Los Angeles County
Biographies
SAMUEL PRUDENCIO ROWLAND
ROWLAND, SAMUEL PRUDENCIO, Investments, Los Angeles, California, was born in Los Angeles County, April 28, 1865, the son of Thomas Rowland and Zenobia (Yorba) Rowland. He married Maggie A. Temple in Los Angeles, November 16, 1889, and to them there were born five children, Roevena, Theresa, Samuel J., Marguerite and Evangeline Rowland.
The Rowland family stands pre-eminent among the old houses of Southern California, the first of the name to settle there having been his grandfather, John Rowland, member of a prominent Maryland family. Early in the Nineteenth century John Rowland made his way across the then unsettled Western continent and stopped in New Mexico, where for several years he worked as a gold miner. In 1841, in company with William Workman, his partner, he moved to Southern California and they hunted gold there for a short time. They returned to New Mexico, however, and settled their affairs there, after which they returned to California, taking with them B. D. Wilson, D. W. Alexander, John Reed, William Perdue and Samuel Carpenter, all of whom became prosperous residents of Los Angeles and had much to do with the early history of the city. Mr. Rowland and his partner, Mr. Workman, secured, by Federal grant, the Puente Ranch, comprising 48,000 acres in Los Angeles County, and they settled there to spend the remainder of their lives. In 1869 John Rowland divided his property among his children, including the father of Mr. Rowland, giving to each about 3000 acres of land and a thousand head of cattle.
Mrs. S. P. Rowland is also descended from a notable family, prominent during the days of Spanish rule in California.
Mr. Rowland began his education in the country schools of the county where he was born and later attended St. Vincent’s Academy at Los Angeles for two years. Upon leaving there he entered the employ of C. Laux, one of the best-known chemists in the State of California at that time, and it was while in association with him that Mr. Rowland became a student in the Medical Department of the University of Southern California.
Leaving college, Mr. Rowland engaged in the drug business and in a short time was the owner of several stores in Los Angeles, having an establishment in the old Commercial Depot of Los Angeles and another in what is known as the Boyle Heights district of the city. After conducting his business successfully for about six years, Mr. Rowland returned to the ranch which had been given him by his father. From 1890 to 1903 he was in the commission business at Rancho La Puente, but since that latter date he has been engaged principally as an investor and today is one of the heaviest land owners in the southern part of California.
His interests included:
Ownership in a company known as the Cross Land Company, of which he is President, and which controls about 2000 acres of land in Rancho La Puente;
Cross Water Company, of which he is Vice President, and which owns one of the finest modern pumping plants in the West;
Fullerton-Whittier Oil Company, of which he is President;
A tract of land in Brookline Heights, and numerous other real estate holdings.
Mr. Rowland is a Republican in politics and at various times has been an office-holder and one of the most active workers for the success of the party. He served for several years as Justice of the Peace of Rowland Township, named after his family, and was twice appointed a Deputy Sheriff in Los Angeles County, the last time in charge of the criminal department of the office.
He was a member of the Board of Trustees of Rowland district for twenty years and during fifteen years of that time served as president of the board.
In addition to his prominence in financial circles and public life, Mr. Rowland is a leader in fraternal circles, having the distinction of being one of the charter members of the Native Sons of the Golden West and a charter member of the Foresters of America. He is also a member of the Red Men and the Fraternal Brotherhood, Lodge No. 1.
Mr. Rowland has always been one of the most enthusiastic workers for the development and up-building of Los Angeles and Southern California and has been a liberal supporter of all worthy movements or enterprises having for their object the betterment of that section.
Transcribed
by Joyce Rugeroni.
Source: Press
Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 459,
International News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles,
Boston, Atlanta. 1913.
© 2010 Joyce
Rugeroni.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES
BIOGRAPIES