Cousin Rosa
In 2008, upon uploading the digital images of Edwin Harris's family bible, I noted the obituary[1] for Rosa B. Harris . My sister and I had been discussing the photo in Cora's photo album which had “Cousin Rosa”[2] written on the back. The photo had been taken in Fort Madison, Iowa and was probably from the 1870s, so we had been looking at the census in that area for 1870 to see if we could find her, but had no success.
I had originally assumed that the obituary was from a child of Fredrick Harris, Edwin's son. But connecting the Obituary and the photo I realized it couldn't be since Fredrick was born in 1871. The girl in the photo was in her late teens, early twenties at most. That would make her about Cora or Estella's age.
The obituary read:
Died May 20th, at her home two miles south east in Farmington, Miss Rosa B. Harris, in her 21st year. The deceased was a daughter of Mrs. Custer by first marriage. This is the third death in Mr. Custer's family within four months; the youngest two and now the oldest. She clung to life with an earnest desire to get well and live for a purpose, and therefore felt it hard to yield her hope of life. But with fatal disease consumption, with which she had been threatened during the past year, assumed an acute form only two weeks previous to her death, and did its fatal work quickly. Her suffering by times was severe, and especially her last day on earth. She met death as a welcome messenger and died in hope of an acceptance through the Redeemer, whose she professed to be, and for whom she witnessed shortly before she fell asleep. A large number of acquaintances gathered at her funeral, and many tears were shed for the thrice bereaved family, and for the loss of one so young and fair. Should not this event enforce upon us, each and all, the injunction, “Take ye heed, watch and pray, for ye know not when the time is.” O.A.E[1]
The newspaper clipping is from an unknown newspaper with no date. At first, I thought Farmington was in Iowa since the picture was taken in Iowa. Looking at the USGenWeb for Van Buren County, Iowa where Farmington is located, I tried to look for her step father, Mr. Custer, but there wasn't any trace of him or his family. Without more to go on, I was stuck. At the time, there wasn't the wealth of digitalized records as there is now,but I looked at the records I could, trying to look just in Farmington, Iowa census for Custer Families, but I couldn't limit my search to just that. I tried to look for cemetary records, but no luck there either.
A breakthrough happened when I turned the clipping over over.
"On the 25th resolutions of respect for the memory of the late A. L. Knapp were presented and unanimously adopted."
A clue. So with google I started to look for A.L.Knapp and see if I could find out when he died and when this event happened. Eventually I found on Wikipedia a list of former house representatives, of which Anthony L. Knapp[3] from Illinois was listed. Going to his page I found he served during the civil war and died, 24th May, 1881.
So my newspaper clipping is from 1881, and from Farmington, Illinois, not Iowa.
With some searching, I was able to find the 1880 census[4]Name: Rosa Bonkner
Sex: Female
Age: 19 years
Birthplace: Michigan, United States
Marital Status: Single
Occupation: Keeping House
Race: White
Relationship to Head of Household: Step-Daughter
Father's Birthplace: Michigan, United States
Mother's Birthplace: New York, United States
Event Place: Trivoli Township, Peoria, Illinois, United States
Family Members: Sarah Custer, Emanuel A. Custer, George H. Custer, Lulu R. Custer, Susie B. Custer, Charles E. Custer, David H. Custer, Hettie B. Custer, Mary Custer and Peter Y. Custer.
Eventually I was able to find Rosa's Father, Charles William Harris, who is Edwin Thomas Harris's brother.
Endnotes
[1]Harris Bible Records, circa 1863-1893, Newspaper clipping from 25th May 1881; digital images made by Lisa Dunham (owner) held by Lisa Dunham, Renton, United States, 2024.
[2]Cora L. Harris Album, circa 1870-1891, digital images made by Lisa Dunham (owner) held by Lisa Dunham, Renton, United States, 2024.
[3]Wikipedia contributors, "Anthony L. Knapp," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Anthony_L._Knapp&oldid=1202623877 (accessed February 25, 2024).
[4]"United States Census, 1880", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MXKQ-CFN : Wed Oct 04 03:29:12 UTC 2023), Entry for Emanuel A. Custer and Sarah Custer, 1880.