The 84 Grandchildren of David M Rowland and Phoebe A Vaughn

Simply stating that David M Rowland (1838-1926) and Phoebe A Vaughn (1842-1918) produced a large number of descendants is a severe understatement – the couple parented 15 children and had 84 grandchildren. Further generations have not been fully enumerated, but the count can easily go into the hundreds. They were prolific producers of Rowland progeny in Hawkins County, Tennessee.

Excerpts from David’s obituary:

“David M. Rowland, one of the pioneer citizens of this section, passed away at his home in Hawkins County yesterday, at the age of 88.

Mr. Rowland was born in Sullivan County and moved to Hawkins County at an early age.  He attended school at the Old Kingsport Academy, which existed several years ago. Mr. Rowland began teaching school at the age of 17 years and during his career taught about 50 schools in this section.  He was exempt as a teacher during the Civil War.

The deceased was married to Miss Phoebe Vaughn when he was 19 years of age. They lived sixty years together, she having preceded him to the grave by eight years. To this union were born 15 children, 12 of whom survive. Mr. Rowland also leaves 84 grandchildren, 100 or more great-grandchildren, and five great-great-grandchildren, thereby seeing the fifth generation of the Rowland family.”

David and his wife Phoebe had 15 children in all.  Two of them, Mary Ann and Sallie K, died quite young, and a third daughter, Amanda Cornelia, passed away in 1905 before the death of her parents.  Although Amanda did not survive her parents, she and her husband Clifton R Mellons provided them with eight grandchildren.

James F Rowland (1859-1935), the eldest son of David and Phoebe, took a cue from his parents and fathered 16 children of his own with two wives.  He had four children with Susannah Whetsel, his first wife, and a dozen more with Caledonia Hamblen, his second wife.

Of the reported 84 grandchildren surviving this death, 78 have been identified, named, and entered into the WikiTree database.  Another seven (unnamed) are mentioned as having passed away prior to either the 1900 or 1910 census reports.  The 15 children of David and Phoebe are:

1. Mary Ann Rowland (1858-1858), no children
2. James F Rowland (1859-1935), 16 children
3. Adeline McMinn “Addie” (Rowland) Parker (1860-1930), 9 children
4. Amanda Cornelia (Rowland) Mellons (1862-1905), 8 children (plus 2 that died as infants)
5. Clarence Hamilton Rowland (1865-1958), 4 children
6. Henry Brisco Rowland (1866-1954), 7 children
7. William Thomas “W T” Rowland (1868-1948), 3 children
8. Robert Glen Rowland (1870-1959), 3 children
9. George Walters Rowland (1872-1968), 4 children
10. Nancy Kay (Rowland) Sensabaugh-Ketron (1874-1977), 5 children (yes, she lived 103 years)
11. Ellen Inez (Rowland) Dodson-Henry (1876-1964), 5 children
12. Sallie K Rowland (1878- before 1889), no children
13. Charles Albert Jackson “Jack” Rowland (1880-1948), 6 children
14. Bertie Lee (Rowland) Steadman (1882-1929), 2 children
15. Minne E (Rowland) Nelms, 6 children

Nearly all of their children and grandchildren remained in northeast Tennessee, primarily in Hawkins and Sullivan counties. If you are a Rowland from this part of Tennessee, there is a high probability you are related. 

Rowland Y-DNA Group Untested.  There are no known Rowland male descendants from this particular Rowland line that have taken a Y-DNA test and joined the Rowland Xref Project.  If you, or someone you know, are potential candidates for this group, then please refer to How To Participate in the Rowland Xref Project.

WikiTree is an open-source collaborative single-family tree with more than 27 million individual profiles.  If you have information and sources on additional descendants of this line, then please join WikiTree (it is completely free) and help us grow the tree.

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Image Credits

• Image of David M Rowland and Phoebe A Vaughn obtained from Ancestry (uploaded by Michael Seal on 18 Jan 2015) and restored by Ron Rowland on 08 Jul 2021,
• Image of Tennessee Counties from MapsOpenSource.
• Image of David M Rowland Obituary in the Kingsport Times obtained from his Find-A-Grave memorial.
• Image of David M Rowland Obituary in the Knoxville Journal obtained Newspapers.com.