Levi
Rose
(1856-1952)
Levi
Rose was born in 1856 in Hexabarger near Kingwood, Somerset County, PA,
the son of Charles and Catherine (Minerd)
Rose. He was a skilled stone mason, and also a legendary bootlegger.
As a young man, Levi moved to Connellsville, Fayette County, PA. There, in about 1885, 29-year-old Levi married 18-year-old Anna Leichliter (1867-1904). They were the parents of Walter Rose, Charles H. Rose, Ralph Rose, Margaret L. Wilson and Goldie Mort-Holder.
Tragically, Annie suffered from cancer. She died at their home
on Baldwin Avenue in Connellsville on Jan. 25, 1907 at the young age of 40. Her
obituary in the Connellsville Daily Courier said she was:
...born in Fayette county. For a number of years, the family resided near Humbert, Somerset county. In November [1906] she came to Connellsville with the family, where she has since lived. Mrs. Rose had been ailing for several years. About a year ago she underwent an operation at the Mercy Hospital in Pittsburg.
Levi never remarried. For many years afterward, he lived with son Charles along Chickenbone Road, in a locality known as "Paddytown" near Kingwood, Somerset County.
An expert stone mason and brick layer, Levi and his brother John were said by a newspaper to have "built 140 chimneys in the town of Humbert." Formerly known as Edna Mines, Humbert was constructed as "a 'model' mining community containing 100 homes, a hotel, store and other necessary facilities," according to the book, Stemwinders in the Laurel Highlands. It was built because the local coal company "did not want the usual haphazard patch of buildings that usually comprised a mining town...." In a twist of irony, the town today no longer exists.
Levi was a local legend known for his bootlegging, and is said to have been summoned to court 47 times and convicted twice. He liked to say he had consumed enough whiskey to float a battleship. He kept a still in the woods behind his home, and boasted that he was rarely caught because he gave eight-gallon jugs of his brew as "gifts" to local law enforcement officials.
|
| Gently rolling landscape of Paddytown in autumn |
In 1931,
Levi worked for the Tantum Lumber Company with son Charles and grandson Albert
'Mutt' Rose. A photo taken of their work crew, in the woods near Humbert, later
was published in the book, Down the Road of Our Past and also in the Somerset
Daily American. The photo, seen here, shows Levi second from the right. A
distant cousin, Dennis Romesburg,
is second from left in the image.
Levi died in 1952 at age 96 at the home of son Charles along Chickenbone Road. He was buried at the Jersey Church Cemetery near Ursina.
He is
mentioned in the book Reflections: Ursina 1787-1994. He also was profiled
in the article, "The Sage of Hexebaerger," in the February 1998 issue
of the Laurel Messenger newsletter of the Somerset Historical and
Genealogical Society.
Son Ralph Rose ( ? - ? ) married (?) Blubaugh ( ? - ? ). Early in his career, Ralph served as a teacher at the Humbert School, Lower Turkeyfoot Twp., Somerset County, in 1914-1916. In 1923, he resided in Somerset, and was employed as a rural mail carrier. The Aug. 9, 1923 issue of the Meyersdale Republican reported that he and his wife took their vacation by visiting her parents in Ursina and then going to Connellsville, Fayette County, to see other Blubaugh relatives.
Son Charles H. Rose ( ? - ? ) married Harriet Smith (1895-1986), the daughter of Albert and Mary Catherine (Moon) Smith, on Dec. 9, 1912. They lived on Chickenbone Road at Paddytown and had 11 children --- William Rose, James Rose (1919-1986), Albert Glenn "Mutt" Rose, Kenneth Rose, Eugene Rose, Charles Rose, Kathryn Snyder, Bertha Pruitt, Ethel Pletcher, Jean Owens and Verna Reynolds. Charles is mentioned in Wayne Bittinger's 1986 volume, The Bittinger, Bittner, Biddinger, and Bidinger Families--and Their Kin--of Garrett County, Maryland. This family also is documented in Olive Duff's family history notes, Moon Genealogy. [Note -- Harriet's brother James Ralph Smith Sr. married Bertha Rowan, and their brother Harvey Smith married Clema Romesburg.]
Copyright © 2000, 2003, 2007-2008 Mark A. Miner