Hi Linda, Thanks for the posting. Rome Beauty apples are near and dear to my heart! I descend from Joel Gillet who was the man who bought the apple trees to be planted on his property in Lawrence County. Joel noticed that one of the trees was different from the others; it was a runt. Joel was a strong Whig, and he gave it to his 14 year-old son, Alanson, and told him, "Here, you can plant this one. This one's a Democrat." Alanson planted it down by the river (this was 1817), and after a few years, everyone noticed that the apples were different from the others. They were nice and large and the tree was prolific. Pretty soon, H. N. Gillett, who ran a nursery in Lawrence County for many years came and took a graft of this tree, and he sold these trees for many years. H. N. Gillett was a first cousin of Alanson's. H. N. Gillett's son, Preston, took some seedlings with him when he moved to Oregon, and pretty soon, these trees were across the United States. I don't descend from Alanson, but from his big sister, Chloe, who married Thomas Gardner. Thomas also had an orchard, and he had many kinds of fruit, including many different kinds of apples. Thomas's daughter, Lydia Catharine "Kate" Gardner married Nelson Cox, who also ran an orchard on the border of Windsor Township and Union Township. He was very successful as a farmer. He had two sons, Elton Cox, and Uri Tracy "U.T." Cox, who also farmed apple orchards in the area. I believe that where U.T. (he was my great grandfather) and Elton lived was called Getaway (at least that's what it was called when my grandmother was born there in 1923). U.T. Cox built the large house on the hill that is, if she is still there, the residence of Mrs. Ater, the widow of Judge Ater. The homes of Nelson Cox and Elton Cox are still there as well. I could go on and on. If anyone needs any more details about the apples or the Cox/Gardner/Gillett family, I'd be happy to share whatever I have. I do have a cousin who is starting up a "heritage farm" in the southern Ohio/Cabell County area, and she is probably incredibly knowledgeable about these old kinds of apples and other fruits and vegetables. - Jean (Donham) Griesan griesantomjean@msn.com -------------------------------------------------- From: "Linda Trent" <linda_trent@att.net> Sent: Sunday, January 31, 2010 8:19 PM To: <ohlawren@rootsweb.com> Subject: [OHLAWREN] The Rome apples >> Ever hear of Rome Apples? Rome township is where the apples originated >> from. > > A little known fact about the Rome apple. > > The Ohio Cultivator: A Semi-Monthly Journal, Devoted to Agriculture, > Horticulture, and Domestic and Rural Economy published out of Columbus on > Jan. 1, 1855: > The Rome Beauties produced by "Capt. H. N. Gillett, of Lawrence Co... > Fruit, large; form, roundish; color, rich light yellow, mostly overspread > and striped with shades of clear bright red... flesh, yellow, crisp, mild, > sub-acid... season October to December." > > The Red Rome is a much more recent addition to the world of apples, but > appears to have come from Lawrence County as well. It is believed to be > the > offspring of the Rome Beauty, but according to the Annual Report: > Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Oregon Horticultural Society > (1921) > it says of the Red Rome, "a Rome wherein dark red would appear as the > dominant color factor... in the orchard of Mr. W. T. Cox of Ohio, when the > Red Rome, a product of bud variation, made it's appearance a few years > ago. > So far as anyone can determine, the Red Rome is merely a Rome embellished > with a bright red covering." > > A little sleuthing on Google and I found that W.T. Cox lived in Rockwood, > Ohio. So a Google search revealed that Rockwood was in Lawrence County. > A > search of the 1920 census and there is indeed a man W [illegible] T Cox > age > 53 married to Maude. He's listed of all things, Fruit farmer. <grin> So > anyway, the Rome Beauty that we associate with Capt. Gillett is a yellow > apple, while the Red Rome, which we now can associate with Mr. Cox, is a > deep red. If this is the same W.T. Cox (and I find it hard to believe > it's > not) he lived in Windsor Township according to the census. So it should > have been the Red Windsor. <grin> > > Can anyone confirm that the old town of Rockwood as in Windsor Twp? > > Well, that's your history lesson for today <grin> Yeah, 19th century > apples > are one of my favorite topics, though admittedly I never looked into the > Red > Rome all that much. It's later than the period that I specialize in. > > Linda. > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > OHLAWREN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >