Family portrait of William Earl Rowe holding his son Howard Lennox (known as Lennox), with his elder son William "Bill" standing next to him. Beside Bill is Earl's daughter Jean, standing next to his wife Treva (née Lennox). During his political career, Earl Rowe served as reeve of the township of West Gwillimbury from 1919 to 1923. Rowe served as a Member of Provincial Parliament from 1923 to 1925, and was then elected to the House of Commons, where he served until 1935. From 1936 to 1938, he was leader of Conservative Party of Ontario though, as he did not have a seat in the legislature George S. Henry remained Leader of the Opposition. He also served as Ontario's twentieth lieutenant governor from 1963 to 1968. His daughter, Jean Casselman Wadds was also a Member of Parliament and from 1958 to 1962 Earl and Jean were the only father and daughter to sit together in parliament. Jean Casselman Wadds also served as Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1983, playing a role in the government of Pierre Trudeau's negotiations with the British government of Margaret Thatcher in Trudeau's successful effort to patriate the Canadian Constitution in 1982. The Rowe family lived on a farm in Newton Robinson, and Treva remained close with Wilhelmina "Mina" Henderson, whom the family had hired to help with running the household from 1928/9 until 1932. This photo was sent to Mina long after her departure from the family farm and was donated by Mina's daughter, Elizabeth Carson.
