Back a rather long lane, across a small stream, in our story the southernmost farm on the west side of old Rt. 48 was that of the Roosa family. Whatever else that farm or that family may have been known for, it will surely always be notorious for the brutal axe murders that took place there on December 26, 1864.

Reams have been written about the Roosa murder, immediately after the fact, and over the intervening years. In fact, Beers History of Warren County written fourteen years after the crime gives four pages to the murder, out a total of 11 pages for all of Union Township. It certainly has all the elements for a modern TV crime thriller. In the middle of the night the Roosa home, where Mrs. Roosa, three of her small children, and an elderly hired man were sleeping, was invaded. Two of the children and the hired man were bludgeoned to death with an axe, and Mrs. Roosa was severely injured. At first, Mr. Roosa was suspected of the murder, but it was proven that he was safely incarcerated at the Dayton Lunatic Asylum, to which he had admitted himself. After some backing and filling, one Samuel Coovert, although suspected of the murders, was initially imprisoned for perjury connected with the case. Later he was tried for the murders and convicted but the verdict was set aside because a juror had discussed the evidence improperly. Later Coovert was tried, and convicted, a second time, and on August 14, 1866, hanged , although he still maintained his innocence. Some sources believe this to be the only time that an execution was ever carried out in Warren County.

This is the bare outline of the emotional turmoil that surrounded the case. Since our subject is the families of The Ridge, let's think a little about the Roosa family at the time this tragedy occurred.

John W. Roosa was a respected farmer, and the Treasurer of Union Township. He apparently had periods of mental problems but at times of upset was balanced enough to check himself into what was then called a "Lunacy" hospital. At the time of the murders he was 33 years old. His wife was 31. And her name was Malinda Brant, although none of the early accounts called her anything except "Mrs. Roosa."

Based on figures given in the 1860 census, their children when the murders happened were: Alice Belle, 12, Mary Frances, 6, and Jeannette, 7. The hired man's name was Jesse Couzens. A later deed indicates that the property had been conveyed to John W. Roosa by James M. Roosa on September 5, 1864 and to James M. and John W. Roosa by James M. Armstrong on March 5, 1860.

So here we have the picture of the young family, whose life was utterly disrupted on that night of December 26, 1864 just at a time when the Civil War was finally ending and everyone was looking forward to a happier future. Two of the children, Alice and Frances, and the hired man, were killed and Malinda Brant Roosa was severely injured. Little 8-year old Jeanette (called Nettie) survived by hiding, and at dawn the next morning ran for help. The first people she ran into were A. L. Scott, and Jesse Beedle, who were heading to the Scott barn, pails in hand, to milk the cows , when they heard Nettie's screams.

Malinda and Nettie had to go through the experience of testifying against the accused murderer at not one, but two, trials. It is hoped that they were not without the support of family. Records show that an Abraham Brant was a justice of the peace in Union Township during the mid-nineteenth century years and that a Clara A. Brant married a James S. Couden, another of the Union Township names which we will get to later. As always, life had to go on, and John W. Roosa came back to the farm and he and Malinda had another child, a son, and Nettie eventually married Harlan E. Sawyer.

On January 20, 1879 John W. and Malinda Roosa sold their property to William Tingle, who added it to the adjoining property that belonged to his wife Eliza French Lollar, thereby bringing the total acreage of the Lollar farm up to almost 500 acres. The Lollar farm was under the care of Eliza's son, Robert Bruce Lollar, and his son, Harry David Lollar, until December 4, 1962 when the Ohio State Highway Department appropriated 39.937 acres from the southeast corner of what had been the Roosa farm for the interchange of new Ohio State Rt. 48 and Interstate 71, thereby also detaching 11 more acres from the original 500.

The site of the house where the murders occurred is now the exact spot of the big Fujitec plant, the Japanese firm that makes elevators and escalators, the land having been acquired from Robert Miller Lollar and Katherine Lollar Rowland in the 1980s, through Henkle Schueler, local developers of large tracts of land, including much of the original farm land of The Ridge. Although it is sad to have land go out of the ownership of families that held it so long, it is comforting to know that several hundred people now make a living where one farmer had a hard time making ends meet. It is also comforting to think of the high test tower Fujitec built and topped with beautiful Japanese tile as a kind of memorial to the two little children and one elderly man who lost their lives on that spot so long ago.

next - The Scott Family

FOOTNOTES: [Contact Katherine Lollar Rowland if you would like to contibute to "The Ridge" pages on the Warren County OHGenWeb project ]

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This page created 27 October 2004 and last updated 12 July, 2006
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