(Editor’s note: This is part one of a two-part series on Mary Rowland, who assisted in the capture of Bloody Bill Anderson.) Mary Lyman was born in New Hampshire in 1818 to Asa and Sarah (Davis) Lyman. She came to Ray County in 1838. Her father drowned in the Missouri River in 1847, and her mother died shortly after. In March 1839, Mary married Jesse Dotson Rowland of the Elkhorn community in western Ray County. Dotson was born in Indiana in 1816 to Dowdle and Rachel (Fletcher) Rowland. In 1819, the Rowlands moved to Ray County before Missouri had become a state. They pioneered land in Fishing River Township between Elkhorn and Orrick. In July 1838, Dotson homesteaded his land north of his father’s farm. Mary joined him there the following year when they were married. The Rowland farm was in Sections 34 and 35 of Township 52, Range 29. The house was located on Blain Hill Road, northeast of its intersection with Fox Lane. The Rowlands were Baptists, attending church at Albany, and…