In Devon and Cornwall, ROWE is as common as SMITH elsewhere.
I have no idea how many different family lines are still represented in the present day, but at last count, I have identified 1483 descendants of "my" family of Joseph ROWE and Florence STEPHENS.
At the bottom of this page is a map showing where assorted ROWE descendants (and spice) were hatched, matched and despatched. Probably not many to start with, more will be added over time.
William ROWE, son of Matthias ROWE & Ann KING

The kindly looking chap at the left is my 2*great grandfather William, who married Honor DAW(E) (whose photo doesn't make her look as kindly) and emigrated to NZ. She followed later with their first son Matthias, my great grandfather. They lived through turbulent times in the early days of Taranaki.

Until recently I believed he was the first of the extended ROWE family to have emigrated to NZ (c 1854) but that honour now goes to his 2nd cousin William LAKEMAN, who was in Taranaki before the first 6 ships of English settlers, having arrived up from Wellington with Carrington's survey party 3 weeks prior to the arrival of the "William Bryant" in Feb 1841, which makes this latter chap the earliest of all my relations to have arrived in NZ.

This row of ROWEs (photo to right) are the Bickleigh headstones of William's immediate family (parents, uncles, and grandmother).
The stone on the right with the drunken lean is that of his grandmother, Elizabeth ROWE nee CROSS (husband Joseph is in Bere Ferrers, somewhere).
Next to Elizabeth is that of her son Matthias (with wife Ann), William's parents.
Next to him Matthias' brother John.
The gap, a broken off headstone, is assumed to be sister Elizabeth (d. 1816) and at the end on the left, is brother Joseph.

These headstones are at the left rear of the Bickleigh Church of St Mary, and I feel very privileged at having been able to visit and see these stones in person.
Over the other side of the church there are a plethora of KINGs, more relations.

Some links:

DNA

We've added science to genealogy in the form of genetic genealogy aka dna testing.
The ROWE Surname DNA project has two Y-DNA representatives from separate lines down from Joseph & Hannah ROWE married about 1744 ?Bere Ferrers, Devon, who thankfully are an excellent match, so that paper trail looks good!
In addition to the direct male line Y-DNA, we also have a growing collection of autosomal DNA results that may eventually provide a few more leads.
Can you help?
In particular, we would love to hear from direct male line ROWE descendants of any ROWE families from Devon/Cornwall to add science to our sleuthing and see if any are closely related. Some of these are documented on the Patriarchs page of the above ROWE project.
No blood involved, painless, done in the privacy of your own home. (Click here for some general reading about dna testing for genealogy.)
The test involved is at least a Y-DNA37 test, but Y-DNA67 is preferred, to compare with our existing results.

Failing direct male line descendants, any descendants, preferably in the oldest generation still around, willing to participate by undertaking a Family Finder test or to test at 23andme?
Those interested in participating would be most welcome to join my autosomal dna project, FFLornaHen.
A subsidy may be available to assist. Enquiries welcome! Please use the contact email in the footer.
Rowe lines represented by atDNA tests
Joseph Rowe
(bet. 1721 - 1725 - 1763)
Joseph Rowe
(cir. 1749 - cir. 1811)
Matthias Rowe
(cir. 1780 - 1835)
William Rowe
(cir. 1827 - 1915)
Albert Rowe
(1873 - 1949)
Hugh M. Rowe
(1902 - 1972)
Maxwell A. J. Rowe
(1935 - 2008)
Matthias Rowe
(1852 - 1901)
Honor Rowe
(1886 - 1971)
Jessie A. Andrews
(1912 - 2005)
Lorna Henderson
Grace E. Andrews
(1916 - 2017)
Ruth E. Andrews
(1921 - 2019)
Matthias Rowe
(cir. 1760 - 1837)
James Rowe
(cir. 1787 - 1859)
Sarah E. Rowe
(cir. 1815 - 1882)
Emma M. Moore
(cir. 1839 - 1904)
Sarah A. Parsons
(1863 - 1926)
Sydney F. Glanville
(1887 - aft. 1901)
Frank Glanville
(1910 - bef. 1990)
Marion Glanville
Henry C. Rowe
(cir. 1836 - 1883)
William E. Rowe
(1869 - bef. 1957)
Herbert H. E. Rowe
(1900 - 1981)
Ernest Rowe
atDNA tested line

The above chart shows those lines from Joseph & Hannah (?HARRIS?) ROWE with representatives who have undertaken autosomal DNA testing.
As at Oct 2014: five descendants of Honor ROWE (1886-1971); two from Frank GLANVILLE (1910); one from Herbert (1900).
The two descendants of Frank GLANVILLE were a branch not traced down to present day until this dna match was reported.

We are gradually building up a chromosome map of the DNA segments that can be traced back to this couple.

All descendants of all lines are most welcome to join eiher the ROWE project above, or my FFLornaHen autosomal dna project to aid placing pieces in this jigsaw.


ROWE Descendants (and spice): BDM Events
Where assorted ROWE descendants (and spice) were hatched matched and despatched