Sacramento County
Biographies
JAMES BYRON ROWRAY
JAMES BYRON ROWRAY.--Since 1918 James
Byron Rowray has served in a creditable and able
manner as general manager of the Sacramento-Northern Railroad. His birth occurred in Jerseyville,
Ill., on November 7, 1873, his parents being
James B. and Margaret (Pittenger) Rowray. James Byron Rowray
acquired his education in the grammar and high schools of his native city and
when he had laid aside his textbooks began his independent career as a
telegraph operator with the Chicago, Peoria
and St. Louis Railroad, following this occupation for three years, when he took
up the duties of station agent and dispatcher, which he followed for two
years. On February 1, 1897, he resigned
to come to California, where he became ticket agent with the Pacific Electric
Railroad at Pasadena; two years later he became dispatcher for the same company
and in 1901 became train-master. In
March, 1902, he was made superintendent of the suburban lines in Los Angeles; in
February, 1904, he became superintendent of the inter-urban electric lines in
Los Angeles, a position he occupied until 1911, when he removed to Sacramento
and on May 1 of the same year entered upon his duties as superintendent of the
Sacramento-Northern Railroad, occupying that position until July, 1918, when he
was made general manager of this company.
The
marriage of Mr. Rowray occurred in Pasadena
in 1901 and united him with Miss Agnes Petrie, a native of Eldorado, Kans., who
came to California in 1890. Fraternally Mr. Rowray
is a thirty-second degree Mason and a member of the Shrine; he is a charter and
life member of B. P. O. Elks Lodge No. 672 in Pasadena; in
Sacramento he is a member of the
Sutter and Del Paso Clubs. He gives his
political allegiance to the Republican party.
Transcribed
by Priscilla J. Delventhal.
Source: Reed, G. Walter, History
of Sacramento County, California With Biographical Sketches,
Page 590. Historic Record Company, Los
Angeles, CA. 1923.
© 2007 P. J. Delventhal.