Printed in the Sept. 16, 1908 Blair Democrat, Blair, Nebraska

Dr. Lukens came down Tuesday to see S.C. Rose who is very ill from a paralytic stroke.

Printed in the Sept. 16, 1908 Tribune, Blair, Nebraska

S.C. Rose was taken ill Monday evening with heart trouble. Tuesday morning he suffered a stroke of paralysis from which it is not thought he can recover. Mr. Rose is upwards of seventy-five years of age and has lived in the county in the neighborhood of thirty-five years. Later:--Mr. Rose died this morning.

Printed in the Sept. 24, 1908 Blair Democrat, Blair, Nebraska

Obituary of S.C. Rose

Solomon Conwell Rose was born in Senecaville, Guernsey County, Ohio, April 9th, 1830. When four years old, the family moved to what is now eastern Iowa, but at that time was included in the territory of Wisconsin, and settled at West Point.

When he was fourteen, the family moved to a small place called Half Breed Tract, then a part of the Indian Reservation. It was here and at West Point that he received his early education, so hard to get at those times. This consisted principally of lessons at home from his mother and later a few months in a small school in winter, when the teacher had to study at home nights to keep ahead of his pupils. Few people of these times can conceive of the hardships that these pioneer families had to go through. When the family moved to Half Breed Tract, they possessed 1,000 pounds of flour. This was the only flour in the village or country and his mother gave it nearly all away that winter to the sick, whom she nursed and helped take care of. He often wondered at that time if he would ever see the day when he would not have to live on corn bread. He often went hungry with his feet wrapped in old rags, as shoes were impossible to get at that time.

When at the age of eighteen, he went to Wisconsin pineries where he worked two years. When he returned at the end of this time, the California gold excitement had spread over the country and in 1852 rode overland on one horse from eastern Iowa to Placeville, California. At one time the party went for twenty-four hours without anything to eat and then paid ninety dollars for a sack of flour. He was engaged in the mining business in California for eight years, returning home in 1860 on account of his father’s death and settled at Salem, Iowa.

It was here that he married Miss Samantha Eliza Beard, on December 31, 1861. They lived in Salem four years and then moved to Omaha in 1865, crossing the Missouri river the day that Lee surrendered. He was first engaged in the freighting business from Omaha to Julesburg, Colorado. They were not allowed to start on these trips with less than one hundred men on account of the troublesome Indians and he figured in several encounters with them. Later on he went into the contracting business and several of Omaha’s best pioneer buildings were a part of his work. Among these are the old Omaha post office, the Grand Central Hotel, long since burned down, and several brick business buildings.

In 1875, he was compelled to leave the city on account of failing health and moved to his farm in Washington County. Here he fully regained his health and prospered. He engaged in the stock business until 1904, when he retired from active life and moved to Herman.

Seven children were born to this couple. The mother and four children are surviving—Mrs. Cora R. Burdic, Geo. N. Rose, both of Herman, Mrs. Jessie Lackaye, East St. Louis, Ill., and Eugene A. Rose, So. Omaha, Nebraska.

His health and spirits were of the best until the very last when he slept away the peaceful death he had always desired. –Herman Record

Rose, Solomon Conwell

Published in Tribune on 23 September 1908

The many friends of S.C. Rose were sorry to hear of his death last Wednesday. He was one of the pioneers of Washington county, moving here from Omaha in 1875 and bought a farm about seven miles west of Herman, where he resided until about four years ago, when he retired from active life and moved to Herman. Mr. Rose, like many other pioneers, had an experience of early days in Nebraska of which the young men of today know nothing. He was born in Ohio, April 9, 1830, moving from there to Iowa, and during the gold fever in 1852 he traveled to California on horseback returning to Iowa in 1860. In 1861 he was married to Miss Samantha E. Beard and moved to Omaha in 1865, engaging in the freighting business between that city and Julesburg, Colo. After ten years spent in Omaha he moved to Washington county. Mr. Rose leaves a wife and four children, out of seven born to them, to mourn his loss-Mrs. E.W. Burdic and G.N. Rose of Herman, Mrs. A.L. Lackaye of East St. Louis, Ill., and Eugene A. Rose of South Omaha. The funeral was held from the family residence in Herman, Friday of last week, Rev. Frank J. Loveland of Omaha officiating.

~~Obituaries courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library, Blair, Nebraska.~~~

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