Person:John Rosenberger (5)

John Rosenberger & his family removed from what is now W. Va. to Seneca Co., OH in 1822, where, should anyone so desire, deeds, etc. can be found at the Court House in Tiffin, 0. The OH homestead situated in a dense woods, was cleared by the hardy.& vigorous settler & in a few years, it had yielded to a high state of cultivation. John was elected justice of the peace not long after his arrival in OH & held this office for 33 Yrs. His just decisions were ever according to law & evidence of his rulings were confirmed by the upper courts. No attempt was made by this author to research the OH records, this record begins with this family's removal from OH by wagon train to the new state of Iowa. The trek began 9/5/1853 at Bascom, O., & ended 9/28/1853 at Marengo, Iowa, the distance by their roads was 520 miles. They were on the way 23 days, but three of these were sabbaths when they rested. Counting 20 days on the road, they averaged 26 miles a day.

John was a deeply religious man & had strong convictions of the evils of slavery. He had been reared a Lutheran, but was converted probably by the circuit riders in OH & joined the Methodists. When the Civil War came on, his youngest son five of his grandsons joined the Union Army, one of which spent a year in a Southern prison & one that never returned. He supported the policy of Lincoln to the effect that the curse of slavery should not be allowed to spread throughout the U. S., with the possibility of infecting the whole of No. America. He led these families into the wilderness gave each of his children a quarter section of land & these with other families formed the OH community, the center of which was the OH Methodist Church, near Ladora, Iowa. There were 26 wagons in all. They bought gov't. land at $1.25 an acre & settled four miles south of Ladora & northwest of the Genoa Bluffs settlemen

Township 78 Northo Range 12 West, John A. Rosenberger purchased the following: NW qr Sec. 13 - 10/22/1849, SW qr Sec. 13 - 10/22/1849,S hf NE qr & N hf SE qr See. 13 - 10/12/1849, SE qr see- 13 - 10/22/1849, NW qr Sec. 24 - 10/22/1849, N hf NE qr See. 24 - 10/22/1849- Ref: Hist. of Iowa Co., Iowa., 1881, P.341.

The first land entries in Hartford twp. were by Alex. Reynolds & J. A. Rosenber- ger. Mr. Reynolds entered NE 1/4 SE 1/4 & SE 1/4 NE P Sec. 23 & W 1/2 SW Sec. 24 - 8/14/1848, L. Shedenhelm in 1881 owned a portion of this land.

The sixth purchase of land from the U. S. was by John E. Stoner on 5/10/1850 - NE 1/4 NW 1/4 See. 29 - , later owned in 1900 by M. B. Rosenberger.

OH CEMETERY - Two acres of ground were given by John A. Rosenberger from his original homestead to be used for a cemetery. As a courtesy to their interest in their former home state, the burial ground was called OH Cemetery. In 1866, a church was built, also to be known as the OH Methodist Church. No charge was to be made for the burial lots, this procedure was followed for 35 years after John's death, after that, a fee of $1.00 was levied to make the deals legal. The first deed was given in 1889, signed by John Eli Stoner and witnessed by R. W. Rosenberger as justice of the peace. In 1916, John Tyler, a resident of the community, spent approx. $2,000.00 to improve the cemetery draining & tiling. Anyone who donated his services to the amount of $25.00 in labor was given a lot in the cemetery. The same year, Mr. Tyler enlarged the cemetery by donating an acre of land, known as the Tyler addition, which lies to the north & west of the original tract. Records show at least six generations are buried there & probably 90% of the graves are descendants of the Rosenberger family. The OH Cemetery, a beautifully located & well cared for cemetery, is just across the road west of the OH Church.

OH METHODIST CHURCH - Before the church building was erected, religious meetings were held in the home of John A. Rosenberger; his daughter, Mary Rumple, gave the land where the church now stands. The church was organized in Feb.1854. Charter members were John A* Rosenberger, his wife Catherine; Nicholas Rosenberger, his wife Hannah; Michael Rosenberger, his wife, the former Lavina Keppel; Anthony & Elizabeth Rosenberger; Sarah (Rosenberger) & her husband; John & Nancy (Rosenberger) Bair; John N. & Mary Shedenhelm; Levi & Margaret (Rosenberger) Shedenhelm & Mary Jane Rosenberger. The cemetery & church still bear the original names, the original church building, although remodeled, is still in use today.