Early Monrovia Structures Research

Josiah Cass

Birthdate:

Josiah Cass Rowley was only very briefly in Monrovia.  In the late 1880s, Southern California was heavily advertising land for sale.  Rowley purchased part of Lots 13 & 14 in Block K and Lot 21 in Block A in the Town of Monrovia Subdivisionars of his life in Monrovia, though he did (as many others) buy the property while living in another state.

He started off one of seven children helping on his father's (William B. Rowley) farm in Batavia, Genesee, New York.  He married Angeline Browne (1830-1905) in 1856.  In 1862, he was living in Adrian, Lenawee, Michigan, working as a merchant.  He registered for the draft a year later but doesn't seem to have served.

He, his wife, and two daughters continued to live in Adrian, Michigan for the next 30 years.  In the late 1880s, Southern California began to advertise property all over the United States.  Josiah may have seen the advertisements, and he may have actually taken the train from Michigan out to see property, specifically in Monrovia.  

In 1888, he purchased the south 26ft of the 54 of Lots 13 and 14 and built a structure valued at $400 on property.  He also  Lot 21 in Block A in the Town of Monrovia Subdivision though he made no improvements on it.  He owned all the properties for one year.  Perhaps he had a feeling the property boom was going to burst which it did by the end of 1888.

It's unclear if he ever saw the property or the house he built on Lot K.  

Angeline Rowley died in 1905 and Josiah Rowley in 1907, both in Adrian, Michigan.  They had two children, a girl Gertrude and a boy Edward who died when he was three.