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/