William Rueben Rowley
William R. Rowley
- Born February 8, 1824, Lawrence County, New York; came to Jo Daviess County in 1843 to teach
- Married Elizabeth Miller in 1847; they had four children. Held succession of county governmental positions
- Commissioned 1st Lieutenant, Company D, 45th Illinois Infantry, Nov. 1861; promoted Captain and Aide-de-camp on Grant’s staff Feb. 1862
- Detailed as Provost Marshal General of Departments of Tennessee and Cumberland, 1863
- Promoted Lieutenant Colonel and Military Secretary to General Grant, March 1864; resigned due to ill health, August 1864
- Brevetted to ranks of Colonel and Brigadier General
- Resumed post of Jo Daviess County Circuit Clerk until 1876; elected County Judge in 1877, a position he held until his death in 1886
- Buried in Galena’s Greenwood Cemetery
