Obit:John L.(Pete) Rowe; Medford, Jackson Co., Oregon ********************************************************************************* USGENWEB ARCHIVES(tm) NOTICE: ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/orfiles.htm ********************************************************************************* Transcribed and formatted for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Elizabeth ************************************************************************ ROWE, John L., Medford (Oregon) Mail Tribune, Tuesday, 22 Aug 1939, p. 8 -- Death took one of Sam's Valley's oldest pioneers and native sons, with passing of John Laffette Rowe at his home Thursday evening, August 17, at the age of 80 years, six months, seven days. Mr. Rowe, familiarly known as Pete, was born to Job and Martha [ ? ], February 10, 1859, on the old homestead which is now known as the J. L. Frink place, where part of the original log cabin still stands. It was here the father, Job Rowe, was stricken by death at the age of 30 years, by the smallpox epidemic that swept through the country in 1868.The wife was left with four little children when the deceased was a boy of six years. This same epidemic took his uncle, a father to the late Pelton brothers, when the uncle was but 35. All were close associates in the early pioneer days. Mr. Rowe was married at Jacksonville, by the late Judge Crowell, to Martha A. Smith, December 31, 1883, to which union were born five children. The two surviving are Lucy and Ethel Edington, death having taken James in 1908; Joe, a World war veteran, 1937, and baby girl, Opal, in infancy. Besides the bereaved wife and daughter, there survive a sister, Mrs. Rose Cawston of Portland, three grandchildren, Virgil, Olney and Lavelle Edington, and one great grandchild. The deceased spent practically all of his life as a farmer in the Sam's Valley district. During the two years of his early life spent at Lakeview, Mr. Rowe plainly recalled the noise and excitement of an Indian war in the vicinity of his home there. He could relate many interesting stories of pioneer days and being a lover of outdoor life, he saw many changes come over the country, deeply affecting the wild life, hunting and fishing, that he so much enjoyed. The deceased was buried in the Sam's Valley burying plot he knew so well. As the procession passed through the gates, sorrowing friends recalled the many years that Mr. Rowe, as the sexton, had rendered his free services there as long as his health permitted. Funeral services were conducted by Rev. D. D. Millard, under the arrangement of Conger Funeral Parlors, at the graveside Saturday afternoon.