|
Josiah
Rowan |
Josiah
Rowan was born on Nov. 15, 1835 in Somerset County, PA, the son of James
and Catherine (Harbaugh) Rowan.
Indian Creek Baptist Cemetery
Very little is known of his life. He was a veteran of the Civil War, as were his father and three of his brothers, and he sacrificed his life for the nation as a result of a debilitating wartime illness.
What little about his life that has percolated through time to the present day is found in a hand-lettered genealogy portfolio by his first cousin Allen Edward Harbaugh, the famed "Mountain Poet" of Mill Run.
Harbaugh's record states that Josiah sported dark hair and grey eyes.
He served in the Union Army during the war and was assigned to the 5th Pennsylvania Infantry, Company D. Nothing more about his actual wartime activities is known, other than that he contracted a deadly case of what his cousin Allen wrote as "Army Diarrhoea."
Josiah surrendered to the angel of death on July 12, 1865, while "on his way home from the war," said one source. His body was brought to Mill Run for interment in the sacred soil of the Indian Creek Baptist Church Cemetery. A standard-issue military marker was placed at the grave and is erect and legible today.
 |
 |
| Details of Josiah's life and wartime death as recorded in a hand-letter genealogy portfolio by his first cousin, Allen Edward Harbaugh, the "Mountain Poet" of Mill Run - courtesy Rev. Dr. William "Bradford" Harbaugh |
 |
 |
Josiah also is mentioned in the 1947 book, Harbaugh History (Evansville, IN), authored by Cora Bell and J.L. Cooprider. The volume states that he never married and that he died shortly after the war's end.
Although his parents would have been eligible, no evidence exists to show that they ever applied to the government for a military pension as compensation for his death.
A Bible record containing his name and information, used by the Coopriders for their book, was in the possession of George S. Rowan of Mill Run in the mid-1940s.
Copyright © 2006, 2022, 2025 Mark A. Miner