Rowland was said to have been trained as a surveyor, but when he moved to San Fernando de Taos, he worked as a fur trapper for a time.
This was a whisky popular with fur trappers who wintered in town after a long spring, summer and fall period of trapping in the wild.
The new governor, Manuel Armijo, was in office when Rowland and Workman were arrested for smuggling, which was a fairly common activity.
In 1840, Republic of Texas president Mirabeau Lamar announced plans to peaceably annex all territory to the Rio Grande, including all the principal towns of New Mexico.
Still, the two men decided to leave New Mexico, because the annexation scheme developed as an outright invasion from Texas, albeit a poorly planned and executed one that failed miserably.
On September 6, 1841, some 25 New Mexican immigrants joined the group and left Abiquiú, New Mexico, north of Santa Fe.
[5] Possibly with the grant preliminarily secured, Workman remained at La Puente while Rowland returned to New Mexico in April 1842, to retrieve his family.
Workman, as captain, and Rowland, as lieutenant, were involved in February 1845 by leading a contingent of Californios who helped Pio Pico assume the governorship by force at a battle against Governor Manuel Micheltorena.
[7] In 1847, Rowland built the first private grist mill in the Los Angeles region, not far east of his home.
Rowland exhibited a sheave of wheat at a California State Fair in the early 1850s, suggesting that he was doing well with his cattle, crops, orchards and vineyards.
[9] By the early 1860s, when a touring correspondent visited Workman's place, he described seeing numerous cattle and horses, as well as vineyards and orchards.
Rowland contacted Henry W. Halleck, who had served as California Secretary of State, for advice on obtaining his patent.
This Rowland did, hiring attorney Henry Beard, who prepared a published synopsis [12] of the land claim in 1866 and who was successful in securing the patent.
[13][14] Luis Arenas and Rowland were granted Rancho Los Huecos by Governor Pío Pico in 1846.
Rowland retained most of his La Puente holdings until his death, after which the tract was divided among his second wife and his children.
Two of their sons, John and Thomas, married daughters of Bernardo Yorba and his wife of the Rancho Cañón de Santa Ana.
He is interred at El Campo Santo Cemetery located on the grounds of the Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum.
It is located on Gale Avenue just inside the boundary of the City of Industry, California, adjacent to the Hacienda-La Puente Unified School District headquarters.
The Rowland House is owned by the Historical Society of La Puente Valley, which began initial restoration efforts in 2009.