Friday's Photo/Eva Cornelius Rosekrans

     This is one of the photographs I found when I sorted through my mother's belongings after her passing several years ago.  Many were of family members and most were photos I'd never seen before.  In fact, I'd never seen the album that contained them before; it was stashed on the top shelf of her closet.  Mother's life was a sad one, she lost so many loved ones in her childhood and early adulthood that perhaps this album was part of a painful time she wanted to put behind her.  And perhaps that's why she never shared it with me.

    A few of the pictures in the album, like the one above, were of people completely unknown to me.  On the reverse of this one is written, "Mrs. Rosekrans", nothing more.  Last summer I took the unknowns to a gathering of Mom's sisters and brothers to ask if they could identify the individuals pictured.  I didn't know of any Rosekrans in our family, but my uncle recognized the woman in the picture as Eva Cornelius Rosekrans.

     This morning, I did a search for Eva and found her as a child living in Marion, New York in Wayne County.  Mom's family was from Wayne County, but miles away at the extreme eastern end.  I then did a Google search for--"Eva Cornelius" Rosekrans--and eight results came up, six of which were in English.  The first one was about the Rosekrans family of Erin, New York and stated, "The Rev. Clyde Rosekrans, member of the Central New York Conference of the Methodist Church, held pastorates at several appointments.  Before entering the ministry he operated a grocery store at Elmira Heights.  He married Eva Cornelius, who after their marriage also became a Methodist minister."  Could that be her?  Elmira Heights is pretty far from Wayne County, down near the Pennsylvania border.

    The second hit was the Australian version of Ancestry, that got me nowhere as did hit number three, it was just a list of sorts.  The next hit was the one that convinced me that the Reverend Eva was the right lady, it was her obituary--

     Mrs. Eva Rosekrans, 53, of North Rose, Wayne County died Saturday Oct. 27, 1951 after an illness of a few months.  Survived by husband Rev. Clyde A. Rosekrans; daughter Mrs. Helen Messing of Pine City, NY; sons Philip and Neil Rosekrans of North Rose; four grandchildren; mother Ada Cornelius; sisters, Mrs. Eynor Scofield, Mrs. Murray Weysten; aunt, Mrs. Lydia Hall of Poughkeepsie.  Mrs. Rosekrans was pastor of the Brown Memorial Church Syracuse, before assuming the North Rose charge in June, 1951.  The burial will be in Scotchtown Cemetery in Erin, New York.

   It all fit, North Rose is right next to the town Mom grew up in, and Eva was apparently buried in her husband's family plot in Erin.  Mom must have had the picture because her Lash grandmother, who raised her, was of the Methodist faith.

     The Reverend Clyde survived Eva by twenty-two years and remarried at some point; his obituary lists a wife Mildred. He is also buried in Erin, the tombstone they all share is below.   I'm glad to see Eva got top billing.