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Thomas Rowley (Vermont)

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This article is about the 18th-century American poet. For the 18th-century English poet who used the pseudonym Thomas Rowley, see Thomas Chatterton.


Grave of Thomas Rowley (1721-1796), Shorehan, Vermont. Photo by Bill McKern. Courtesy Find a Grave.

Grave of Thomas Rowley (1721-1796), Shorehan, Vermont. Photo by Bill McKern. Courtesy Find a Grave.

Thomas Rowley (March 24, 1721 - 1803) was a colonial American poet of Vermont.[1]

Life[]

Overview[]

Rowley was known as the “Bard of the Green Mountains.” During his lifetime and before the American Revolution, his poetry gained a wide reputation with the catchphrase of "Setting the Hills on Fire."

Family[]

Rowley was born in Hebron, Connecticut, the son of Samuel Rowley and Elizabeth (Fuller),[1] and great grandson of Samuel Fuller (who had come to America on the Mayflower).[2]

Adult life[]

Thomas married Lois Cass in Hebron in 1744 and they had 7 known children in Hebron and Kent, Connecticut. The family moved to the town of Danby in Rutland co., Vermont, in 1768.

The Rowleys were among the original settlers of Danby. In 1769, when Danby was organized as a town, Rowley was elected the inaugural town clerk. He also served as the town's original representative in the state General Assembly from 1778 to 1782.[1]

In Danby, Thomas became acquainted with and joined with Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys, a growing Vermont militia named after the Green Mountains of Vermont comprised mostly from freemen in Rutland county and neighboring Addison county. The Green Mountain Boys were concerned New York would claim all the lands of Vermont known at the time as a dispute over the New Hampshire Grants.

Rowley joined the Green Mountain Boys and became Allen's spokesman.[1]

Around 1786, Rowley and his family moved further north to the eastern shore of Lake Champlain to the town of Shoreham in Addison co., Vermont, where he built a hotel that was still in operation in 1860.[1] His land was known as "Rowley's Point," at the current landmark of Larabee's Point.

He resided in Shoreham the rest of his life.[1]

He published poetry in the Rural Magazine and the Bennington Gazette.[1]

He died in 1803 in Benson, Vermont, at the home of his son, Nathan Rowley. He is buried in Jenison Cemetery in Shoreham.[1]

Writing[]

Rowley's poetry became legendary for the proverbial setting the hills on fire.

"Thomas Rowley’s poems overflowed with a pioneer's pride in Vermont. He had once motivated the men of Vermont to fight for their independence as a state against a feudal system that was threatened on them from New York."[3]

Rowley's verses were mainly published in the Rural Magazine and the Bennington Gazette. A motivational poems (later simply called "To Rutland Go") was originally published with a longer title which invited new settlers to Vermont as the paradise compared to New York, as follows: An Invitation to the Poor Tenants that Live Under Their Poor Patrons in the Province of New York, To Come and Settle on Our Good Lands, Under the New Hampshire Grants. This poem is exemplary of his style and message:

West of the Mountains Green
Lies Rutland Fair
The best that ever was seen
For land and air...
We value not New York
With all her Powers
Here we'll stay and Work
The land is Ours...
This is the noble land by conquest won
Took from a savage band by sword and gun
We drove them to the west, they could not stand the test
-from "To Rutland Go” by Thomas Rowley, 1760s[3][4][5]

Rowley's poetry focused not only on politics, but also on the pleasantriss and rustic nature of pioneer life, with humor and witty observations. For example, in another poetic inventory of his "estate", he sums up that he has virtually nothing, but still he is independent and happy.

Notable poems[]

  • To Rutland Go
  • When Caesar Reigned King In Rome - this poem was written to complain that New York courts sentenced Ethan Allen to death, circa 1774 and attached to a petition by Ethan Allen.[6]

See also[]

References[]

  • Hemingway, Abby Maria, editor. "Poets and Poetry of Vermont", Hemingway Volume 29, (Boston: Brown, Taggard & Chase; Brattleboro, Vermont: W. Felton, 1860).
  • DAR. The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Rolls of Honor, 5:126; 25:49; 162:236.
  • Vermont Historical Society. Vermont History, 37:249; 65:434.
  • Shoreham, Vermont Place Names, p. 63
  • The Literature of Vermont. Hanover: University Press of New England, 1973.
  • Town of Shoreham, Original Town Records, p. 14-15.
  • MacIntire, Susan and Witherell, Sanford. Genealogical Register of the Families of Shoreham. VT: 1984.
  • Rowley, Irene. The Golden Rowley collection, Volume 1: "The Genealogy and Known Descendents of Daniel Rowley the Pioneer Land Dealer". Rowley, 2002, pages 93–94.
  • Williams, John C. The History and Map of Danby, Vermont, McLean & Robbins, 1869. pp. 13, 18, 21-22, 30-36, 70, 92, 239-244, 253. [2]
  • Mayflower Families Through Five Generations: Volume Ten, Family of Samuel Fuller, General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1996

Notes[]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Thomas Rowley, Find a Grave, September 17, 2006. Web, Jan. 27, 2019.
  2. ↑ Mayflower Families Through Five Generations: Family of Samuel Fuller, General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1996.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Rowley, 2002.
  4. ↑ Hemingway, 1860.
  5. ↑ Williams, 1869, pp. 240-242 [1].
  6. ↑ Williams, 1869, p. 30

External links[]

Poems
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