WILLDEN FAMILY-----ROWLEYs of PLYMOUTH COLONY

     Henry ROWLEY saw the American coastline for the first time only a decade after the Mayflower had brought the Pilgrims to Plymouth Colony in 1620. He had sailed from Leyden, Holland, where the Puritan Separatists had fled to practice their religion after being "watched carefully" in their native England, most likely in the County of Kent.  It is even possible that Henry ROWLEY was one of that group that escaped when the leader of their group, Rev. John Lothrop, was thrown in prison in the Tower of London. Once Rev. Lothrop promised to leave England forever, and take as many followers as he could, he was released and led them to Holland.
     Henry's in-laws, William and Frances PALMER,  were already in Plymouth Colony as early as 1621, and now Henry was bringing his 21 year old wife, Sarah, to be with her family once again. But it was not for long, as Sarah Ann ROWLEY died a year or two later, leaving Henry with 3 small children. Death was not uncommon in Plymouth Colony, and the need for survival called for action by those left behind, so Henry soon found a widowed mother for his children in Anne Blossom, whom he married in 1633.

Cape Cod coastline, Barnstable, Massachusets

            Henry and Anne ROWLEY moved to the recently founded community of Scituate, as did many others from Plymouth around 1634. There the family joined the Congregationalist or Independent Church of the Rev. John Lothrop in Scituate, and followed him to Barnstable, Massachusetts, in 1638. Rev. Lothrop, also linked to the WILLDEN genealogy by marriage, was the faith leader of the Plymouth Colony following the break with the Church of England, and his residence in Barnstable is now part of the Public Library.
                                              

Rev. John Lothrop's residence in 1600's Barnstable

     Henry had found his place in the Barnstable community, and was elected as a Deputy to the General Court, and performed the task of surveying "highways" in the new lands between 1646 and 1653. He later moved to Falmouth, also known as Saconessett in period writings, and Henry ROWLEY died there in 1673. A monument to the "Men of Kent" England is found in the town of Scituate today, with Henry's name etched in stone. He is the 9th great grandfather of Tonya Kim WILLDEN MARTINI.
                                         

"Men of Kent" monument in Scituate MA

     Henry's son Moses ROWLEY in 1652 married Elizabeth FULLER, the daughter of the Commander of the Plymouth Colony Militia, Capt. Matthew FULLER, and grand-daughter of the Mayflower passenger Edward FULLER.  Five years later, Moses took the Freeman Oath, which made him a voting member of the community council in Barnstable, where he remained for many years until moving to the village of Falmouth, founded in 1660. In 1681 Moses ROWLEY was made a Constable in Falmouth, and in 1692 became a Deputy to the General Court. Moses, like his father and grandfather, could not remain in one place for long, and purchased 60 acres from Jonathan Gilbert in East Haddam, Connecticut in 1692, and once again the family started over. East Haddam is north of Long Island, NY along the Connecticut River, quite a distance away from Cape Cod in the 1690's.
                                       

Old Cove Burial Ground, East Haddam Connecticut

       By the summer of 1705, Moses ROWLEY had died, leaving his wife Elizabeth and their eight grown children. But there is an indication that there was "trouble in Paradise" before Moses died,  for in 1714, Elizabeth ROWLEY, now in her 70's, appeared in the Middlesex County Court in East Haddam to fight for property rights for her children, claiming that her husband Moses ROWLEY had sold their land in Falmouth without her consent before he died. We do not know the outcome of this claim, so we will leave this argument to those who have gone before us, possibly hearing their raised voices only in the cemetery on a cold, dark night. . Moses and Ellizabeth ROWLEY are the 8th great grandparents of Tonya Kim WILLDEN MARTINI.