Elmira Almeda (Hargrove) Rose was born on the 18th of November, 1850 in Lawrenceberg, Tennessee. She was the daughter of Benjamin Franklin & Mary Ann (Rees) Hargrove. At the age of 16 she would marry Samuel Adam Burney Rose who was age 28 and a veteran of the confederate army. She had very dark hair and Samuel had red hair. She would have a very short adult life, dying at age 43, but in that span of approximately 26 years she would bear 17 children, 14 of whom would live to adulthood. The next to the youngest would become my Grandfather Jim Rose and the sibling just older than him would become my Great Uncle Tom Rose. The names of her children are listed on Samuel Rose's page or click on the family picture at right to see the names listed below.

Because of the large number of children that she bore there is a family tradition that there was at least one occasion when the entire family was able to get together to sit at the kitchen table. We know that all seventeen children could not have attended because three of the children died either at birth or at an early age and could not have been present. We believe that the gathering, if it happened, included Elmira, Samuel, and the fourteen surviving children and could not have happened until after 1889, when the last child was born. At that time, the oldest child would have been at least 20 years old and about 4 years married. The phrase "cheaper by the dozen" would seem a little pale compared to this gathering.

After Elmira's death, the younger sibling's were reared and cared for by the older one's. My grandfather James Bascom Rose, the 13th born surviving sibling, was 6 years old at the time of her death. Elmira Almeda Rose was laid to rest at Shoemaker Cemetary in northwest Limestone County in the year 1893. Samuel Rose would not marry again. He would live twenty more years, on into the twentieth century and dying in 1913. They have a double Headstone.

The material for the documentation of Elmira Rose's life was taken directly from a book of Rose genealogy researched and written by first cousin Lynn Parham, son of Mildred (Rose) Parham. The book title is "An Alabama Rose Garden". For more Rose family pictures click here to visit Lynn's website.

Many thinks to Peggy Bostick, Great Great Granddaughter of Rhoda Ann Rose Smith - sister in law of Elmira Rose (my Great Grandmother), for originating this page.