Farmer
and school-teacher. One of the most
respected citizens of Swan Township. Is
a native of Champaign County, Ohio, and was born July 25, 1830. He was the son of poor but honest parents, and
his opportunity for attending school was confined to a few months each winter
for six years. At the age of sixteen he
attended school for a few months at Urbana Academy. His father and mother both died about this time, and Mr. R.
commenced teaching school, and it is a remarkable fact that he has taught
school every winter since, covering a period of thirty years. He received as a remuneration for teaching
his first school $12.50 per month. A
short time after this he heard of the school at Oberlin, and resolved to avail
himself of its advantages. He walked
there, a distance of forty miles, and with very limited means commenced his
studies, and remained three years, excepting while teaching during the winter
months.
In
1855 he left Ohio to come to Iowa, stopping a short time in Illinois, where he
married Miss Sarah Kavanaugh. He came
to Pleasantville [Marion County, Iowa] in 1856, and took charge of the school
in Wheeling. It is an admitted fact
that he has proved himself an excellent educator. He was one of the first to receive the nomination for the State
Legislature, and he has held various township offices, and his honesty and
integrity have never been questioned.
He was a soldier in the late war and enlisted in the Forty-seventh
regiment, company A, Iowa volunteers, under Capt. J.L. Cormack.
[At
the time of writing] Mr. and Mrs. R. have four children living: Horace (born July 4, 1856), Homer (born
April 13, 1858), Stella (born May 14, 1860), and Sibyl (born April 7, 1862). Lost two:
William (born April 7, 1865, died April 4, 1880), and Albert (born April
7, 1868, died February 14, 1896).
[Adin
Wiley Rouze died May 21, 1912. He is
buried in Spurgeon Cemetery, Swan Township, Marion County, Iowa]
Source: History
of Marion County
Four
generation photo: Verle Leroy Rouze,
Will[iam L.?] Rouze, Horace H. Rouze, Adin Wiley Rouze
