John Rowan (Kentucky)

John Rowan (* July 12, 1773 in York, Pennsylvania, † July 13, 1843 in Louisville, Kentucky ) was an American politician ( Democratic- Republican), who represented the state of Kentucky in both chambers of Congress.

John Rowan and his family moved from Pennsylvania to Kentucky, when he was about ten years old. After the end of his education, he studied law in Lexington and was admitted to the bar in 1795, after which he began practicing as a lawyer in Louisville.

In 1799 Rowan was a delegate to the second Constitutional Convention of the State Kentucky in Frankfort. Between 1804 and 1806 he held the office of Secretary of State in the state government before he entered as a representative of the 3rd District of Kentucky election to the U.S. House of Representatives on March 4, 1807. There he remained until March 3, 1809. From 1813 to 1817 he was a member of the House of Representatives of Kentucky, before he acted as a judge at the Court of Appeals of the State 1819-1821.

After successful candidacy John Rowan took from March 4, 1825 one of the two seats of Kentucky in the United States Senate a. During his six-year term of office, he stood before the Senate Judiciary Committee. After leaving Congress, he was commissioned in 1839 with the conclusion of a treaty with Mexico. From 1838 to his death he was president of the Kentucky Historical Society.

John Rowan, whose nephew Robert Todd Lytle also was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives 1833-1835, died one day after his 70th birthday in Louisville. The Rowan County, Kentucky was named after him.