. On this map he indicated the areas which were to go to each of his children, and the courts divided his property on the basis of this map. Walter Brady's mother, Mary Elizabeth Row Brady, received a large lot in Junior and 20 acres on the hill east of Junior.

Her home was built by her two sons, with some supervision by two uncles, on the lot, after the death of her husband Granville Bland Brady (the first). The lumber was cut and sawed on the old Rich Mountain farm.

Junior, W. Va., has the dubious distinction of being the only post office in the United States or its possessions of this name. (I checked the code book this morning, October 26, 1978.)

We secured the tombstone information listed on Sept 15, 1977. We found the graves of both Benjamin and his son, Andrew Jackson Row, in the Church of the Brethren Cemetery, located across the river and a short distance north of the town of Junior. Neither of Benjamin's wives and only the second wife of Andrew are buried there.

Since we could not find the grave of Delilah J. Williams Row in either of the cemeteries near Junior we began a search for private burial plots. Troy's brother, Bland, and his only living uncle, Dayton Brady said they thought she was buried on the hill overlooking the town of Junior. After walking all over the hill we finally found a grave in a crab orchard thicket, on the Shomo property. Here we found only one broken tombstone, and some indications that there had been one or two more there. Imagine our surprise when we found, after piecing the fragments together, that it marked the grave of our sons' great-great-great-grandmother, Sarah Rinehart Row, and not Delilah J. Williams Row. The marker read simply:

We were told that Delilah died in childbirth and was buried in this abandoned private graveyard with her new born baby.

Taken at the abandoned gravesite on the hill above Junior. We found only one broken marker here. It was for the grandmother of Mary Brady. It stated simply: Sarah wife of B. Row - Born 1810 - Died 1866. We were told by Dayton Brady that there were other bodies buried there. In addition to Sarah Rinehart Row there was her daughter in-law, Delilah Williams Row, the first wife of Andrew Jackson Row, and her infant child. It was thought that she died in childbirth. Delilah and Andrew Row were the parents of Mary Row Brady.

Troy is standing at the gravesite of his great-grandfather, Andrew Jackson Row. The tall shaft is his monument. His father, Benjamin Row, is also buried in Valley River Cemetery, one mile north of Junior, W. Va., on the west side of the river. It is commonly called "The Dunkard Graveyard" by local people. This picture was taken Sept 15, 1977.

Granville and Mary Row Brady are buried
 in the Valley River Cemetery, one mile
northwest of Junior, W. Va.

I.    Benjamin Row (Bennie) b. 1-11-1808 d. 8-26-1879. First wife - Sarah F. Rinehart, 1810 to 1866. Second wife: Sarah Frances Slufss (Sluss) - Married in 1867. Benjamin is buried in the Church of the Brethren Cemetery across the river from Junior, in Barbour County, W. Va. Sarah is buried in a private plot containing only three or four graves, located on the east hill above Junior. Birth and death dates above are from the grave markers. All children were from the first marriage. Benjamin died of Palsy. (Parkinson’s Disease)

Children of Benjamin Row and Sarah Rinehart - m. 3-4-1830 in Shenandoah Co., Va.:

 

II.    1.    Mary Ann Row (Viquesney), b, 4-11-1832, m.

                 Charles E. Viquesney, Sr., b. France

  

II.   2.    Andrew Jackson B. Row, 8-8-1834 to 1-19-1905

              Delilah J. William(s)  m.12-25-1855

              Mary K. Fitzgerald

     3.    Julia Ann Row (Williams), 9-11-1836, m. 12-25-1855

     4.    Polly Ann Row (Latham), 4-17-1839 to 6-5-1870, m.

                Samuel Latham

Andrew and his sister Julia Ann married a brother and sister, Andrew and Delilah J. William in a double ceremony. The Row family of West Virginia are descendents of Andrew. The first 7 children were by his first wife Delilah J. William and the last three by his second wife, Mary K. Fitzgerald. The second wife is buried with the husband and the dates on her tombstone are 1838 - 1915. The tombstone dates were all secured by my husband and me, but the others were supplied by Yvonne Row Gillespie, daughter of Alva Row the second, of Junior at the Row reunion Aug. 31, 1980.