BIOGRAPHY: ROSE Family, Cambria County, PA 

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From Wiley, Samuel T., ed. Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Cambria 
County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Union Publishing Co., 1896, p. 22-3
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THE ROSE FAMILY. -- No family in Cambria county has better claims to recognition 
in a work of this kind than the Rose family of Johnstown. For three generations 
they have been prominent in the affairs of the town and county.
     The Rose family is of sturdy English stock, and the energy and tenacity of 
purpose characteristic of the English race is one of the prominent traits of the 
family. They trace their ancestry in America through William Rose (seven 
generations) to one of five brothers who emigrated from England to eastern 
Pennsylvania in the last century. William Rose settled first at Philadelphia. 
From there he went to Lancaster county; from Lancaster county he moved to Bob's 
Creek, near the town of Bedford; from Bob's Creek he moved to Jenner X Roads, in 
Somerset county. Here his wanderings ceased, and after a life of adventure and 
hardship -- such as fell to the lot of the pioneers who wrested this great State 
from a savage wilderness -- he lived quietly until his death in 1847. His grave 
is in the old Baptist graveyard at Jenner X Roads.
     Allen Rose, son of William Rose, was born in Bedford county, March 20, 
1793. He seems to have inherited some of his father's adventurous spirit, for in 
1812 we find him located in Somerset county. Shortly afterwards he is in Ohio. 
After a short stay in Ohio he is for a brief period a resident of McKeesport, 
Pa. He finally returned to Somerset county and purchased a grist mill at Jenner 
X Roads in 1826. He operated the mill for two years, and in 1828 came to what 
was then called the town of Conemaugh, but since 1834 is known as Johnstown.
     At Johnstown Mr. Rose was engaged as a contractor and builder. He was a 
carpenter by trade, and old citizens of the town remember him as a mechanic of 
more than ordinary skill and genius.  In addition to his work as carpenter and 
builder, he was a pumpmaker, and many of the large pumps that were once numerous 
in the town were the product of his shop.
     Allen Rose was a man of earnest piety, and was a consistent member of the 
Methodist Episcopal church, of which his wife was also a devout member.  His 
opportunity for education, so far as schools and text-books are concerned, was 
limited to such as the schools of Bedford county furnished at the beginning of 
this century, and was meagre.  But in the knowledge of the Bible he was deeply 
learned and could quote texts with an aptness possessed by few.
     In 1823, Mr. Rose was united in marriage to Elizabeth Freame, who was born 
December 21, 1803.  To this union the following children were born:  Eliza, born 
February 9, 1824; Wesley J., born April 17, 1826; Marshall, born July 4, 1828; 
John S., born June 19, 1831; Lewis S., born October 5, 1834; W. Horace, born 
November 17, 1838; George W., born November 28, 1840; and Agnes F., born April 
4, 1844.