It seemed to be a durable family, mostly agricultural with a few notable distinctions.
Including Roseburg.
The town, if that can be attributed to the crossroads, was apparently named after the Rose family. Actually Roseburg might not be the smallest community in Union County, so there's that to work with. (Roseburg is in Liberty Township.)
Plus the dip in S.R. 101 is worth the experience.
An 1884 Union County Atlas describes one of the original Roses, who came to Fairfield Township in 1817, although that area was part of Bath Township, Franklin County, at the time.
That would be General John B. Rose.
Most very early settlers in the area, for what it's worth, came from the South, mainly the Carolinas, so the New Jersey connection would seem to be unusual. Apparently, however, it was not.
"Gen. Rose, one of the leading spirits of the county in the early day, enlisted in the War of 1812, in the Fifteenth United States Infantry, under Gen. Pike, and soon thereafter was commissioned Second Lieutenant, and served two years in the war, participating in the battles of Little York, Sackett's Harbor, Lundy's Lane, Bridgewater and Chippewa. he came to this vicinity in 1817, and it is said assisted in the organization of Union County, of which he was three times elected sheriff. (I have no idea when he actually became a general.)
Another Rose, Ezekial, was also born in New Jersey, in 1800. Ezekial's father, Uriah, came to Harmony Township in 1814. (Remember, it wasn't really yet called Harmony Township. I use the name for reference.)
"Ezekial was reared on his father's farm, receiving but an indifferent education," the Atlas asserts. He married Harriet Colson in 1829. She had also come to Indiana in 1814 when she was about 5 years old.
They had nine children.
It would appear that the Rose family had something more than an anecdotal relationship with Fairfield and doubtless participated in local government activities while the new counties and townships were being formed.
Without doing any genealogy, I can't determine Gen. John Rose's relationship to Uriah, although Uriah Rose was the father of a son named John, who was born in 1816. Gen. John Rose was evidently not a brother to Ezekial.
Most of the Rose family is buried in Bath Springs Cemetery, in Harmony Township not far off the road that leads to Hanna's Creek Landing, which is the original S.R. 101.
The New Jersey connection is interesting since virtually every family name in the cemetery has a New Jersey or eastern Pennsylvania heritage, according to a Union County genealogy research website.
I learned that many of the Rose family were Presbyterians, or anti-slavery. It is reasonable to assume that many from that area were influenced by the abolitionist cause, including many Quakers who settled in the area around Dunlapsville.
Oddly, a 1911 landowner map of Harmony Township shows no land being owned by anyone named Rose. Most of the land around Roseburg was owned by people named Hollingsworth, DuBois, Smith and Betts.
Perhaps we will uncover more Rose tidbits. Just having a town named after you is worth a mention, even if all it has is a dip.
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