Seth Rowley II

Seth Rowley enlisted in the Continental Army at age 16 and lived to age 91.

Quick Facts

Significance:

Seth Rowley served in the Continental Army from 1775 until 1784. was a participant in the Siege of 1777 and the 1783 failed attack on Oswego.

Place of Birth:

Kent, Connecticut

Date of Birth:

February 19, 1760

Place of Death:

Unadilla, Otsego County, NY

Date of Death:

January 26, 1851

Place of Burial:

Unadilla, Otsego County, NY

Cemetery Name:

Unadilla Center Cemetery

Seth Rowley II was born on February 19, 1760, in Kent, CT to Jabez Rowley Jr. and Mary Hamilton. He was one of eight children. He learned to read in his young life, a skill that was required of any non-commissioned officer in the Continental Army.

Seth Rowley enlisted in the Continental Army at the age of 16 in 1776 and served in both Connecticut and Massachusetts regiments. Early on he was stationed at Fort Ticonderoga and Mount Independence. After a year’s term he was discharged and immediately reenlisted on March 16, 1777 and joined the 3^rd NY Regiment and served with them until April 15, 1779. Rowley was stationed at Fort Schuyler (Stanwix) during Siege of 1777 private in Captain Henry Tiebout's Company of the 3^rd NY Regiment.

In May of 1780, he exchanged billets with Sergeant Isaac Pennell of Lieutenant Colonel John Harper's Regiment of New York State Levies and served until December of 1780; Pennell taking his place in Captain Simeon Smith's Company of Colonel Seth Warner's Regiment at Fort Edward. In Warner’s Regiment he became a sergeant. In October of 1780, he witnessed the execution of British spy Major John Andre. In May of 1781, he enlisted as a sergeant in Captain Abraham Fonda's Company of Lieutenant Colonel Marinus Willett's Levies. Upon the expiration of his term, he reenlisted as an orderly sergeant in Captain Joseph Harrison's Company of Willett's Levies, occasionally serving as sergeant major.

In early winter of 1783, he marched in Willett's failed Oswego expedition and stated that: many men froze to death, with only about thirty to forty of the regiment being fit for duty upon their return. He was discharged on January 4, 1784, at Schenectady, NY.

After the war he married Innocent Salsbury on December 14, 1786, in the Village of Spencertown, Hillsdale, NY and became the father of 15 children: five sons and ten daughters. Rowley and his family were some of the earliest settlers of the Sand Hill neighborhood of Otsego County, NY. There he built and owned a sawmill. On January 30, 1792, Rowley signed a power-of-attorney for Jelles A. Fonda to collect for him all monies and goods due to him as pay for his Revolutionary War services. Records show that he transferred multiple parcels of his land to his children over the decades.

In April of 1818, he was awarded a pension of $8 per month. It should be noted that Rowley's service covers the entirety of the American Revolution, from beginning to end. War Department records from the time indicate that Seth Rowley served as follows:

December 23, 1776 as Private in the 12^th MA Regiment
December 23, 1776 in Major Cady's Detachment
March 16, 1777 in the 3^rd NY Regiment
March 14, 1778 in Thruston's and Warner's New York Regiments
Undated: as sergeant in Harper's New York Regiment
Undated: as Sergeant in Willett's New York Regiment

He died in the Town of Unadilla, New York on January 26, 1851 at nearly 91 years old.

Below: Seth Rowley’s signature from a deposition dated June 7, 1832 on his service in the Continental Army. He was 72 years old at the time.