Rosenwasser, Marcus

Herman Rosenwasser (1807-1878) and Rosalia Kohn Rosenwasser (1815-1885) settled in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1854 with six children, including Marcus Rosenwasser (1846-1910) and Edward Rosewater (1841-1906), who took on an anglicized name upon arriving in America. Marcus Rosenwasser was a prominent surgeon and obstetrician, serving as obstetrician at St. Ann's Maternity Hospital in Cleveland, a hospital primarily serving immigrant communities. He held the positions of professor and dean at both the Cleveland College for Physicians and Surgeons and the Wooster University Medical School. He served as president of the Cleveland Board of Health and the Cuyahoga County Medical Society. An active member of the Jewish community, Rosenwasser was a board member of the Temple and was a member of B'nai B'rith and the Excelsior Club.

Edward Rosewater established a career as a telegrapher, working for the Southwestern Telegraph Company until the outbreak of the Civil War. Rosewater worked with the Union army, restoring and establishing telegraph lines across the southern states. He continued assisting with wartime communication as an operator, and he was assigned by Abraham Lincoln to transmit the Emancipation Proclamation. Following the war, Rosewater moved to Omaha, Nebraska, where he became a prominent member of the state Republican Party and helped found the Omaha Bee, a local newspaper. Edward Rosewater married Leah Colman Rosewater (1843-1914), and they had five children. Also mentioned in the collection are Harry Rosewater, grandson of Herman Rosenwasser, and Lisa Beyer, daughter of Robert Beyer, the grandson of Harry Rosewater.

click here to view the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History entry for Marcus Rosenwasser

From the guide to the Marcus Rosenwasser Papers, 1863-1911, (Western Reserve Historical Society)