Edward & Andrew Rosewater
Values Codes I – E – L – P
Edward Rosewater, Publisher Omaha Morning Bee, #WS5478
Edward Rosewater
Edward (Rosenwasser) Rosewater was born in Bukovan, Bohemia in 1841
His parents, Herman and Rosalia Rosenwasser, and their 11 children immigrated to the United States, settling in Cleveland, Ohio in 1853.
Along the way . . .
In 1857, at the age of 16, Edward Rosewater completed a commercial college course in four months and went to Cincinnati to study telegraphy.
He was employed by the Southern Telegraph Company in Alabama, and was transferred to Nashville, Tennessee at the beginning of the Civil War.
When Nashville was captured by the Union Army, Rosewater joined the U.S. Military Telegraphic Corps, accompanying Generals Fremont and Pope on the Virginia Campaigns of 1862.
Edward Rosewater was responsible for the transmission of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863.
Omaha, Nebraska
Rosewater arrived in Omaha in 1863.
He had been hired as manager of the Omaha office of Pacific Telegraph.
For seven years, he handled the Western Union as well as the Atlantic & Pacific & Great Western telegraph lines.
Rosewater was also a correspondent for the Associated Press and several eastern newspapers.
He eventually began publishing his own newspaper, the Omaha Morning Bee.
His home was on 17th and Farnam Streets for 19 years. However, he had it demolished in 1871 to construct the Bee Building, which housed his Omaha Morning Bee.
Bee Building, Home of Edward Rosewater’a Omaha Morning Bee, vintage postcard
Family
Edward Rosewater married Leah Colman of Cleveland in 1864 and brought his bride to Omaha by stagecoach.
Edward Rosewater died in 1906.
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Andrew Rosewater
Andrew Rosewater, Edward’s brother, arrived in Omaha in 1867 as flagman in the Union Pacific Engineer Corps.
Andrew was appointed Assistant City Engineer of Omaha in 1868.
In 1876, he was placed in charge of construction of the Omaha & Northwester Railroad.
In 1881, Andrew was appointed Resident Engineer of the Omaha Waterworks. He later became President of the Omaha Board of Public Works.
He was also a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Source
- Carol Gendler, “The Jews of Omaha: The First 60 Years,” Western States Jewish Historical Quarterly 5/3&4, 6/1-4.