Rose Tavern, Sandusky County, Ohio

Rose Tavern, 1981

Fremont News Messenger

James Rose was born in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, February 6th, 1811. At the age of three, his parents migrated to Perry County, Ohio, settling near  Zanesville, Ohio. His ancestors originally came from England. Both his maternal and paternal grandfathers were Revolutionary War soldiers.

James married Nancy Gordon, a native of Perry County, Ohio, where James farmed and taught school.  In 1834, he purchased 105 acres from the federal government in tract #142  along the Maumee and Western Reserve Pike. James' property today lies on the south side of State Route 20 in Washington Twp.  A month prior to his arrival, James built a two-room log cabin measuring 26 x 40 feet on his land.

Traveling by wagon from Perry County to their cabin in Sandusky County took James and Nancy eight days. While living here, James cleared 26 acres. "Wyandots and Senecas were frequent visitors at his place, often staying all night, but always exhibiting a friendly disposition." After ten years, he sold the property to William Thraves for $836. 

James moved his family to another purchase he had made in the township.  On this land, he built a round-log cabin containing a single room.  Two years later, James built a house on the property.  Over 70 acres had been cleared by the time James sold the land in 1854. While living in Sandusky County, James had served as a county commissioner  and also 18 years  as a justice of the peace. 

James and his large family left Sandusky County and settled on a farm five miles from Cardington, Ohio. The parents of 11 children of which seven of his eight sons served in the Civil War.  James died in Morrow County in 1890 nearly 79 years of age. 

In 1981, the original building, known as the Rose Tavern,  was donated by the Waggoner family who were owners of the property. It was disassembled (see photo above) and moved to Historic Lyme Village in Bellevue. Ohio.

The "Fremont Weekly Journal" reprinted much of James Rose's obituary from an article carried in the "Morrow County Sentinel" of Mt. Gilead, Ohio, and also a biographical sketch of James Rose published in a Morrow County history.