The Pittsburgh-Post Gazette

"MELANCHOLY ACCIDENT — We are informed that a sail boat, with nine persons on board, recently upset on Lake Erie; of those nine, two only escaped, viz. — Thomas Miles, son of Capt. G. Miles, and Mr. Woodberry, who lives at the Forks of French Creek. — The names of persons lost, as far as known, are as follows:
A.H. Bishop, Otsego, co., N.Y. Luther Douglas, Michigan Territory; Mrs. Palmer, residence not known; Thos. M'Conkey, Erie; and S.T. Larkin, Wasibgton, Pa.
The body of A.H. Bishop has since been found."

"ROWLEY ANNE (STRATTON)
Formerly of Wilkinsburg, died Wednesday, October 2, 2002 in Morro Bay, CA, with both her daughter and son-in-law at her side. She was 98. The youngest of two sisters, she was born on December 2, 1903, in Wilkinsburg and graduated from Wilkinsburg High School in June 1922. She taught elementary school from September, 1922 until June, 1945 in Penn Township, Tarentum and Wilkinsburg. She attended college in the evenings and during summers. She met Delliemer O. Rowley of Freeport, and they married in June, 1943. Two years later she stopped teaching. In 1946 their daughter was born. Soon after, her husband was transferred to Richmond, Indiana by ALCOA where he worked until his death in 1963. Mrs. Rowley lived in Richmond from November, 1946 until December, 1992. During this time she was primarily a homemaker, although she did some substitute teaching in Richmond, taught in Webster for a few years, and worked part-time in a local flower shop. She was active in P.E.O., served as the Sunday School secretary at her church (40 years), belonged to AAUW, League of Women Voters, a bridge club and a garden club. In 1992 she moved to Morro Bay, CA to be near her daughter. Mrs. Rowley enjoyed flower arranging, gardening and traveling. She is survived by her daughter, Sandra A. Rowley; her son-in-law, Michael Clark; ten nieces and nephews; and numerous great-nieces and nephews. Funeral services were held on Saturday, October 12, 2002 in Freeport. She was buried next to her husband at Freeport Cemetery."

"DeARMITT
DOLORES J.
On Saturday, July 10, 2004, Dee of Oakmont (formerly of Freeport). Mother of M. Pleshette Saghafi; sister of Patricia A. Bryne, Charlotte M. Brandon, Fern L. Kelly, Sally M. Aron, Francis J. Rowley Jr. and John A. Rowley. Friends may call BURKET-TRUBY FUNERAL HOME, INC. 421 Allegheny Ave., Oakmont Tuesday 2-4 & 7-9pm. Service Wednesday 12 noon, Riverside Community Church, Oakmont. Family suggests memorials to the American Lung Association."

"James Elliott Rowley: Beaver County jurist held in high regard.
By Barbara White Stack.
When the Beaver County Bar Association created an award to honor a lawyer who represented the best of what a person and an attorney could be, they named it for James Elliott Rowley.
Judge Rowley's friends speak of the Common Pleas Court senior judge and former Superior Court president judge in reverent terms.
"He is what I would call a lawyer and judge of the very highest caliber," said fellow jurist Thomas E. Mannix, who took the bench in Beaver County in 1978, a dozen years after Judge Rowley.
"He was a very caring and sincere person. He made lasting friendships wherever he went."
Judge Rowley died of cancer Tuesday at The Medical Center, Beaver. He was 78, and until just a few months ago served as a senior judge on the Beaver County Court of Common Pleas.
Judge Rowley was born in Tarentum but lived in Beaver County for most of his life. After graduating from Aliquippa High School, he served in the Army during World War II. After returning to civilian life, he graduated from Washington & Jefferson College and the University of Pittsburgh Law School. He joined the law practice of his father, the late Myron E. Rowley, in Aliquippa. In 1966, he was appointed to the Beaver County bench, and in 1967, he was elected to a 10-year term.
In 1981, he won a seat on State Superior Court, and from 1991 until his retirement in 1996, he served as that court's president judge. His next move was unusual. Instead of serving Superior Court as a senior judge, he returned to the Common Pleas bench with senior status, which usually means working cases a dozen days a month.
During that time, he was assigned the case of Brentwood Lt. Milton E. Mulholland and Baldwin Borough Patrolman Michael G. Albert, who faced charges in the death of motorist Jonny Gammage.
It was the second trial for the two, the first having ended in mistrial. On Dec. 13, 1997, Judge Rowley declared a second mistrial when the jury forewoman reported that the group was deadlocked 11 to 1, with the only black juror insisting on conviction.
Afterward, a senior Commonwealth Court judge ruled the two officers could not be tried again and criticized Judge Rowley for not pressing the forewoman further about her contention that the black juror sought conviction because of "outside influences."
Despite that, Judge Rowley's legal colleagues and fellow jurists describe him as a man who deeply respected the law and frequently arrived in court better informed on legal points of a case than the lawyers.
Judge C. Gus Kwidis, who served Judge Rowley as a law clerk and later was elected to the Beaver County bench, said Judge Rowley was a demanding boss, insisting on intense legal research before a case began.
"Lawyers knew when they were in court before him that they better be prepared," Kwidis said, "But if they were not, he was not the kind of man who would embarrass a litigant or attorney in the courtroom. He would recess and take the appropriate action in the confines of his chambers. That is why he was respected, not only for his legal prowess, but for the way he treated people."
Beaver lawyer Harold F. Reed Jr. agreed with Kwidis about Judge Rowley's intense focus on the law. "He loved the law. And being a judge enabled him to practice the law rather than to just advocate for a client."
Though they both grew up in Beaver County, Reed in Beaver, Mr. Rowley in Aliquippa, they first met in law school at Pitt. Reed ran Mr. Rowley's successful campaign for judge in 1967. This was no small feat since the two were Republicans in a heavily Democratic county.
Some years later, when Judge Rowley wanted to move from Aliquippa, he chose the house next to Reed's. Then, when Judge Rowley bought a vacation home in South Carolina and told Reed about how wonderful it was, Reed bought the one next door, sight unseen. When Judge Rowley retired from Superior Court, he returned to Beaver County because that was the place he loved, Reed said. "That is where his home was and that is where he wanted to be. There is a special bond amongst the judges in Beaver County. He was a part of it, and he wanted to be a part of it again."
Throughout his time on the two court benches, Judge Rowley served another group as well, the MPI Club Band. He played clarinet, and later his son, Daniel Rowley, also a lawyer, played clarinet for the Aliquippa group that performed in parades, holiday celebrations, and in 1973, the Italian town of Patrica.
"He and his wife, Ruth, were close friends with several members of the band," said state Rep. Vincent Biancucci, D-Monaca, a former director of the group, "And just being the kind of person he was, a lot of people knew him, his politics notwithstanding, him being a Republican in a Democratic area. He was well respected and a fair person and a very fair attorney."
"In addition to his wife and son, Judge Rowley is survived by two grandchildren. Friends will be received from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. today in Noll Funeral Home, 333 Third St., Beaver. A funeral service will be conducted at 10 a.m. tomorrow in the First Presbyterian Church, Beaver. Entombment will follow at the Beaver Cemetery Mausoleum. Memorial contributions may be made to the First Presbyterian Church Building Fund, College Avenue, Beaver 15009.
"Correction/Clarification: (Published July 24, 2004) Harold F. Reed Jr., a friend of the late senior Judge James E. Rowley, said Judge Rowley returned to the Beaver County bench after retiring from Superior Court because he loved Beaver County. In the version of this story published July 23, 2004, that information was incorrectly attributed. "