George ROUSH, Revolutionary Soldier

Father of 13 children

George, being one of the younger sons of John and Susannah Roush, does not appear as early on records in Shenandoah County, as do the older brothers. George seems always to have been most closely associated with his older brother, John. John was his Captain during the Revolutionary War. When the Roush brothers took a large tract of land in Mason County, Ohio, George came first with his brother, Captain John, in whose name the purchase was made. He must have preceded his family on his first trip to the Ohio Valley as records show him to have come here in 1798, and birth and baptismal records show that his son Jacob was born and baptized in Shenandoah County, 1799.

In 1807 he moved to Sutton Township, Meigs County, Ohio, where he purchased a tract of land from Edward W Tupper. It was that level tract that is now just west of the little town of Dorcas near Racine, known as the DeWolf farm. On this tract of land he lived until his death. His first wife, Catherine Zerkel,daughter of Michael and Catherine Sehler Zerkel, whom he married in Shenandoah County about 1781, must have died soon after this. His younger children were reared in this home and married from there. His two younger sons, Jacob and Jonas, married Margaret and Susannah Weaver, respectively, who were sisters and had also moved from Mason County to Meigs. His daughter, Mary, married Michael Rickard of Mason County, all of whose licenses are recorded in the Meigs and Gallia County records.

The George Roush family thus became among the very early settlers of Sutton Township. The name has since that early date been perpetuated by the Jonas and especially the Jacob Roush families.

Although young he did his part in the struggle for Independence. He enlisted in the Continental Army in the fall of 1779. His grandchldren tell that he talked much of his experiences as a soldier often relating interesting incidents that occured, the one upon which there seems to be no variation we quote from an old clipping from the State Gazette of Point Pleasant, W VA, which bears no date: "Dr Lafayette Roush tells that his grandfather, Daniel Roush, has often told him about his father, George Roush, being at the battle of Yorktown and seeing Cornwallis hand over his sword to George Washington and that many of the soldiers wept for Joy". His brother, Jonas, was also at the surrender. It is said in his older years that George would speak frequently about his war days, and that in his semi-conscious moments of his last illness he would speak of charging on the British and tell his comrades to get ready that the British were coming over the hill to attack them.

He was by trade a mechanic---and a very good one, we are told, and a farmer.

Of the wife, Catherine, we have this touching tradition that seems well founded. A few years after coming to the Ohio Valley, Catherine was in declining health. She much loved the old Virginia home and frequently pined to go back. This was a distance of more than three hundred miles to be traveled, over the mountains, across the valleys, thru the gulches on horseback and on foot. But neither the distance, the mountains, nor the streams had any healing qualities for her homesickness. At last the husband prepared for the trip and started with his frail wife on this long journey of many days which in no wise seemed to reduce her strength. After many days travel the last mountain was crossed and in the vale below sparkled the quiet Shenandoah which gave assurance that a little beyond lay the old homestead. They wend their way up the stream, the horses stand on the land of the old plantation in front of the home for which Catharine had so long pined. Dismounting from his horse her husband assisted her in getting her feet again in the old door yard for many years frequented by them and where the honeymoon days had been spent. The joy was too great, she was overwhelmed and wept as a child. She did not continue her abode long in the old home as she soon passed away. Her remains were carefully folded in the soil of the old Virginia plantation. The burial place had not been found as of Volume 1 of the Roush History. She was the daughter of Michael and Katharine Zerkel born Aug.14, 1763 in Shenandoah County, Va, her baptism was sponsored by Henry Brock and his wife, Magdalene. Her brothers, Henry and Michael, soon followed the Roush colony to the Ohio Valley. Just when she died is not known. It should also be noted here that the Zirkle Family History compiled by J. Wm Harpine states on page 9: We have made several unsuccessful attempts to learn the exact death date of George Roush's first wife who was the mother of twelve children. However, it is claimed on good authority while visiting in Virginia at her old home she passed away. Neither do we know the exact burial place of this noted wife and mother. Her passing away in Virginia some three hundred miles from home we rather surmise she would have been buried in the old Nease-Zirkle graveyard on Holman's Creek. In this graveyard her father and mother are buried as well as other members of the Zirkle family.

In the marriage records of Gallipolis,(Vol.1, page 50), we find the license of George Roush and (Kitty) Catherine Wolfe. To her as a widow he was married on Aug. 13, 1815. One child, Hannah, was born to this marriage.

It is very unusual for a man to have been a citizen of three counties at the time of their respective organization. In 1774, Shenandoah County, VA, of which he was then an active citizen, was organized. In 1798 he moved to Mason County, W VA., where he lived up to 1807. The county was rapidly settled so that in 1804 it became organized and officially recognized as a county. In 1807 he moved to Meigs County, OH and lived there until his death. In 1819 the people of Meigs County had their small commonwealth set off from Gallia County and started housekeeping for themselves. A courthouse and jail were built at Chester, the county seat, officers elected and court organized. Among the first jurors of this county appears the name of George Roush.

In the little village of Racine on the third terrace overlooking the beautiful Ohio, whose waters he had many times crossed, rest the remains of this old and good man. His little tombstone, well preserved, bears the inscription, "George Roush, a Soldier in the Revolution, died May 31, 1845, age 84 years. By his side lies his last wife, whose inscription reads, "Catharine, wife of George Roush, died October 20, 1845, aged 74 years."
From "History of the Roush Family In America, Vol 1, pages 411-421. 1928