ROWLEY, JAMES FREDERICK (1880-1962)

ROWLEY, JAMES FREDERICK, Methodist minister, Derby circuit, 1907-09, and Methodist-United Church minister, Boiestown, 1925-27; b. Birmingham, England, 24 Aug 1880, s/o Frederick Rowley and Caroline Watkins; m. Amy F. Wassiel; d. Lancaster, N.B., 15 Feb 1962.

James F. Rowley received his elementary and secondary education in England and immigrated to Canada around 1903. He was accepted into the Methodist ministry on trial in 1906, and after a probationary year at Canterbury, N.B., was assigned responsibility for the Derby circuit. In July 1907 he was ordained and inducted as minister of the churches at Millerton, Williamstown, and English Settlement. He left in 1909 to complete his theological studies at Mount Allison University, after which he was received into 'full connexion' with the Methodist conference.

Rowley was stationed at Cap-aux-Os, opposite the town of Gaspé, Que., in 1911-12 and subsequently served in five different circuits in New Brunswick. In 1925 he was assigned to Boiestown, where he ministered during church union. He accepted a call to the United Church at Minto, N.B., in 1927 and was succeeded at Boiestown by his son, the Rev. Harold J. Rowley, who remained there until 1929.

Rowley had six other United Church pastorates in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Bermuda before he retired at Long Reach, N.B., in 1942. He later made his home in Saint John, where he continued to preach and serve as a hospital chaplain. His survivors in 1962 were a daughter, Muriel A. Rowley, who taught and administered schools in New Brunswick, Bermuda, and Tanzania, and two sons, both of whom were United Church ministers.