IA-IRISH-L Archives

From: "Cathy Joynt Labath" <>
Subject: [IA-IRISH] Newspaper Research - Part III
Date: Sun, 14 Jan 2007 09:07:33 -0600

Well, what is black and white and read all over? We all remember that little
riddle from childhood, don't we? (Somehow it loses its "riddleness" when you
see it in writing, huh?) Anyway, we all know the answer by now is NEWSPAPER!
But the key words here when it involves research is "READ ALL OVER"! Don't
just look for an obit...look to see if there are little blurbs elsewhere in
the columns or days later that mention who all attended the funeral. Don't
just read about the reunion...look to see who was visiting whom at the same
time. In other words....DO sweat the small stuff and READ ALL OVER. You
might just find hidden clues to persue.

Warning! ....Sometimes I ramble on and may leave out a few steps when I am
explaining about newspapers and how I arrive at a conclusion...but by now I
think you get the point...READ, READ, READ! (And then transcribe,
transcribe, transcribe and share with someone else!)

Here goes Part III...
------------------
USING NEWSPAPERS FOR RESEARCH
How I found my ggg Grandmother's brother, Richard Rose, in Marion Co, IA,
and later proved the parents of my ggg grandmother, Mary A. ROSE WHITE were
positively Ezekiel ROSE and Catherine STITES which hooked me up into a well
researched line of ROSEs.


I had been trying for years to prove my ggg grandmother, Mary A. ROSE WHITE
belonged to one of the well-researched line of Roses. But I could never find
any proof of her parentage. I first found a biography on her husband,
Nathaniel White as follows:

Excerpt from The History of Henry County, Iowa; Copyright 1982

"Mary Rose was a native of Fleming County, Kentucky and the daughter of
Ezekiel and Catherine Sites Rose, both of them being natives of New Jersey.
In 1828 she accompanied her parents to Brown County, Illinois where she met
Nathaniel White."

There were several inconsistencies with this bio I found later with further
research.

______________

Well, a bio isn't much to go on as far as proof (here we are back to family
lore as far as this bio was concerned) - especially when the person who gave
info for the bio, for one thing, spelled a surname incorrectly. The surname
SITES was incorrect and later found to be STITES. Mary Rose's obit, when I
finally found it since I had no idea of her death date, was not much help as
it mentioned:

Mt. Pleasant Weekly News; Mt. Pleasant, Henry, Iowa; Wednesday, Feb 24, 1897

Obituary of Mary White

Died at her residence three miles west of this city on the morning of
January 28th, Mrs. Mary A. White, aged 83 years, 11 months and 27 days.
Mary A Rose was born in Fleming county, Kentucky, February 1st, 1814,
moved with her parents to Brown county Illinois in the year 1828, married
Nathaniel F. White, Oct. 10th, 1833, moved to Burlington, Iowa in the year
1836, here her husband worked at this trade, that of cabinet making for
three years. Burlington at that time was but a small village of log huts
having been laid out in the year 1834 by Samuel S White, a cousin to Mrs.
White's husband. Moved to Mt. Pleasant in the year 1839. Here her husband
worked at his trade for one year, moving on the farm in the spring of 1840
where they remained the rest of their lives...
______________

No death certificate for Mary could be found to document the fact that
Ezekiel Rose and Catherine Stites were really Mary's parents.


A biography of Ezekiel Rose from a Brown Co, IL history also offered no
further clues as it mentioned he had ten children but did not mention all
10 - only the three that stayed behind in Brown Co, IL. Plus it says old
Zeke was born in 1876 which has to be a typo because I don't think he could
have taken a prairie schooner to the "wilds of Illinois" if he hadn't been
born then ! Now from somewhere else.now unknown to me because it was before
my age of documentation, darn it, I found that the 10 children were: Ira,
John S, Mary A, Jonathan H, Rachel, Richard, Charles, Martha, Elizabeth and
Ezekiel, Jr. I had supposed that Mary A. was my ggg grandmother.

THE EZEKIEL ROSE FAMILY
p. 301 Brown Co. History

"Ezekiel Rose, Sr. was one of the early pioneers of Brown County. He
was born in Virginia in 1876 and while still young moved to Kentucky. There
he married Catherine Stites and they came to the "wilds of Illinois" by
prairie schooner in 1829. On that trip they brought with them some of the
first livestock along with their family of sons. They chose the northwest
quarter of Section 16 in Cooperstown Township to make their homestead and
here they built a log cabin and put in a crop. The original grant was from
the U.S. Government and remained in the Rose family for over a hundred years
when it was sold to the Volk family in 1932.
The hardships that must have been endured by these early settlers can
easily be imagined. There is the story of the terrible winter of 1830.
Former neighbors of the Roses in Kentucky, the Ralph Alexander family, came
to Illinois that fall. They offered to help Ezekiel harvest his first corn
crop, in return for help in building a cabin. Alas! the "Big Snow" came
before they were finished. As a result, all of them lived in the Roses'
cabin that winter. It is said there were seventeen.
Ezekiel and Catherine reared a family of ten. Three of the children
spent their entire lives in Brown County, founding families well known in
the community.

______________


Then I went to checking out some newspapers in Lockridge, Jefferson Co,
Iowa, unrelated to any research on my Mary Rose White and found:

Lockridge Times; Jefferson Co, IA; August 16, 1928
Round Prairie
George Smith and family, Mrs. Frank Metcalf, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Litton
attended the reunion of the Rose family at Ottumwa Park Sunday.

Lockridge Times; Jefferson Co, IA; Sep 13, 1928
Round Prairie
- Miss Arminta Rose and brother Seth of Marion County spent the week end at
the Thos. Litton home.
- George Smith and family, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Metcalf, Thos. Litton and
family, Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Kessel of Fairfield, Miss Arminta and Seth Rose
of Marion County were entertained at the Frank Smith home Sunday.

______________
All of the above articles mention Thomas Litton. Mrs. Litton (Martha Alice
Smith) was the granddaughter of Mary Rose White. George Smith and Iantha
Dorinda Smith Metcalf were also grandchildren of Mary Rose White. Therefore,
I wanted to research further this Rose connection in Marion Co. and how they
were related. I had never heard of any relations in Marion Co.
______________

I researched and found in some census records that showed T.E./ Thomas
Ezekiel / Zeke / Rose was the father of Seth and Arminta mentioned in the
newspaper articles.
1900 Liberty Township,Marion County, Iowa
pg. 173A; 19 June 1900 ; line 19
Rose, T.E. [Thomas Ezekiel.], head, w,m, Feb 1856, 44,m 23,Iowa, Kentucky,
Illinois, farmer
Rose, N.E. [Nancy E.], wife, w,f,Aug 1856,43,m 23,6,6,Iowa, Kentucky,
Indiana
Rose, Myrtle, dau,w,f,Aug 1880,19, Iowa
Rose, Seth, son, w,m,Sept 1882,17,Iowa
Rose, Lena, dau,w,f,Mar 1885,15,Iowa
Rose, Ruth, dau,w,f,Sept,1887,12,Iowa
Rose, Dwight,son,w,m,Aug,1889,10,Iowa
Rose, Arminta, dau,w,f,June 1899,11/12, Iowa
WWI Draft Registration Card - Seth Rose
RR1, Bussey, Marion, Iowa
35, DOB Sep 28, 1882
Farming, self employed
Nearest Relative, T.E. Rose, RR1, Bussey, Marion, Iowa
Short, medium build, blue eyes, brown hair
9-12-1918
__________

I then posted a query on the Marion Co IAGenWeb Boards and found a lookup
for some items related to T.E. / Thomas Ezekiel / Zeke Rose and after that I
wrote to the Marion Co Genealogical Society to obtain a treasure trove of
records. One of the records listed:

Applicant: Velma Rose Moore
Yr Ancestor settled in Marion Co: 1855
Sources of Proof: 1856 Census, 1915 History Marion Co, Vol. 2 pg. 120
Ancestor: Richard Rose
DOB: June 1, 1821
DOD: April 7, 1897
Pioneer's Father: Ezekiel Rose
Pioneer's Mother: Catherine Stites

So, Richard was more than likely my ggg grandmother's brother, her parents,
according to various sources were Ezekiel Rose and Catherine Stites. Her
ROSE ancestry then could go back another generation to Jonathan Rose and
Eliz. Hixon, and even another generation to Ezekiel Rose and Mary Fidlar.

Now where is a newspaper article that will help with the STITES connection?
Catherine Stites father was more than likely Richard STITES who died 18 July
1847 in Brown Co, IL..Did those STITES people have reunions?


Cathy Joynt Labath
Ireland Old News
http://www.IrelandOldNews.com/
Iowa Old Press
http://www.IowaOldPress.com/

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