The following piece comes from my 2015 annual report to the Windham
Town Board, the Greene County Historian, and the New York State Historian,
updated with information that was not readily available at the time it was
written.
The search for George K. Rose’s biological parents unearthed an
unusual story. George first appeared on the 1900 Windham, Greene County, NY
census as the 13 year old adopted son of Zeal and Susan (Moseman) Rose of Big
Hollow, Town of Windham. His World War I draft registration card gave his full
name as George Krom Rose, and his date and place of birth as August 6, 1887 in
Chichester, Ulster County, NY. His marriage to Mabel Alice Eckhorst on November
1, 1911, confirmed those facts. His parents were identified on that document as
Ira and Martha Krom.
Ira and Martha were listed on the 1880 Marbletown, Ulster County,
NY census with their children, Walter, Edna, James and Lillie. Their sons
George and Richard were born a few years later. A little more digging revealed
that Ira had married Martha J. Rogers in 1873. Neither appeared on the 1900
census, so it seemed likely that both of them had died sometime between George’s birth
in 1887 and 1900.
My first clue as to their fate came from this statement in The
Sea Cliff News, published in Queens County, NY on Saturday, November
18, 1893. “Ira Krum, living in the
Catskills, died while fasting to make himself light enough to walk on water.”
According to the New York State death index, Martha Krum died in
Chichester on October 22, 1888, a little more than a year after George’s birth.
That same source recorded Ira’s death as having taken place in Phoenicia, Ulster
County, NY on November 13, 1893. His name was listed as Ine Krum, no doubt due to
the transcriber’s inability to read the clerk’s handwriting on his death
certificate.
Articles in other newspapers described Ira as a religious fanatic
who, in the parlance of the day, became bereft of reason and sought consolation
in his faith. In 1893 Ira moved in with his brother, Richard, and shared a vision he claimed to have received from God. Ira said he was instructed to fast
for 40 days, after which time he would be able to perform this miraculous feat,
although the reason for doing so wasn’t revealed.
After the requisite number of days the emaciated man walked to a
nearby pond. Ira soon returned to his brother’s home, soaking wet but
unwavering in his faith. Following an intense session of prayer, he said that
God had spoken to him again, this time commanding him to fast for another 15
days so that he might fulfill his holy task. Though he had taken some nourishment
during the initial fast, this time he was determined not to succumb to that
temptation. Death came calling shortly thereafter, leaving his six minor children
without means of support.
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