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JS Rowell had a ruddy face, a healthy countenance, a light-blue eye, a solid build, and is five feet nine and a half inches in height and weighs two hundred and ten pounds. At a time when farming was the most important industry in the state of Wisconsin, with 68 out of every 100 inhabitants farmers and grain production the primary impetus, the need for improvement of farming methods was keen.
A young man with a keen interest in meeting the demands of the industry arrived in Beaver Dam in the mid-1800s, just about the time when the community received its city charter. He was John Samuel Rowell, for whom Rowell Street is named. He was one of the city’s first successful entrepreneurs, a man whose ingenuity and ambition helped to shape the efficiency and importance of agriculture. He was obsessed with the idea of improving the old methods of soil cultivation. He would come to own 40 patents for farm machinery and agricultural improvements, including the patent on the cultivator tooth, which prevented breakage when hitting rocks while cultivating.
Rowell was born April 1, 1825, in Springwater, New York, but spent his adult life in Beaver Dam. At age 15, he went to work for his brother George Rowell in Goshen, Indiana, in his plow foundry and blacksmith shop and thus learned the trade of plow making. John saved his money, traded his earthly possessions for plow castings, borrowed some carpenter tools and axes, cut timber, and set about creating his first foundry and factory.
In 1855, Rowell opened a shop in Beaver Dam on the street that became known as Rowell Street and began making plows and repairing threshing machines at his Beaver Dam Agricultural Works. In 1860, he built and patented the first successful “broad case seeder” ever put on the market. In 1861, he built a combination seeder-cultivator with a slip tooth. He patented this, and it was to guarantee his success. According to the Beaver Dam Centennial History book, “His inventive genius and perseverance in the face of ridicule enabled him to make his dream a reality and become a benefactor to mankind.” After 1861 with the invention of the first combination seeder-cultivator, his business grew substantially. His patent for the “force feed” for seeders was the most important. Seeders, drills, cultivators, harrows, hay rakes, fanning mills, and threshing machines were the principal products of his manufacturing business and his brand was “The Tiger brand. Though less well known than other farm inventors and producers, such as the Van Brunt’s of Horicon (forerunners of John Deere), Rowell’s successful patent of the “slip tooth” for his seeder received royalties from the Van Brunt manufactory in Horicon, as well as concerns in Winona, Minnesota; Fond du Lac, Appleton, and several other places.
By 1888, the business had grown significantly enough to be incorporated with a capitalization of $100,000. Rowell’s two sons, Samuel W. and Theodore B. were admitted as partners. His products were highly regarded, second to none, and were sold in the central and western states, Canada, and other foreign countries. He had built up one of the largest manufactories in the State, gaining for himself a considerable fortune, with the factory’s value of output at a quarter million dollars annually and 200 employees.
Rowell and his wife, Mary Martha Ball of Virginia, had five children: Theodore, Samuel (owner of the first car in Beaver Dam), Elizabeth, Lillian, and Florence Belle. As a family, they were very civic-minded. John served as mayor of Beaver Dam for two terms, first in 1868 and later in 1886. He had an unsuccessful run for the Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1880. He was one of the incorporators and a director of Beaver Dam Cotton Mills, the incorporator and director of the Malleable Iron Works and Beaver Dam Electric Company, and the president of the old National Bank from 1896 until his death in October 1907.
At the time of Rowell’s death, the Mayor, M.J. Jacobs, eulogized him, saying, “ For over 60 years, J.S. Rowell has been an upright, enterprising, industrious, patriotic, public-spirited and continuous resident of our city and at all times prominently identified with its industrial development and business life.” Mayor Jacobs requested that all business places be closed during the afternoon of his funeral, Wednesday, October 23, 1907, from 1:00 to 4:30 p.m., and the flag displayed at half-mast.
Upon his passing, his company was reorganized as the Tiger Drill Company with a capitalization of $300,000. The new management was more visionary than practical, and the company saw a decline in business within a few years, citing crop failure in the West. In 1912, the business was taken over by Mr. F.S. Roberts of Chicago, who acted as receiver for creditors, and liquidation was accomplished by selling the property of the corporation to a number of purchasers. Thus a company that had been built up over the lifetime of J.S. Rowell saw its dissolution in a matter of a few short years. His legacy of invention and entrepreneurship, however, lives on in his relatives through the years. His great-grandson, Theodore H. Rowell, was a noted pharmaceutical inventor and entrepreneur. John Rowell’s grandson, Joseph Rowell, founded Rowell Laboratories, Inc., a manufacturer of prescription and over-the-counter pharmaceuticals. Theodore was Joseph’s son. The great-great-great grandson of John Rowell, William Rowell of Florida, continues the legacy of being involved in Rowell Capital Partners, founded in 1987 to capitalize on different manufacturing opportunities in Central Florida. The company has seen numerous successes in many different industries.
Article By: Mary Beth Jacobson
John Samuel (J.S.) Rowell was a noted agricultural inventor and pioneer manufacturer. Born in Springwater, New York, and living his adult life in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, he held over 40 patents for farm machinery and agricultural implement improvements, including the patent on the cultivator tooth. He is the great-grandfather of Theodore H. Rowell, noted Minnesota pharmaceutical inventor, entrepreneur, and founder of Rowell Laboratories, Inc. J.S. Rowell was obsessed with the idea of improving the old methods of soil cultivation. His inventive genius and perseverance enabled him to make his dreams become a reality and become a benefactor to mankind.
At the age of 15, he went to work for his brother George Rowell in Goshen, Indiana, who owned a plow foundry and blacksmith's shop and learned the trade of plow making. John saved his money and, at the age of 18, traded his earthly possessions for plow castings, borrowed some carpenter tools and axes, went into the timber, and by himself, chopped down the trees, hewed and scored the sills and framework, and constructed his first foundry and factory. He then began turning out cast iron plows from his new foundry. The endeavors of an 18‑year‑old to build a foundry created some interest in the surrounding countryside. He conducted this business for about 3 years and saved $1,500.00.
In 1855, he purchased a small building and foundry for $400 on Mill Street, later named Rowell Street, in Beaver Dam, Wisc., which he used to make plows to sell to the local trade. Upon purchasing, he moved his family to the small apartment upstairs. In 1860 he built and patented the first successful "broad case seeder" ever put on the market. In 1861, he built a combination seeder-cultivator with a "Slip Tooth" to prevent breakage when hitting rocks while cultivating, which he patented; this was to guarantee his success.
He incorporated the company in 1888 with $100,000 in capital stock, of which $40,000 in cash was contributed by J.S. Rowell, and the remaining $60,000, shown on the previous company's books at cost or goodwill, was contributed by the owners via the assets from the previous unincorporated J.S. Rowell Manufacturing Company, although the assets had a market value of nearly twice that amount. The company manufactured 26 different kinds of machines at this time. Js held a 25% interest in the company, with each of his sons, Samuel W. and Theodore B., owning 25%, nephew Ira 12.5%, and the remaining 12.5% divided up among his grandchildren. By 1900, JS and sons Samuel and Theodore were each receiving an annual salary of $3,000. Management salaries from 1868 to 1904 totaled approximately $125,000. J.S. owned the land the company sat on and collected an annual rent of $1,000. From 1888 to 1904, the factory had manufactured and sold 9,900 machines. Annual Net Profitability ran consistently at 15-16%.
Inventions
By 1888, JS was receiving royalties from the company of $1 per machine in which one of his patents was used. Numerous companies in the seeder cultivator industry were also paying a higher royalty for using Rowell patents, including the Van Brunt Seeder Manufactory in Horicon, Wisconsin, which was later purchased in 1912 by a firm that would be acquired by John Deere.
Rowell also invented the "Force Feed" for grain drills, harrows, hay rakes, fanning mills, and Tiger Threshing machines. Sales of these machines were throughout the Midwest, Canada, Germany, South America, and Russia, to which many Rowell Tiger Threshers were sold, and South Africa. He has built up one of the largest manufactories of the state and gained for himself a comfortable fortune, with the factory employing more than 200 employees.
Assets
Among the firm's assets were 6 pedigreed trotting horses, including Badger Girl, a champion trotter. The book value of these horses was placed at $4,200 in 1889, with their market value being higher. One large distributor was the Northwestern Implement Company in St. Paul, Minnesota, which was acting agent for the firm for Minnesota, the Dakotas, and Montana to sell Rowell seeders, hay rakes, grain drills, and threshing machinery. The total orders accepted, shipped, and settled from this one distributor for 1887 was $72,822.47.
Rowell was vigilant in defending his patents, even fighting patent infringements all the way to the US Supreme Court. In Rowell v. Lindsay, 113 US 97 (1885), JS and his brother Ira filed with the court to restrain the infringement of reissued letters patent No. 2,909, dated March 31, 1868, one of only 5 or 6 patent cases ever heard by the court. The court found that the defendants had not used every element of the Rowell Patent and, therefore, dismissed the plaintiff's case.
The name John S. Rowell, founder and president of the J. S. Rowell Manufacturing Company, makers of the Tiger Seeders and Grain Drills, hay rakes, and cultivators, should occupy a high place in the list of inventors of practical agricultural implements. Like a number of men of his time, he achieved success in the agricultural implement world with no opportunity other than those produced by his own efforts. In addition to founding the JS Rowell Manufacturing Company, he was also one of the 1881 incorporators and a Director of the Beaver Dam Cotton Mills, as a founding incorporator and director of the Beaver Dam Malleable Iron Works, which grew to titanic proportions, Beaver Dam Electric Light Company, and President of the Old National Bank in Beaver Dam from 1896 until his death in 1907.
On the occasion of Rowell’s death, the Mayor of Beaver Dam, M.J. Jacobs, proclaimed, “For over sixty years [Rowell] has been an upright, enterprising, industrious, patriotic, public-spirited and continuous resident of our city, and at all times prominently identified with its industrial development and business life. Furthermore, Mayor Jacobs requested “…that all business places, manufacturing concerns, and official places of business be closed during the afternoon of his funeral on Wednesday, October 23, 1907, from 1 until 4:30 o’clock, and that the city flag during all of said is displayed at half mast, and that all our citizens who can conveniently do so, attend the funeral of one of the most worthy and esteemed citizens who has ever resided in our midst.”
Patents:
- Improvements in Water Wheels, No. 23,611, dated April 12, 1859
- Improvement in Seeding Machines, No. 36,672, dated October 14, 1862;
- Improvement in Cultivators, No. 56,102, dated July 3, 1866
- New and Improved Cultivator, No. 2,909 dated March 31, 1868
- Cultivator Tooth, No. 232,850, dated October 5, 1880;
- Cultivator Tooth, No. 10,076 dated April 4, 1882;
- Seeder or Cultivator Tooth, No. 256,922, dated April 25, 1882.
- patent No. 97,317, granted November 30, 1869
Article by Wikipedia (2020)
J. S. ROWELL, manufacturer, Beaver Dam [Beaver Dam Township, Dodge County, Wisconsin], was born 01 April 1827 in Springwater, Livingston County, New York, and came to Wisconsin in September 1848, locating in Hartland, Waukesha County. He served his time in New York at the molding and wooding of plows and then moved to Goshen, Elkhart County, Indiana, and went to work with his brother putting up plows.
He [J. S. ROWELL] then moved to Oswego, Kosciusko County, Indiana, when he was eighteen years of age and, on looking about for business, was advised by his brother to start the manufacture of plows. He did so, having as his capital a rifle and $40 of borrowed money. This he immediately put into flour, at $3 a barrel, getting three barrels for his rifle. He then swapped the whole for castings, getting $4 per barrel for his flour in the trade. He then borrowed some carpenter's tools and went into the woods, where, with his own hands alone, he cut, hewed, and scored the sills and framework for his manufactory, putting up the same without the aid of a carpenter. He then dug his race [to carry a swiftly coursing channel of water], and in a flume [a channel which carries water down an incline], made and set up a wheel, shaft, pulleys, etc., and also made and erected a fan bellows under the instruction of Mr. AUBERSON of Fort Wayne [Allen County, Indiana]. He ran this foundry for two or three years, saving from profits about $1,500.
He [J. S. ROWELL] then sold out, returned to Goshen, Indiana, and engaged in mercantile business. Not succeeding very well in that, he moved to Hartland [, Wisconsin [Waukesha County, Wisconsin], where, for a while, he made steel plows. Shortly afterward, he received an offer from his brother in Goshen [Elkhart County], Indiana, of a half interest in his foundry and plow shop, which offer he accepted, and remained there three years, when he moved to Beaver Dam [Dodge County, Wisconsin] and opened a shop for the repairing of thrashers and making plows. He shortly after commenced building the celebrated Tiger Thrasher, upon which he made in after years many improvements. In 1861 he commenced the manufacture of seeders in connection with his other manufactures, and at this writing [text published in 1880] is doing a large and prosperous business.
On 01 January 1850, Mr. [J. S.] ROWELL married Mary Martha BALL [a maiden name?] of Virginia. He has [J. S. and Mary Martha ROWELL have] five children living: (1) Theo. B., (2) Samuel W. [whose biography follows], (3) Elizabeth M., (4) Lillian, and (5) Florence Belle. Mrs. ROWELL is a member of the First Presbyterian Church at Beaver Dam. In 1867 J. S. ROWELL was Mayor of Beaver Dam. He was also Alderman for two terms. Mr. [J. S.] ROWELL is the owner of the celebrated mare, "Badger Girl." [The speed record of the horse has been omitted here. See also the Dodge County, Wisconsin, biography of Mr. John S. ROWELL's nephew, Ira ROWELL, also connected with the J. S. Rowell, Sons & Company.]
Reference: WI BIO - Dodge Co - ROWELL, J. S. & Samuel W. History of Dodge County, Wisconsin. Chicago: Western Historical, 1880, p 594 (Portrait of J. S. ROWELL p 613)