 After his service in the Senate , Rowan returned to Kentucky , dividing his time between Louisville and Bardstown . During an epidemic of cholera that spread through Bardstown in 1833 , three of Rowan 's children ( William , Atkinson , and Mary Jane ) died . The spouses of William and Mary Jane also died of cholera , as did Mary Jane 's daughter , and Rowan 's sister Elizabeth and her husband . Aid from Bishop Joseph Flaget and a group of nuns who traveled to Federal Hill during the epidemic probably spared the life of Rowan 's orphaned granddaughter , Eliza Rowan Harney . 
