BURIAL PLACES OF THE ROUSH BROTHERS
REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIERS
This historical account is unusual in two ways:
First, that so many brothers had service, in the War for Independence, an authentic record of which is to be found for each one.
Second, that they are buried in such close proximity to each other, remotely located from the places of their military service. Although, we have made extensive inquiry we have found no equal historical record.
Many inquires come from across the country asking for information to determine their eligibility for membership in patriotic societies, such as the Sons of the American Revolution, and Daughters of the American Revolution. This account will furnish all needed facts for the members on this large family.
The burial places are within a little more than ten mile radius of each other. Interested persons can visit all the graves within a couple of hours time. There is a map available from the Roush Association.
Copies of this document will be filed with the Congressional Library in Washington, DC and in the S.A.R. and D.A.R. Libraries in Washington, and the Ohio Historical Society and many other libraries.
This is a publication for the ROUSH AND ALLIED FAMILIES ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA, Authored by Dr. Lester L. Roush who has personally visited and taken the pictures of all these grave markers, during the month of September, 1970.
These brothers and brothers-in-law have all left their mark in the world. All generations benefit by their contribution to Civilization in the following special ways:
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They were God-fearing men of high moral character, the noblest contribution which any man can make for the benefit of posterity.
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They were men of vision who foresaw how America could benefit the world, and contributed much to its founding.
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They influenced the establishment of the public school system for America, often beginning in their own home, "for their own and their neighbor's children."
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They believed that religion as well as education was necessary to "good government of mankind." ALL helped to establish schools and churches in their respective communities, many of which still flourish today.
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Their dreams, their activities, the causes they promoted have received the approbation of succeeding generations.
Philip Roush (1741 - 1820)
So far as present facts are known Philip was the oldest brother, born 1741 - died 1820.
To Whom It May Concern:
I hereby certify that the name of Philip Roush appears as a private on a depreciation day list of Northampton County Militia, Continental Line, in the War of the Revolution.
The name of Philip Roush also appears as Private on a "List of Arms Lost in the Battle of Nescopeck by the 7 Mo. Volunteer Captain John Vanetten, September 10, 1780," with the notation "Rifle and Appertenances" following Northampton County Militia, in the War of the Revolution. (Page 342 Vol. IV, and page 547, Vol. VIII, Pennsylvania Archives, Fifth Series.)
The Reverend Tyman Williams of Shenandoah County, Virginia made an important discovery for the Roush Family.
This he writes:
"When my old home "Birdswood," near Woodstock, Shenandoah County, Virginia was broken up, I found in the attic some papers of my great, great grandfather, Col. Abraham Bird, also original Member of the County Committee of Safety, having to do with the transactions of the Committee, and including first complete list of its members in the minutes of the first meeting. On one of five militia Muster Rolls that of Jacob Holman's Company (the Mill Creek settlers of the county) are the names of Henry, Philip, Jacob and John Roush, Jr.
Married Katherine Kelchner, 1765, buried in Roush Cemetery about one mile west of Cheshire, Ohio the above pictured stone marking his grave. They had 13 children.
John Roush, Jr. (1742 - 1816)
Nine brothers we are told by Historians and by family tradition, served the American Army in the cause of Independence 1774 to 1781. John attained the rank of Captain. He seems to have retained that rank among his brothers. He was their purchasing agent for the 6,000 acre tract of land along the Ohio above Point Pleasant, Virginia. To this they all came soon after their Mother's death in 1796. John was Captain of the Shenandoah County Company, born 1742, died 1816 (?).
Captain John Roush (Shenandoah Militia) Auditor's Account 1779 - 1780
Militia Dr. No 243 Warrant to John Tipton for provisions furnished Capt. John Roush's Company of Shenandoah. -- 23-13-6.
He was born in Shenandoah County, Virginia, 1742, died in Mason County, Virginia, buried in the old cemetery in Point Pleasant. Married Dorothy Henkle. He was the first Sheriff of Mason County, a lay evangelist of the Lutheran Church, assisting the Reverend Paul Henkle, his wife's brother. The above pictured stone marks his grave. Together with another Revolutionary soldier buried near by. They had no children.
Balser (Roush) Rouse (1745 - 1845)
(Records not available) But authentic accounts state that nine brothers served in the Revolutionary War. It is believed some might have served in Pennsylvania or/and New York. Some records sate that Balser went to Tennessee, took claim at junction of Nolachucky & Meadow (Creek) Rivers. Excepting one visit back to Ohio at which time Henry's son, Balser was named in his honor, no further records have been found.
Jacob Roush (1746 - 1830)
"History of Upper Ohio Valley," published by Brant Fuller Company, Madison, Wisconsin, states that Jacob Roush was with General Andrew Lewis in the Battle of Point Pleasant, 1774. He is so recorded in the Memorial at the Cornstock Monument in To Endie Wei Park in Point Pleasant. This has always been tradition with the descendants.
On his tombstone in the Roush Cemetery near Cheshire, Ohio is this inscription, "Jacob Roush, Pvt. Barbour's Va. Reg., Rev. War, born 1746, died 1830. (Roush)."
Rommey and Winchester pay roll p. 29-30, lists both Jacob and Henry Roush.
He married Catherine Fox. They are buried in the Roush Cemetery which either he or his brother Philip gave the land. Many other of younger generation of Roushes are buried in this same cemetery one mile west of Cheshire, Ohio.
They had eight children; many of their descendants live in the Cheshire and adjoining communities.
Alexander Waddell (1732 - 1834)
Alexander Waddell was born in or near Galsgo, Scotland, in February, 1732, came to America 1755. Tradition says he came as a soldier with Gen. Braddock, served in the French and Indian War, later went to the Southern part of the Shenandoah Valley, from which he served in the Revolutionary War. In 1771 he married Eleanor Roush (Rausch), a sister to the nine Roush brothers who served in the War for Independence. He is known to have lived in Staunton, Augusta Co., Virginia. (See Roush History Vol. II, page 422). He with his brother-in- law, Jacob Roush fought in the Battle of Point Pleasant1774. About the beginning of the century he and his wife, Eleanor Roush, and family came to Gallia County. Here many hundreds of their descendants were born and reared and live to this day. He died at the age of 102, September 6, 1834. Buried in what was the family cemetery, but later came to be known as it now is, the Hurlbert Cemetery on S. R. 141 near the Alexander Community named for him.
Eleanor's stone is by the side of her husband's. She is said to have been one of the belles of the valley, and the many descendants named in her honor speak of respect and regard shown her. Eleanor was born 1751, Shenandoah Co.died 1827 in Gallia County, Ohio.
They had ten children, all but one attained adulthood.
Daniel Roush (1754 - 1832)
White Church Cemetery, Mason County. No marker, Donald F. Roush points to burial spot in the Roush corner of the Cemetery, beyond the first tree.
Daniel Roush, 1754-1832, married Elizabeth, maiden name thought to be Henkle. Like the brother, Captain John and wife Dorothy Henkle, they had no children. He is buried in the White Church Cemetery in Mason County, W. Va.
His revolutionary service is found in National Archives No. 515 General Index to Compiled Military Service Records of Revolutionary War Soldiers.
Henry Roush (1752 - 1831)
(Wife, Dorothy Nease)
Henry Roush born 1752 in Shenandoah Co., Va., died 1831, is buried in the Plants Cemetery on the front toward the river, in Meigs County, Ohio.
The Revolutionary Record of Henry Roush as preserved in the State Library of Richmond, Va. contains rolls of companies of troops paid off at Romney early in the Revolutionary War; on page 29 appears the Roll of John Tipton's Company. Henry Rouse (Roush) was a private in this company and received for services 88 days, the sum of 6-12-6. A receipt signed by Captain Tipton and dated October 25, 1775, acknowledged receipt of the moneys to be paid by him to the various claimants. I declare this to be a true statement from the volume cited. Richmond, Va., February 1, 1926, (Signed, Rebecka Johnston)
They had ten children. Henry great great grandson Virgil Roush sponsored this publication.
Mary Magdalene Roush (1748 (?) - ????)
Wife of Lewis H. Zerkle of New Market, Shenandoah County, Virginia (Birth Dates not known) Davidsburg Cemetery, New Market, Va.
Mary Magdalene Roush (Rausch) is the only member of this large family known to have remained in the valley. Some granddaughters did as shown elsewhere. She married Lewis Zerkle also of a large family. (See Roush History Vol. 1, 1928, page 677 ff.) Without fixed dates it may be assumed, by studying the dates of known births, that she was born about 1748. Their first born, according to the baptismal records of the local Lutheran Church, 1786. According to the custom those days, they had a large family 14 children. Information in the Valley says they are buried in the Lutheran Cemetery in New Market. Some of the Zerkles came with the Roushes and Neases to Mason, Meigs and Gallia Counties some now using the name Circle. (Vol.1, Roush History p. 537)
Five children have been reported for this family.
George Roush (1761 - 1845)
This grave is in the Welden Cemetery in Racine, OH. He is the Great Great Grandfather of the writer, Lester L. Roush, Editor and author of the series of Roush Histories, and of this Military Record.
Wife, Catherine Zerkelborn Aug. 14, 1763, Shenandoah County, Died about 1813.
United States Department of Interior, Bureau of War Pensions, Revolutionary Section:
"War Pension Claim S 8579 it appears that George Roush was born in July 1761, in Shenandoah County, Virginia. While a resident of his native County he enlisted in the fall of 1779 and served two months as a private in Captain John Roush's (his Brother) Virginia Company. He enlisted in the summer of 1780 and served two months in Captain Pugh's Virginia Company. He enlisted in the summer of 1781 and served three months in Captain All's Virginia Company. He was allowed pension on his application executed October 1, 1832, while a resident of Sutton Township, Meigs County, Ohio. His brother, Jonas Roush who also in the Revolution makes supporting affidavit, George Roush moved to Mason County, Virginia 1798." Tradition says that George and Jonas were in the Battle of Yorktown and saw Cornwallis hand over his sword to George Washington. (See History of Roush Family in America, Lester L. Roush, Vol. 1 p. 413-414)
George Roush married, second, Catherine Wolfe, August 13, 1814, one child, Hannah. (Salser).
Jonas Roush (1763 - 1850)
They had eight children, many of their descendants still live in the Meigs County vicinity and elsewhere in Ohio.
Concerning the services of Jonas Roush in the War for Independence (Revolution) The United States Department of Interior Bureau of War Pensions, Revolutionary Section, sends the following:
"I have to advise you that from the papers of the Revolutionary Pension Claims S4785, it appears that Jonas Roush (Rausch) was born in September 1763, in Holman Fort, Shenandoah County, Virginia. While a resident of his native county he enlisted in July 1781 as a substitute for his brother Henry Roush (Rouse) and served three months in Captain AL or AUL or Awl's Company, Col. Bird or Burt's Virginia Regiment, was at the siege of Yorktown, and on his way to Winchester, with prisoners, was taken sick near Fredericksburg, and discharged. He was allowed Pension on his application executed while a resident of Mason County, Virginia, to which place he moved in 1798. His wife whose name is not stated died in February 1837, and in June of that year he moved to Meigs County, Ohio, to live with his daughter, whose name is not given." (See History of Roush and Allied Families in America, Lester L. Roush, 1928, p. 596, for complete history.)
Elizabeth Roush (1758 - 1832)
Elizabeth Roush, daughter of John Adam and wife Susannah Schlern, was born in Shenandoah County, Virginia, December 18, 1758, died in Green County, Tenn. August 19, 1832. On March 6, 1779 she was married to John Nease, of Shenandoah County, Va. He was born January 8, 1757, in Shenandoah County, Va. They are buried in the St. James Lutheran Cemetery a few miles south of Greenville, Tenn. They had 12 children. (See Roush History Vol. III, page 112 ff) They went from the Shenandoah County to the Tennessee community on the Nolachucky River where they owned hundreds of acres on Meadow Creek south of the Nolachucky about the same time that the Roush Brothers settled on the 6,000 acre tract on the Ohio north of the Kanawha River in Virginia.
Records state that he was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. We have not had it documented. They had twelve children.
Tradition says that Balser Roush, of whom we find no records went to this Tennessee Community.
John Adam Rausch (1711 - 1786)
John Adam Rausch emigrated to America 1736, soon settled in Shenandoah Valley, Va. John Adam Rausch and wife Susannah Schlern, Shenandoah Co. were the parents of the nine sons of Revolutionary fame, and three daughters. He should be mentioned in this connection not alone for furnishing these soldiers for this cause of Independence, but in his own right for supplying rations and other equipment for the Continental Army. The famous American Historian, George Bancroft, in reciting the events 1774, under the headings, "Preparations for a General Congress," and "American Arms for Self-Defense," has this to say:
"Beyond the Blue Ridge, the emigrants on the banks of the Shenandoah, many of them Germans, met at Woodstock, and with Muhlenberg, then a clergyman, soon to be military chief devoted themselves to the cause of liberty. Higher up the valley of Virginia, where the plough already vied with the rifle and hardy hunter had begun to till the soil, the summer of the year ripened the wheatfields of the pioneers not for themselves alone. When the sheaves had been harvested, and the corn thrashed and ground in a country as yet poorly provided with barn or mills, the backwoodsmen without any pass through the mountains that could be called roads, delivered 137 barrels of flour as their remittance to the poor of Boston, determined to hold out appeal to the colonists and the world for justice, trusting in God that these things should be overruled for the establishment of liberty, virtue, and happiness in America" (History of the United States of America, George Bancroft; the author's last revision, Vol. IV. pages 29, 30.) In the Shenandoah Valley are still to be found old records which show contributions of wheat and food for the colonists. The Roushes had one of these mills on Mill Creek and no doubt were among those supplying such food. In this manner the father of the nine brothers aided the cause of the Revolution.
They had eleven children, (Balser not proved.) By Genealogical Formula this couple would have more than 100,000 offspring in the 235 years of their American abode.