THE TOWN OF ROSE is located in east-central Wayne County. Although urban-suburban sprawl threatens from both east (Syracuse) and west (Rochester), and many residents work outside the township, it remains rural. As in other adjacent townships, many farms have been consolidated, and some on poorer land have not been farmed in years. Dairy, fruit, and field crop production are the main types of farming today. According to Town Assessor's records, as of July 1998, the following areas of a total of approximately 21,000 acres in the Town of Rose were devoted to agricultural (11,417 acres), residential (5420 acres), and vacant land (3132 acres), with 720 acres in "wild, forested, conservation and public parks". Some additional current information can be found at the website:
www.our-hometown.com/Courier-Gazette/towns/Rose/standing/index.html
Rose was named for Robert Selden Rose (1774-1835), a Virginian, who purchased 4000 acres of land in what is now the township of Rose about 1802. Rose himself lived in Geneva, but the town was named for him when it was organized in 1826, with the expectation that he would provide a gift of land or other valuable property. His gift? Naught but "a little merino ram, about the size of a woodchuck".
The NYGenWeb Town Coordinator for the Town of Rose is Frank Dennis (Jr.). Frank grew up on a fruit farm a mile south of the village of Rose. The farm was purchased by his grandfather and grandmother, Willis and Alma (Rowley) Dennis about 1905 and was subsequently operated by their son Frank and wife Corinne (Smith) Dennis, who had three children - Jean (Edmonds), Carol (Agnew), and Frank Jr. The farm was sold in the mid-60s, but the house was retained by Carol and Walter Agnew until 2008, when they moved to Lyons. Frank Jr. attended Rose Union School and Clyde High School, and graduated from North Rose High School in 1950. He married Katharine Merrell of Butler and recently retired as professor of horticulture at Michigan State University.
Persons with information of historical interest or questions about Rose can contact me at 1600 Ridgewood Dr., E. Lansing, MI 48823 (517-332-5181; e-mail fgdennis@msu.edu) or Town Historian Melanie Maybe (see address below). We are especially interested in obtaining photographs and personal memoirs of "the old days".
Town Historian:
Melanie Maybe
Rose Town Hall, PO Box 310, 5074 North Main St
North Rose, NY 14516-0310
historian@townofrose.com 
12 Nov 2019
and on Facebook - Town Historian. 
12 Nov 2019
Town Clerk's address: Town Clerk c/o Town Office, North Rose, NY 14516. Please enclose stamp or SASE for reply.
Rose Historical Society President:
Lucinda Collier
PO Box 304,
North Rose, NY 14516
Phone 315-587-4532; Fax 315-587-2845; E-Mail
RoseHistoricalSociety@rochester.rr.com
The Society maintains many old photos and mementos in its museum.
Rose Historical Society - Farnsworth Museum Facebook Page
Some published books, etc., containing information on the history of Rose include Alfred S. Roe's "Rose Neighborhood Sketches"(1893), and "Landmarks of Wayne County" (1877), p. 155-159. In addition, a limited number of copies of Joanne B. Williams's "An Abbreviated History of the Town of Rose" was published as a mimeographed edition for the Centennial in 1976. Some historical and genealogical information is also available in J. O. Wadsworth's "Wolcott, New York, Old and New" (1975). The Town Historian has genealogical information on several families, including: BAKER, BARNES, BRIGGS, JEFFERS, MINER, and SICKLES-DAMMON.
Currently the Rose Historical Society is collecting information for a history of the township since 1893. Seven centennial farms have been identified, and genealogical, cemetery and military records are being compiled. Histories of local churches and other organizations are also being updated.
From the 1824 Gazetteer of the State of New York, by Horatio Gates Spafford
ROSE (1) - was formed from Wolcott, Feb. 5, 1826. It lies in the interior of the co., E. of the center. Its surface is mostly undulating or level, with drift rides in the S. E. Several small tracts of swamp land lie in different parts of the town. The streams are small; Mudge, Sherman, and Thomas Creeks are the principal. The soil is a gravelly loam, intermixed with clay on the elevations and with muck on the lowlands. The highest point is 140 ft. above Lake Ontario. Limestone approaches the surface in the N. part, and has been quarried to some extent for lime and for building purposes. Rose Valley, (Rose p.o.) near the center, contains 3 churches, a steam sawmill, and tannery. Pop. 218. Wayne Center, in the W. part, contains 20 houses; Glenmark Falls, (2) in the N. part, contains 2 gristmills, 2 sawmills, and 10 dwellings. The first settlement was made in 1805, by Caleb Melvin and Alpheus Harman. (3) The first church (M. E.) was organized in 1824. (4)
Footnotes:
Current Place Names in the Town of Rose:
Glenmark, Lockwood Corners, Maunders Corners, North Rose, Rose, Stewart Corners, Wayne Center
Rose Resources on this site:
Property Owners of the Town of Rose, 1891
Table of Contents to "Rose Neighborhood Sketches"
Members of Organizations - "Rose Neighborhood Sketches"
Men From Rose Who Served in the Civil War
Rose Town Supervisors: 1826-1998
Wayne County Marriages 1850 - Towns of Rose and Sodus
Wayne County Births - 1850 - Rose and Sodus
Wayne County Births - 1849, Part 2 - Marion, Ontario, Palmyra and Rose
Wayne County Marriages 1849, Part 1 - Towns of Butler, Galen, Macedon, Palmyra, Rose, Walworth and Williamson
Wayne County Deaths 1849, Part 1 - Butler, Galen, Rose and Lyons
Wayne County Marriages 1848, Part 1 - Towns of Butler, Lyons, Macedon, Marion, Ontario, Rose, Savannah and Walworth; no records for Huron and Williamson
Wayne County Deaths 1848, Part 1 - Towns of Sodus, Walworth, Wolcott, Savannah, Palmyra and Rose
Wayne County Marriages 1847 - Towns of Ontario, Palmyra, Rose, Savannah, Walworth, Williamson, Wolcott
1874-75 Rose Marriage and Death Records:
First Presbyterian Church of North Rose, NY
Rose Methodist Church Pastors: 1832-1932
Civil War Veterans Buried in Rose Cemetery
Rose Town Supervisors: 1826-1998
The Scrapbook of John P. Chatterson, Part 1, Letters A - C
The Scrapbook of John P. Chatterson, Part 2, Letters D - H
The Scrapbook of John P. Chatterson, Part 3, Letters J - P
The Scrapbook of John P. Chatterson, Part 4, Letters R - Z
Marriages, Births and Deaths in Rose During 1895 and 1896
Students of School District #12, 1898-1899
Rose & Huron School Rosters 1844-1848
Collins Cemetery: Bill Dean's Record
Ellinwood Cemetery: Bill Dean's Record
Lovejoy Cemetery: Bill Dean's Record
Small Cemeteries of the Towns of Rose and Galen: Collins, Ellinwood and Lovejoy in Rose, and Briggs in Galen
North Rose (Briggs) Cemetery: Bill Dean's Record
Rose Cemetery Master Index: Bill Dean's Record
Rose Cemetery War Veterans Monuments
Jeffers / Haviland Estate Letter
Photos of Children and Descendants of Robert and Christiana Foote Jeffers
North Rose Fire Department: link to excellent site with history, photos, and more
REPRINTING OF ROSE NEIGHBORHOOD SKETCHES
The Rose Historical Society has come out with a CD reprint of Rose Neighborhood Sketches. This book, published in 1893, was written by Alfred S. Roe, a native of the Town of Rose who later lived in Worcester, Mass., taught school there, served in the Civil War, and was a member of the Massachusetts State legislature. Later in life Roe drove around the countryside in a horse and buggy, visited every home, and recorded who built the house, and who lived there prior to the current occupants, and a brief genealogical record of each family. The resultant articles were published, one school district at a time, in the Clyde Times. These articles later became the basis for the book. Also included were the history of the town, military records, histories of churches and other organizations, and cemetery records.
A compact disk is now available with Rose Neighborhood Sketches (1893) by A.S. Roe, the Military History of Wayne County (1883), and several other historical items dealing with Wayne County, including Records of the Zion Episcopal Church of Palmyra, a history of Marion, Old houses and churches of Wayne County, and other items. For a complete list, visit this website - Genealogy and History of Wayne County, New York at http://GenealogyCDs.com.
The CD is available from GenealogyCds.com, 3 Apex Dr., Coram, NY 11727. (Genealogycds@optonline.net). This CD contains, in addition to the items above, an addendum containing a table of contents for Rose Neighborhood Sketches (none in the original), an index of names of persons mentioned as town officers and members of organizations, but omitted from the original index, and a brief biography of the author.
The price is $19.50 plus $2.50 shipping. To order, go to
http://genealogycds.com/sales/WayneHistSoc.htm or use the mailing address above. Up to four CDs can be shipped for $2.50, shipping cost for more than four is $4.00.
GenealogyCds.com has prepared an entire series of New York Town and County Records on CDs similar to this one. Visit their website (http://GenealogyCds.com) for more information.