Representative Neal Wallace Rowell View All Years

NEAL W. ROWELL was born in Athens county, Ohio, June 19, 1836; he died at Afton, Iowa, June 30, 1915. He was educated in the public schools and at Ohio University, graduating therefrom in 1856, completing the scientific course. He had removed with his father’s family to Wapello county, Iowa, in 1847, and after his graduation in Ohio, returned to Iowa and began the study of law in the office of Harris and Galbraith in Centerville. In 1858 he was admitted to the bar and removed the same year to Afton, where he continued in the practice of law until his death. He was elected county judge of Union county in 1862. In 1868 he was elected representative in the Twelfth General Assembly and two years after re-elected for a second term. He served as member of the board of education from 1865 to 1880 and as mayor of Afton for two terms. He was a Republican in politics and deeply interested in all affairs pertaining to the welfare and uplift of his community.