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    On the afternoon of Wednesday the 27th of April, one of the highly esteemed citizens of Vernon passed quietly and peacefully from the earth to his rest in the life beyond.
    Mathew Boyd Rowan was born May 7th, 1818, on a farm near Philadelphia, Pa. While yet a young man his parents moved Beaver, Pa., from which place, at the age of 19, he went to Pittsburg and learned his trade-that of carriage maker. In 1843 he came as far West as Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was married on the 21st of October 1847, to Miss Ann McNeal Osborn. Ten years later he moved with his family, which consisted of a wife and three children, to Greensburg, Ind.; and a short time after the removal to that place, buried the youngest child, aged 21 months.
    On the 17th of January, 1848, he with his wife, united with the Methodist Episcopal church. For a period of about 20 years he has resided in Vernon, and has steadily pursued the business in which he was engaged. His life was just an undeviating course of dilligence in his business, and fidelity to his duties in the various relations he sustained to those around him. He was a man of more than usual selfcontrol; calmness and thoughtful self possession being habitually characteristic of him.
    In his religious life he was earnest and active; until within the last year of his life, when disease and failing strength prevented, he was always found in his place in public services at the church and at all meetings of the class of which he had long been the Leader. His heart was lovingly enlisted in the spiritual welfare of his fellow men; nothing gave him higher joy than to see persons giving evidence of conversion and confession of Christ. He labored and prayed for the advancement of the church, and the promotion of every good cause. The M. E. church here has lost one of its strongest pillars by the removal of Brother Rowan.
    His funeral discourse was delivered by Rev. Mr. Cotton of Charlestown, at the M. E. Church here on the afternoon of the 28th. Bro. Cotton had received Bro. Rowan into the church at Greensburg some thirty years ago, and was a most warmly attached friend ever since, and poured forth from a warm heart, loving words of commendation of the departed one, and tender words of consolation to the widow and three sons and daughter, now bereaved of the husband and father. A large procession followed the remains to the cemetery where the pastor-Bro. Thompson conducted an appropriate burial service. Bro. Rowan, though deat "yet speaketh" by that life he lead, and that influence he sent forth, and the prayers which he sent heaven onward. May the "God of all Comfort" sustain the bereaved ones, and reunite the sundured household, in the "better country." B.

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    Ann McNeal Osborn was born Jan. 13th, 1827 in Ripley, Brown Co., Ohio. She was married in Cincinnati, Ohio, Oct. 21st, 1847, to Mathew Boyd Rowan. She died May 5th, 1899, aged 72 years, leaving behind her to mourn their mother's loss, three sons and one daughter, also a nephew whom she took in infancy and cared for as her own. Thirty-seven years of her life were spent in Vernon and she was known and loved by all. She had a pleasant smile and kindly word for every one, thus winning many warm and sincere friends. Her disposition was a remarkably cheerful one, and though her last years were saddened by the loss of her loving. devoted husband, and the breaking up of her home, she adapted herself cheerfully to all of life's changes, never murmuring or repining, ever looking upon the "bright side" and seeing behind the darkest cloud, a shining silver lining. Though old in years, she was young in heart, and children and their "elders" enjoyed alike her lively conversation, enriched with flashes of wit and quaint bits of humor. She had a generous heart and her open hand was ever outstretched to aid the needy and suffering. Many were the unknown charities she bestowed freely and unselfishly. She never refused a call to minister to the sick and dying, and with tender hands she made beautiful with fragrant blossoms, the caskets of the dead.
    For more than fifty years she was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. She was a zealous, active member, interested in all the various branches of church work. In the Sunday School, the Prayer Meeting and Revival Services she proved herself to be an efficient worker. Loving the Home and Foreign Missionary work she did what she could for the advancement of the Cause. She was a loyal member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, ever ready to lift up her voice in favor of temperance and to battle against intemperance and the misery it entails upon "home and native land."
    The summons for her to "pass over" came swiftly and suddenly. She was spared weeks of weary suffering; there was no death agony; a few long drawn breaths and she lay with closed eyes and folded hands, a new and beautiful light crowning her peaceful face.

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