Clyde Earl Roesch, born in Potosi, Wisconsin on April 12, 1881. He was the son of Philip, a Civil War Veteran of three years. Clyde was one of six children. Clyde's first wife Minnie Marcue died in 1914. He married again in 1917 to Julia Barbara Keehner.
Clyde was a farmer first, and later became a cobbler. He and Julia purchased a winter home from his brother, William Russell Roesch, in Eau Gallie, Florida. The home sat on Highland Avenue. Even their father, Philip, bought a winter home here and the homes sat three in a row. The three of them often went fishing in the Indian River together. Clyde was known as the champion fisherman.
A little girl by the name of Leslie Louthain was walking home from school. She saw Clyde Roesch sitting on a bench. There was blood coming out of his ear. She asked "Are you okay"? Clyde just smiled at her.
Leslie went home and told her mother, "Something is wrong with Mr. Roesch". Her mother went to check on Clyde and then she called the ambulance. Clyde had fallen from a ladder at his home while hanging his storm windows. He later died at the hospital from his injuries on Oct 23, 1961 at the age of 80.
You may wish to read more about Clyde:
The New Year is just around the corner. It seems to me that in order to turn the page we are expected to make New Year resolutions just to get to January 1st. However well-meaning that list is meant to be, it most always, assuredly, fades into the sunset before the first month ends. So one could rightfully ask, "Why make them at all"?
I've been pondering (a new word I use, learned from an ancestor) the usual resolutions that most of us make, i.e. lose weight, etc. What I've learned is that subconsciously I have been making resolutions but have been calling them something different. I was totally unaware of this fact until now.
My resolutions are: to be a better person; be more receptive to others; don't let other peoples' problems influence my happiness, and to wear a smile and share it with those around me. They are resolutions that I have tried to build upon year after year after year.
You'd think (after all these, ahem, years) I would have them all conquered. It does take a lot of practice. I'm not the best of students, but, I get an A for effort. I can truly say that since I began the art of genealogy, finding information about the personal lives of my ancestors has awakened me to the true understanding that people don't change, only time does.
Each generation has to learn their own lessons by making the same mistakes of those that came before us. I certainly have made my share. But now I have an advantage, I have learned lessons from my ancestors by the trails and experiences they left behind for me to find. I feel truly blessed for knowing them for they have made my life richer.
Have you given any thought to making resolutions? Something a little different than the usual, something meaningful to make the New Year a better year, a better you? A very Happy New Year to all for a happier and healthier New Year.
My great grandfather, William Russell Roesch, was very active and involved in many professions at once. He was a fruit grower of oranges and grapefruit, a farmer who had milking cows and grew watermelon, green beans and other vegetables. He was also the Mayor of Eau Gallie, Florida. He was Postmaster for a period of nine years, and he began the Eau Gallie Record newspaper and was its writer and editor.
I wondered what else I might find and set out to research old Florida newspapers. And find I did, not only stories about vacations, dentist appointments, trips to the city, snakes under the house, etc., I found this ad in the Florida Star dated Friday, November 23, 1901.
It reads: "The above cut shows my 'Tiger Fence' and the machine from which it is made. No place for weeds and brush to grow. No harbor for insects and vermin. I will sell you the machine, you make your own fence. Any man or boy can use it and make more fence in a day than he can with any other material or machine. You can build your own and your neighbors fence, thereby making money for yourself, besides having best, strongest and cheapest fence in the world. This machine is fully covered by patents of which I am the owner. Write for circulars and prices of machine and wire. Agents Wanted"
I placed flowers on every ancestor
in the Eau Gallie Cemetery
Mary Houston, my great Aunt, was a daughter of John Carrol Houston, one of the first settlers of Eau Gallie Florida and Mary Virginia Hall. On April 6 1897 Mary Houston Young signed away her dower rights to a portion of land she had received from her father.
She and her husband, Charles John Young, signed the warrant deed transferring a lot in the Houston addition in Eau Gallie to the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Missionary Jurisdiction of Southern Florida, for the purpose of building a church already named "St. John's. They were among the first 29 communicants of St John's Church. They aided and assisted by money and work in building this church. The documents were witnessed by Henry Hodgson and Jno. E.M. Hodgson, Notary Public. The examination of title (search) was made on April 16 1897, and the transaction recorded in Deed Book "B.B." pg 650, on May 1 1897.
Mary Houston Young was sister to my great grandmother, Ada Louise Houston Roesch. They are all buried in the Eau Gallie Cemetery. Whereas Mary and Charles Young built the St. John's Church, Ada and her husband William Roesch built the St. Paul's Methodist Church.
As the membership grew at St. John's, it became necessary to enlarge the Church. It just amazes me that it was decided to retain to the original sanctuary so the new church was enlarged around it. The old sanctuary is beautiful.
Susanna Hutchinson is my 8th great grandmother. She was the daughter of Anne Marbury and William Hutchinson.
Here is her amazing story:
Susanna Hutchinson at the age of nine was captured by the Native Americans on August 20, 1843 who killed her mother and siblings when they raided and burned their home to the ground. Susanna was the only survivor. Killed were her mother, Anne, her brother, 23 years old Francis, 16 year old sister Anne and her husband William Collins, 15 year old sister Mary, sister Katherine who was 13, her 12 year old brother William, and the youngest, 7 year old Zuriel. A total of nine family members were slaughtered. Somewhere between two and six years later, Susanna was reincorporated into European life.
According to one story, Susanna was spared from slaughter because of her red hair, while another account related that she was out picking blueberries and went to hide in the crevice of Split Rock when the attack occurred, a short distance away from the house.
Susanna's captivity ended when she was traded back to the Dutch, then to the English, and then returned to her brother Edward. Her known living siblings at the time of her return were her oldest brothers, Edward and Samuel, and her two oldest living sisters, Bridget, the wife of John Sanford and Faith, the wife of Major Thomas Savage who was killed by the Numtuck Indians during the King Phillip's War while negotiating a treaty.
All of these siblings lived in Boston except for Bridget who lived in Portsmouth. Susanna returned to Boston, and stayed with her oldest brother and his family. On December 30, 1651 she married John Cole, the son of Samuel Cole who owned Boston's earliest inn, the Three Mariners Inn located midway between State Street and Faneuil Hall. Susanna and John had eleven Children.
I just finished reading, "Trouble's Daughter", by Katherine Kirkpatrick. It told of Susanna's life from the massacre and capture, her life among the Indians, to her negotiated return home.
Left to right: Otto, Eduard and August Ross. Eduard left Achern, Baden, Germany when he was 18. He embarked on the ship called "Tampico" on the 12th of August 1866, in Le Harvre, France and arrived in New York 17 days later. He returned to his birth place to visit his brothers only 45 years later.
You may like: Madness Monday - Lunatic Asylum, Illenau
Picture taken in 1899 - home of Avis Eldridge Smith in Kanona, NY. Seated: Emond Lewis Sterling. Standing: Elsie Lovina Eldridge Sterling, woman in middle, Eliza Benson Eldridge Hall - mother of Elsie Sterling, Ada Milliman, Ed Eldridge; Holding baby is Avis Milliman Smith, dau of Ada Milliman, sister of Gladys Redman; Baby - Ruth Smith Magee.
1941
My Great Grandparents
Emond Lewis Sterling
and
Elsie Lovina Sterling
Take note of the person who wrote this article. It was my grandmother who was working as a correspondent for the newspaper.
My great grandmother, Elsie Lovina Eldridge, left a half sheet of paper listing our descendants back to an Ann in history. That was the only explaination she gave. The only famous Ann our family could think of was Anne Marbury. But I had a difficult time following the trail she had left behind until one day it finally connected and was quite amazed to discover that yes indeed, she was my 9th great grandmother.
How I descend from Anne:
Decendant of Anne Marbury
1. Anne Marbury 1591-1642
+William Hutchinson 1586-1642
2. Susanna Hutchinson 1633-1713
+John Cole 1625-1707
3. Susanna Cole 1656-1726
+Lieutenant Thomas Eldred 1648-1726
4. Captain John Eldred 1670-1741
+Mary Greene 1682-1747
5. Samuel Eldred 1710-1778
+Susannah Casey 1714-?
6. Henry Eldridge 1758-1825
+ Elizabeth Tanner 1752-1844
7. Josiah Tanner Crandall Eldridge 1782-?
+Elsie Lewis 1785-1852
8. Loomis Eldridge 1829-1872
+Eliza Benson 1835-1880
9. Elsie Lovina Eldridge 1870-1961
+Emond Lewis Sterling 1869-1953
10. Florence Eloise Helen Sterling 1904-1971
+ William Phillip Roesch 1893-1960
11. Elsie Louise Roesch 1927- still alive
+ Robert Franklin Smith 1923-2008
12. Kathryn Marie Smith 1944-me
+ Merrill Cecil Lockhard 1940-my hubby
Anne's history is rather lengthy, but a most remarkable one. I am proud to call her grandmother. (Information taken from historical records.)
Anne MARBURY, my 9th great grandmother, was the daughter of Reverend Francis MARBURY and Bridget DRYDEN, and was born in 1591 in Alford, Lincolnshire, England. She married William HUTCHINSON, a merchant, 9 Aug 1612 in London. She and her husband came to America in 1634 with Reverend John Lothrop's group on the ship "Griffin" and settled in Boston.
No stranger to religion, Anne grew up during the persecution of the Catholics and Separatists under Elizabeth and James I. Her father, Rev. Francis Marbury, had been imprisoned twice for preaching against the incompetence of English ministers, though he later became the rector of St. Martin's Vintry, London, rector of St. Pancras, Soper Lane, and finally rector of St. Margaret's, New Fish Street. He was holding two of these offices simultaneously when he died in 1611.
Anne began her involvement with religion quite innocently, using her intelligence to interpret the only book available to her - the Bible. She had followed her beloved minister, Reverend John Cotton, whose removal to New England a year earlier had been "a great trouble to me...I could not be at rest but I must come hither."
Anne Preaching
The religious climate in the Massachusetts Bay Colony was oppressive. As the colony took hold, ministers emphasized everyone's pious duty to pray, fast and discipline oneself. Noting that the male members of Boston's church met regularly after sermons to discuss the Bible, she started to hold similar meetings for women in her own home. At first the women discussed the previous Sunday's sermons, but before long Anne began telling them of her own beliefs which differed from those of the Boston ministers. She attracted hundreds of women - aided by her reputation as a skilled midwife - and men, too, soon joined her discussion group.
Brilliant, articulate and learned in the Bible and theology, she denied that conformity with the religious laws were a sign of godliness and insisted that true godliness came from inner experience of the Holy Spirit. Anne further exacerbated the local elders by claiming that only two Boston ministers were "elect" or saved, John Cotton and her brother-in-law, John Wheelwright.
Anne's weekly meetings took on a new importance. As many as eighty people filled her house, including "some of the magistrates, some gentlemen, some scholars and men of learning." Among them was Sir Henry Vane, who became governor of the colony in 1636. When Anne, with the aid of Governor Vane and John Cotton, attemtped to have her brother-in-law, John Wheelwright installed as minister of the Boston chuch, most of the congregation supported her. But the pastor of the church, Reverend John Wilson, gave a speech on the "inevitable dangers of separation" caused by the religious dissensions, and joined with John Winthrop in opposing her.
What started as a religious point of difference grew into a schism that threatened the political stability of the colony. To her opponents, questioning the church meant questioning the State. Anne's ideas were branded as the heresy of "Antinomianism" (a belief that Christians are not bound by moral law), and her followers became known as "Antinomians". Intended to be derogatory, the term was erroneously applied to Anne's followers, who did not believe that the inner Holy Spirit released them from obligation to moral law.
The colonial government moved to discipline her and her numerous followers in Boston. In May 1637, Vane lost the governorship to John Winthrop. To prevent new Antinomians from settling, he imposed a restriction on immigrants, among them Anne's brother and several of her friends. In August, eighty-two "heresies" committed by the Antinomians were read at a synod, and a ban was placed on all private meetings.
But Wheelwright continued to preach and Anne now held her meetings twice a week. In November, Winthop appearing before him, and though I must come to New England, yet I must not fear nor be dismayed," she said. "Therefore, take heed. For I know that for this that you goe about to doe unto me," she threatened, "God will ruin you and your posterity, and this whole State." Winthop immediately replied, "I am persuaded that the revelation she brings forth is delusion." The court voted to banish her from the colony, "as being a woman not fit for our society".
Anne on Trial
Wheelwright was exiled and shortly left for New Hampshire while Anne was put under house arrest for the winter to await a church trial in the spring. On March 15, 1638, Anne was brought to trial before the elders of the church of Boston. When her sons and sons-in-law tried to speak on her behalf, John Cotton cautioned them against "hindering" the work of God in healing her soul. To the women of the congregation he said to be careful in listening to her, "for you see she is but a woman and many unsound and dangerous Principles are held by her."
Once her friend, Cotton now turned full force against her, attacking her meetings as a "promiscuous and filthie coming together of men and women without Distinction of Relation of Marriage," and accused her of believing in free love. "Your opinions frett like a Gangrene and spread like a Leprosie, and will eate out the very Bowells of Religion."
Then Reverend Wilson, whom she had once tried to evict from the Boston church, delivered her excommunication. "I doe cast you out and in the name of Christ I doe deliver you up to Satan, that you may learne no more to blaspheme, to seduce, and to lye."
"The Lord judgeth not as man judgeth," she retorted. "Better to be cast out of the church than to deny Christ."
Anne being Bannished
Banished from Boston, Anne Hutchinson with her husband, children and 60 followers settled in the land of Narragansetts, from whose chief, Miantonomah, they purchased the island of Aquidneck (Peaceable Island), now part of Rhode Island. In March, 1638 they founded the town of Pocasset, the Indian name for that locality; the name "Portsmouth" was given to the settlement in 1639. Here they established that colony's first civil government.
After William's death in 1642, Anne took her children, except for five of the eldest, to the Dutch colony in New York. But a few months later, fifteen Dutchmen were killed in a battle between Mahicans and the Mohawks. In August, 1643 the Mahicans raided the Hutchinson house and slaughtered Anne and five of her youngest children. Only one young daughter who was present, Susanna who was taken captive, survived. (Note: Many older sources insist that ALL of Anne's children except her daughter, Susanna were killed with her. This is simply not true. Sons Edward, Richard and Samuel were not present, nor were her eldest daughters, Faith and Bridget, most of whom left numerous descendants.)
The site of Anne's house and the scene of her murder is in what is now Pelham Bay Park, within the limits of New York City, less than a dozen miles from the City Hall. Not far from it, beside the road, is a large glacial boulder, popularly called Split Rock from its division into two parts, probably by the action of frost aided by the growth of a large tree, the stump of which separates the parts. The line of vision of one looking through the split towards Hutchinson River at the foot of the hill will very nearly cross the site of the house. In 1911 a bronze tablet to the memory of Mrs. Hutchinson was placed on Split Rock by the Society of Colonial Dames of the State of New York, who recognized that the resting place of this most noted woman of her time was well worthy of such a memorial. The tablet bears the following inscription:
Birthdate:
Birthplace:
Alford, Alford Parish, Lincolnshire, England
Death:
Died in Pelham Bay, Long Island, New York, USA
Cause of death:
Killed by Indians
Occupation:
Midwife, Religous Reformer; expelled frm MA in 1637, Banished from Mass Bay Colony 1638, Puritan preacher, came to New England in 1634, midwife / lay physician
ANNE HUTCHINSON
Banished From the Massachusetts Bay Colony
In 1638
Because of Her Devotion to Religious Liberty
This Courageous Woman
Sought Freedom From Persecution
In New Netherland
Near This Rock in 1643 She and Her Household
Were Massacred by Indians
This Table is placed here by the
Colonial Dames of the State of New York
Anno Domini MCMXI
Virtutes Majorum Fillae Conservant
April 1996 , In April, 1996, Anne Hutchinson was honored by the dedication of a plaque which appears in the photo. It was placed at Founders Brook Park on Aquidneck Island (Portsmouth), Rhode Island. The plaque is the work of the Anne Hutchinson Memorial Committee, a g
Some twentieth century observers credit Anne Hutchinson with being the first American woman to lead the public fight for religious diversity and female quality. In his 1971 biography, Eleanor and Franklin, Joseph P. Lash reported that Eleanor Roosevelt began her list of America's greatest women with Anne Hutchinson. Anne did indeed use her considerable influence as a woman to test the Massachusetts Bay Colony's religious tolerance which, ironically, had been the reason for the settlement.
This Christmas card was sent by Florence to her former sister-in-law, Lena Houston Roesch in December of 1941. Florence loved Lena, and continued to stay in touch with her, right up until Lena's death. This lovely little card was found inside the Bible that her grandfather, William Russell Roesch handed down to her.
See related story: My 100th Story - Poor Aunt Lena
Love Scott, Sis & Kiddies
Kiddies are Elsie and Russell
When you think of tea you think of the Boston Tea Party, Chinese restaurants and England's afternoon tea, perhaps with the Queen, and green tea is good for medicinal purposes. It is said that tea had its beginnings over 3,000 years ago in China. They called tea the "elixir of life".
My collection of teacups, is more than just a collection. They hold not just tea but memories as well. My mother-in-law passed on most I admit, so they are special to remember her by, and a few were from my one and only daughter-in-law. The black tea cup embellished with gold was a find I came across and loved because it was so different than others I had seen. This cup was my only purchase.
The top left cup is a very special cup that I love. It was part of a fine china dinnerware set that belonged to my great grandmother, Elsie Lovina Eldridge Sterling, b 1870 - d 1961. The cup is thin and you can see the shadow of your hand pass by on the other side. I remember going to her Florida home for dinner on many occasions with my parents and enjoying delicious meals she prepared with love. The table would be set with her fine china.
The second row, far right is very similar. It belonged to my grandmother, Florence Eloise Sterling Roesch Hilligoss, b 1904 - d 1971. This cup was part of her good china that she received as a wedding gift from her parents, Elsie Lovina and Emond Lewis Sterling. I also have some of the matching plates and bowls discolored from age stored away.
The teacups remind me of the story of my great aunt, Julia Barbara Keehner Roesch, who was described as "A lady in every sense of the word. She loved to have her tea in floral teacups."
Coffee may be the more popular drink of the day, but it is the teacup that brings the memories of family and love home to me.
