Robert Selden Rose (February 24, 1774 – November 24, 1835) was a

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

(1823–1827) from

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

Early life and education

Born in

Amherst County Amherst County is a county, located in the Piedmont region and near the center of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The county is part of the Lynchburg Metropolitan Statistical Area, and its county seat is also named Amhers ...

in the

Virginia Colony The Colony of Virginia was a British colonial settlement in North America from 1606 to 1776. The first effort to create an English settlement in the area was chartered in 1584 and established in 1585; the resulting Roanoke Colony lasted for t ...

, Rose attended the common schools.

Marriage and family

Rose married Jane Lawson in Virginia, and they had seven children, including a son, Robert Lawson Rose (1804–1877), who also served as US Congressman from New York (1847–1851).

Slave Owner

The 1810 Census shows 37 enslaved people in his household, who worked on his plantation and served in his house. The 1820 Census shows 9 enslaved people. Slavery ended in New York state in 1827, and the 1830 Census shows 3 free people of color in his household and no slaves.

Career

In an unusual migration path, Rose moved north to

Seneca County, New York Seneca County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 33,814. The primary county seat is Waterloo, moved there from the original county seat of Ovid in 1819. It became a two-shire county in 1822 ...

in 1803. It was a time when millions of acres of public land were sold at inexpensive prices. He purchased land from Dr. Alexander Coventry and settled at

Fayette, New York Fayette is a town in Seneca County, New York, United States. The population was 3,617 at the 2020 census. The town is in the north-central part of the county and is southeast of Geneva, New York. A post office is located in the Town of Fayette ...

, near

Geneva, New York Geneva is a City (New York), city in Ontario County, New York, Ontario and Seneca County, New York, Seneca counties in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is at the northern end of Seneca Lake (New York), Seneca Lake; all land port ...

, where he named his plantation Rose Hill. He was first elected as a member of the state assembly in 1811. He was elected again in 1820 and 1821. That year he also served as a member of the state constitutional convention at

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

. In 1822 Rose was elected to the Eighteenth Congress as an Adams-Clay Democratic-Republican. He was reelected as an Adams candidate to the Nineteenth Congress, serving in total from March 4, 1823 – March 3, 1827. The following year, Rose was elected as an anti-

Masonic Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

candidate to the Twenty-first Congress (March 4, 1829 – March 3, 1831). He was later affiliated with the Whig Party. After serving in Congress, he resumed agricultural pursuits. Rose died in

Waterloo, New York Waterloo is a town in Seneca County, New York, United States. The population was 7,378 at the 2020 census. The town and its major community are named after Waterloo, Belgium, where Napoleon was defeated. There is also a village called Wate ...

, while attending a session of the circuit court, on November 24, 1835. He was interred in the Old Pulteney Street Cemetery. Later his remains were reinterred in Glenwood Cemetery,

. State Senator

Robert C. Nicholas Robert Carter Nicholas (January 10, 1787 – December 24, 1856) was a United States senator from Louisiana. He was a veteran of the War of 1812, and also served as Secretary of State of Louisiana and Louisiana's Superintendent of Education. Ea ...

(1801–1854) was his son-in-law.

References

External links

* *Historic Geneva https://historicgeneva.org/people/slavery-at-rose-hill-mansion/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Rose, Robert Selden 1774 births 1835 deaths People from Amherst County, Virginia Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state) New York (state) National Republicans National Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives Anti-Masonic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state) People from Fayette, New York 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives