Service Before self:

The Story of:

Rosa Isabel Randall Rosier

By Dawn Marie Newton Quinn

May 14, 2003

All Rights Reserved; All Wrongs Revenged!  

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Not too long ago there lived a woman who put other people before herself.  Rosa Isabel Randall did not grow up with a silver spoon.  She was raised on hard work and sacrifice.  She worked her whole life for the people around her and believed in a motto, �service before self.�  She married at the age of fifteen and raised a family of sixteen children.  She took care of her father and was a support to her siblings.  She helped to raise her grandchildren.  She was the caretaker of four generations and the center of her family. She faced tragedy and grew in strength.  She dedicated her life to her loved ones, asking them for nothing in return.  This is her story.[1] [2]

Rosa Isabel Randall was born on March 3, 1880 to Niles C Randall and Mitte Aldrich in West Granville, Hampden County, Massachusetts.  She was the eighth of nine children born to Niles and Mittie.  Mittie�s sister was named Rosetta, and it is probable that Rosa was named after her.  Rosa�s family was proud of each other, and often named children after people in the family.  Unfortunately, Rosa did not have a close relationship with her grandparents.  In 1856, Rosa�s maternal grandmother, Maryette Mooer Aldrich, died from an outbreak of consumption in Southwick, Hampden County, Massachusetts. Mittie was only fourteen years old, and her mother never had a chance to know Rosa or the other children.  Rosa�s paternal grandfather, Sylvanus Aldrich, died in 1884 and left little behind.  At the age of seventy-seven, Sylvanus earned a living by working as a servant in the house of a prominent family in Southwick.  He died from paralysis.  Rosa was only four years old and she would not have many memories of him.  Her paternal grandparents were living when Rosa was born, but probably had little interaction with her.  Her paternal grandmother, Lois Bird Randall, was bedridden with paralysis the year she was born.  Elizabeth Randall Hills, Rosa�s paternal aunt, had taken her parents in at her house in Southwick and cared for Lois.  After Lois died in 1881, Rosa�s paternal grandfather, Leonard Randall, moved to Hartland, Niagara County, New York with Rosa�s uncle, Nelson Ambrose Randall and his wife, Alvira Bird.[3]  Although Leonard lived in Hartland for many years, it is doubtful that Rosa and her family could have made the 350-mile trip to see him.  He died in Hartland on January 28,1892.  Growing up in a large family and having relatives cared for by other family members, prepared Rosa for her role as the caregiver in four generations of her family.

It is doubtful that Rosa went very far in school as she married at a very young age.  What is most probable is that she attended school at a young age, but then worked around the farm doing chores when she was a little older.  Rosa could read and write; and her signature can be seen on several documents.  Rosa and her family moved from Granville to Hartland, Hartford County, Connecticut around 1888.[4]  She may have stopped attending school at this time.  She was most certainly involved in the local Protestant church.  Religion was always apart of her life and she knew her bible very well.  After she had her own children, she would gather them around the hearth to read them passages from the bible every night before sending them to bed.  Although Rosa did not grow up with comfort and wealth, she probably had a happy childhood.  Both Rosa and her sister had large families like their mother had.  It was not uncommon in their times to have large families.  In 1900, twenty percent of the population lived in households with seven or more people in them.  The sisters recognized that wealth does not make good mothers and happy families, but a lot of love does. 

In January of 1892 her father came down with a very serious case of the grippe. He worked on the river bringing lumber to the sawmill.  Niles was laid in bed for six weeks and never fully recovered.  After that he was plagued by catarrh and headaches.  In his words he could only do a �half days work.�  He had previously injured his knees while he was wrangling with a colt on his farm and this also made manual labor difficult for Niles.  Rosa�s mother took on the responsibility of providing for their family by doing washings for people, and Rosa would have also helped her mother.  The little money they had from the washings was not enough to support their family and economic assistance from the town was asked for.  By the affidavits written on Niles behalf to the pension office, it is obvious that the family was regarded as honest.  Although they did not have a lot, the family was well liked by the community.  After several appeals and letters from the members of the community, Niles� Civil War pension was finally accepted in 1895. The family had five dollars a month to live on, in addition to the income from the women in the family.  In 2000, their five dollars a month would be equal to ninety-six dollars per month.

The same year her father�s pension came through, fifteen-year old Rosa was married to Julius John Rosier.  He was born about 1868 in the town of Beaucourt, in the territory of Belfort, in France.  Julius immigrated to Barkhamsted, Litchfield County, Connecticut with his brothers to work as a lumberman at the same sawmill that Rosa�s father worked in.  Although it was not unheard of for women to marry at such a young age, only a small part of the married population of women was that young.  In 1900 only 415, 682 of 13,784,538 married women were between the ages of fifteen to nineteen years old.  There is probably no simple reason for Rosa marrying Julius so young.  Perhaps she fell in love with him, or felt the financial burden of her family.  Perhaps she fell victim to the advances of a man twelve years older than her.  Whatever her reason, Rosa married Julius Rosier, with her parents consent, on Tuesday, September 3, 1895, in Hartland, Hartford County, Connecticut.[5]  After her wedding to Julius, the young couple lived with her parents in Danbury Quarter in Winsted.  Rosa�s older sister, Emma Eveline Randall, married Julius�s brother, Florent Rosier about 1898.  Emma had previously been married to George Wallace, and they had several children together.  Julius and Florent Rosier did not own property, and often rented small houses in the towns they worked.  The families traveled often as the two men took jobs logging wherever they could.  The sisters often lived together in the same towns.[6]  By living close to each other, the sisters could help each other raise their large families and take care of their father.  No one but Emma could understand the struggles that Rosa faced; and Rosa could understand Emma�s.

Within three months of her marriage, Rosa was pregnant with her first child. Florence Mittie Rosier was born on October 29, 1896 at home.  No doubt her mother Mittie helped her during the birth; and as a token of appreciation to Mittie, Rosa gave Florence her mother�s middle name.  Rosa had no crib for her child to sleep in.  She made a bed from a shoebox and put her baby in it.  She gave Florence a warm spot above the stove, where she put all her babies to sleep.  When Florence was eight months old, Rosa became pregnant with their second child.  Her second child, Leon Rosier, was born on her eighteenth birthday, March 3, 1898 in Winsted.  Did Rosa feel the strain of having two young children at the young age of eighteen or did she love the role as mother and caretaker?  It would be out of Rosa�s character to say that she was forced by Julius to have children so close together.  It is most probable that she loved having children, and relished the role of mother. 

When Leon was nine months old, Rosa became pregnant with her third child, Persis.  Persis was born on October 9, 1900.  Julius was often away from the home for long periods of time to work on the river.  When he came home, he never registered Persis�s birth with the town; no record of Florence�s birth has been found, either.  When Persis was one year old, Rosa was pregnant with her fourth child.  Dwight Nelson Randall was born in Sandisfield, Berkshire County, Massachusetts on July 30, 1902.  Nelson is the name of her paternal uncle, Nelson Ambrose Randall.  By August of 1902 Rosa had a six year old, a four year old, a two year old, and a newborn.  Florence did not receive much schooling and did not sign her name on documents.  Because she was the oldest, it probably fell to her to help her mother watch the children and care for the babies running around the house.  All the children, whether they were male or female, were expected to help out around the house.  The Rosier daughters would often tell stories of how, even at young ages, they worked pitching hay along side the boys.

Rosa was kept busy the holiday season of 1903.  Sadly, her youngest son Dwight came down with a case of the measles.  Because measles are highly contagious, it is probable that the older children had brought the measles home.  Although Rosa cared for the children, Dwight died four days before Christmas on December 21, 1903.  Rosa had to bury her son in an unmarked grave in Sandisfield.  This is the longest period between children that Rosa has.  It may have been that Julius did not file the birth records for children born during these years. Or Rosa could have felt heart broken after the loss of her first child and did not welcome her husbands attention.  She became pregnant with her fifth child in November of 1904, two years after the birth of Dwight.  But that joyous news was not to stop the tragedy for Rosa.  While she was five months pregnant, and had just turned twenty-five years old, her mother, Mittie Aldrich Randall, died on March 30, 1905 from pernicious anemia.[9]  She buried her mother at Forestview Cemetery in Winsted where her mother was living.  Five months later on August 12, 1905, Rosa gave birth, without the help of her mother, to Clarissa Isabel Rosier  When Claire was two months old, Rosa became pregnant with her sixth child.  However, the Randall family was still not done with tragedy.  On April 1, 1906, when Claire was only eight months old, Rosa had to bury her brother, Frederick Lyman Randall. He died from Bright�s Disease, which caused failure of his kidneys, at the age of sixteen.  He was the ninth child born to Niles and Mittie, and closest to Rosa in age.

Four months after the death of Frederick, her sixth son, Julius John Rosier, Jr. was born on August 27, 1906 in Tolland, Hampden County, Massachusetts.  Rosa had no rest with five children to take care of, and just pregnant again with their seventh child, when Leon became sick.  No amount of Rosa�s care could bring the nine year olds' fever down and sadly, her second child died from a brain fever on June 19, 1907. Rosa buried her second child in an unmarked grave in Barkhamsted, Litchfield County, Connecticut.  One month after Rosa turned twenty-eight Adolph Nelson was born on April 3, 1908 in Tolland  One month after Adolph�s birth, Rosa was pregnant with her eighth child. She gave birth on February 7, 1909 in the northern part of Blandford, Hampden County, Massachusetts to Rosa E. Rosier.

Rosa celebrated her thirtieth birthday on March 3, 1910, while she was eight months pregnant, had a one-year old baby, a two year old, a three year old, a four year old, a nine year old, a thirteen year old, and had already buried two children, her mother, and her younger brother.  On April 19, 1910, one month after her thirtieth birthday, Ruth M Rosier[14] was born.  At the age of thirty, Rosa had more moments of joy and heartbreak than most people experience in their entire lives.  One can only imagine the pain she went through watching two of her children to die.  There must have been plenty of stressful moments raising the seven surviving children, and five of them under the age of six.  However, the joy of giving life to nine children must have eased some of her pain.

Unfortunately, the year of 1911 would not go by uneventful for Rosa.  Little Rosa became very ill and developed an acute case of pneumonia.  Rosa traveled the distance of thirty miles to the hospital in Springfield to save the life of her daughter.  However, even the medical care of the hospital was not enough to save little Rosa.  She died in the hospital on June 13, 1911.[15]  Little Rosa was taken back home by her mother and buried in their town of Blandford.  Having just buried her third child, that summer must have been very hard on Rosa.  Perhaps the memories of little Rosa in their house in Blandford were too much for Rosa to bear.  Within the year, Rosa, Julius, and their family moved to Colebrook, Litchfield County, Connecticut, and rented a small house. 

Rosa gave birth to her tenth child, Josephine Eunice Rosier,[16] on July 17, 1912 at Winchester Hospital in Winsted.  Josephine was probably born early and had a low birth weight.  Sometime as a child, Josephine had scarlet fever and suffered from vision loss in her right eye.  Fourteen months after Josephine was born, Rosa had her eleventh child, Joseph Rosier, on September 14, 1913 at Winchester Hospital.  Rosa�s brief peace was shattered when Joseph died at one month of age from heart disease, on October 15, 1913 at the hospital.  Given the closeness of age to his sister Josephine, and the cause of his death, Joseph was probably born a preemie.  Joseph may have never left the hospital.  Almost one year after Joseph�s death on September 28, 1914, Rosa gave birth to a baby girl named Grace at the Winchester Hospital.  Grace was just shy of her first birthday when she died on September 9, 1915 from whooping cough.  Rosa must have felt very frustrated that the doctors, nor she, could provide the medical care her children needed.  After burying Rosa, Joseph, and Grace, Rosa�s brother Lewis Leonard Randall, died on June 22, 1916 from tuberculosis.  He was buried at the Randall plot in Forestview Cemetery.  Since tragedy began striking her family in 1903 with the death of her son Dwight, Rosa buried her mother, five children, and two brothers; and she was only thirty-six years old.  In Massachusetts between the years of 1915 and 1919, one in ten infants died.  By 1920, Rosa had lost five out of fourteen of her children.  That is almost one in three of her children.

The relationship between Julius and Rosa is unclear.  Their children never talked much about their parents� marriage.  They viewed their mother in a positive light and did not speak of their father favorably.  Many of their children were involved in abusive relationships.  It is possible that they learned the behavior from their parents.  However, Niles had lived with Rosa since 1913, and to assume Rosa was abused would mean that her father condoned it.  Julius and Rosa were living in Sandisfield, Berkshire County, Massachusetts and whatever happened between them, Rosa left Julius towards the end of 1916.  She moved thirty miles through the Berkshire Mountains to Pittsfield, Berkshire County, Massachusetts.  She was pregnant with their thirteenth child, William Raymond Rosier  She took five year old Josephine with her and made arrangements for the other children who were still at home to board and work with close friends.  Ruth, who was about seven years old, went to work at the home of Dr. Pipkin, Rosa�s doctor.  Ruth not only paid for her board through her work there, but also paid off the family medical bills  The Pipkin family was always involved with Rosa�s family and attended several Rosier weddings.  Her second oldest daughter Persis traveled with her to the Pittsfield area and worked as a housekeeper.  Rosa gave birth at the House of Mercy Hospital in Pittsfield, Berkshire County, Massachusetts to Raymond on May 17, 1917.  In July of 1917 the Pittsfield Probate Court granted her custody of Josephine on the grounds that Julius was an unfit father.  No divorce was ever obtained and it is unclear how long they were separated.  In 1920, divorce was not common and only eight out of one thousand married women were divorced.  They probably reconciled after two years when she became pregnant with their fourteenth child, Olive Louise Rosier  Rosa moved back to the area of Sandisfield and gave birth to Olive at Winchester Hospital on January 19, 1920.  Rosa was just shy of her fortieth birthday. 

While she was seven months pregnant with her fifteenth child, Rosa lost her closest confidant.  Her sister Emma died on April 10, 1922 in a diabetic coma at the Winchester Hospital.  Emma�s loss would have been hard on Rosa.  They had a unique insight into each other�s lives.  They raised their large families side by side and shared in the care of their parents.  The cause of her sisters death at the age of fifty-eight would have made Rosa wonder about her own mortality.  At Rosa�s birth, the average age for a woman�s life expectancy in Massachusetts was forty-three and a half years.  When her sister died, Rosa was forty-two years old and she also suffered from diabetes.  Rosa was a non-compliant diabetic.  She would bake her family chocolate cakes that were so dark you couldn�t tell if the cake was purple or black.  She would make her own maple syrup from the trees in the forest and would often sneak into the pantry to take spoonfuls of the syrup.  Even after the death of her sister, she never stopped listening to her sweet tooth, and would continue to have diabetic �spells� that would send the family into a frenzy.  Rosa would have to lay down and the windows would all be opened for her.

If she questioned her health or mortality, it did not stop her from having another child.  She gave birth to Dorothy Emmaline Rosie on July 15, 1922 at the Winsted Hospital. She gave Dorothy her sister's middle name to honor her memory.  At the age of forty-two she never slowed down.  In between raising a family of fifteen children, Rosa had been taking care of her father, Niles C Randall.  Niles had lived with his daughters after the death of his wife in 1905.  Since 1913 Rosa had Niles in her house and she had cared for him.  As Niles advanced in age, he became senile.  Rosa would wake up in the middle of the night to give her father a glass of milk to keep his stomach settled and would have to bring him to the bathroom frequently.  Between her children and her father, Rosa had not gotten a good night�s sleep in thirty years.  She never complained, but just kept doing what she was meant to do: loving and caring for her family.  Her father Niles collected a pension because he was a Civil War soldier.  According to the pension files, this was his only source of income due to his ill health.  In 1900, Nile�s pension was six dollars per month.  In 1905, he collected eight dollars per month.  In 1908 he was collecting fifteen dollars per month, and finally in 1923, he collected seventy-two dollars per month.  Even though Rosa took care of him, she evidently did not use his pension by the amount of the estate he left behind.  Niles died from old age on July 1, 1924 at the age eighty-six years.[21]  He made his daughter Rosa the executor of his will, and asked that the court waive the executor�s fee, as she did not have a lot of money.  His estate totaled a little over $1600.  He gave some money to the rest of his children, and the children of his deceased children.  The bulk of the estate, totaling about $1200 was left to Rosa.  Rosa�s other siblings signed away any rights to contest the will and gladly gave Rosa the bulk of the estate.  Her character can be seen by the way she handled her father�s estate.  One of her brother�s could not be found when the money was disposed of.  Rather than pocketing the fifty dollars he was left, Rosa put it in a bank account until such time as he was found, or his children were found. The estate that Niles left behind in 1924 would be valued at about $15,500 in 2000.  Rosa buried her father in the Randall plot in Winsted, CT.  Because he was a Civil War veteran, the government should have paid for the burial and a plaque with his service information on it.  There also would have been a flag given to Rosa, although this flag has not been found.

Rosa moved back to the area where she was living when she left Julius.  In August of 1924, she took the money she was left from her father�s estate and bought a house with land on Gulf Rd. in Lanesboro, Berkshire County, Massachusetts from Arthur and Chrestina Chroquette.  She secured a mortgage from Henrietta Hibbard at the rate of six percent and made her husband, Julius, sign away all legal rights to the land.  The fact that she had previously left Julius and now had him sign away right to the property, would make Rosa a strong woman of her time.  She was not afraid to stand up for herself and she finally had a house that belonged only to her.  She settled into the community and became an active member of the Union Methodist Chapel in Berkshire Village.  She was well loved by the neighbors and church community.  Rosa saw no distinctions between people and lived next door to a black family.  They were often in and out of each other�s houses and their children played freely together. 

On June 21, 1925, at the age of forty-five, Rosa gave birth in Pittsfield to her last and sixteenth known child, Mariet Lois Randall Rosier.[22]  Mary was named for Rosa�s grandmothers, Maryette Mooer Aldrich and Lois Bird Randall.  The family settled into a happy life of not moving and community life.  Many of the older girls went to work as housekeepers in Pittsfield, while the boys worked at local farms.  They would come home one day a week and gather at her house.  Rosa�s last daughter, Mary, was the first child to receive a high school degree.

On May 9, 1932, Rosa�s granddaughter, Barbara Isabel Newton[23] was born.  At times over the next eight years, Barbara and her parents, Josephine and Winslow Newton, would live at Rosa�s house.  Her grandson, Winslow Ernest Newton, Jr. was born on September 8, 1934.  Rosa took care of her grandchildren, just as she had taken care of her parents, her children, and her siblings.  She put Barbara in the warm spot above the stove as a baby and read to her from the bible as she did her own children.  She would pack her grandchildren into her wagon and take them into town when she did her shopping.  After they moved into their own house, Josephine and her grandchildren would walk across town to visit her on Sundays. 

All who knew Rosa talk about the amazing selfless woman that she was.  They talk about her putting the needs of other people above her own.  Sadly, Rosa died on February 9, 1940, three weeks shy of her sixtieth birthday.[25]  She had spinal cancer and an unsuccessful operation to remove it had left her sick in the hospital for three weeks.  She was buried at Riverside Cemetery in Lanesboro.  The family�s center collapsed.  The children would not be united as they once had been and would spread out over the country.  The house was sold after her death, and once the mortgage was paid, the eleven surviving children split the money.  The younger daughters were in the custody of their older sisters and Julius went to live with his oldest daughter, Florence.  Julius died on November 20, 1944 from carcinoma of the rectum, and by that time, many of his children were not speaking to him.  He is not remembered well.

There are many family stories of Rosa�s heritage that cannot be verified.  Rosa�s children always said that she had twenty-one children.  Because they were spread out over a period of thirty years, her children never knew all of them and were not able to make a complete list.  Her obituary states that she was the mother of twenty-one children.  Only sixteen children have been found, but in finding them, it became apparent that all of their births were not recorded.  The other family tale told by Rosa�s children was the story that she was of Native American descent.  The proof was in her features and long brown hair.  Rosa�s hair fell below her waist, although she always put it back in a bun.  She had high, sharp cheekbones, as all her daughters did.  Her skin was a dark brown.  Perhaps this story will be verified when all of her ancestors are uncovered, or perhaps her ancestors are just of a darker European descent.  But if her descendants are asked about her they will tell you three things.  They will say that she had twenty-one children, that she was part Indian, and that she was committed to �service before self.�

It is not every person that has the ability to spend their life giving of themselves to others.  Rosa was the mother of at least sixteen children and loved them all.  She took care of not only her children, but her parents and grandchildren as well.  She was well loved by her community and would not hesitate to help out someone in need.  Through all her hardship she did not grow bitter, but strong.  She never gave up on life or her family.  She was their center and strength.  Rosa put service before herself.
 

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