Ethel May Robinson Rose (1908-1988)

Today would have been the 100th birthday of my mother’s paternal aunt,  Ethel Robinson Rose.
Ethel was born August 8, 1908 in Wilmington, North Carolina to Lewis “Christopher Columbus” Robinson and Lucinda (Lennon) Robinson.  She was their first of what would be eventually 9 children.
As I review my records for Ethel, I see that I have not located the family in the 1910 census records – last time I searched I just could not find them. Now, Wilmington was not where the family was from, but on her Social Security Card application, she listed it as her place of birth.  The family was from the Whiteville area in Columbus County, NC and I do know for some time period after Ethel was born, they lived in Georgia as 4 of their children were born in Georgia.  But, finding them in 1910 has been tricky. By 1920, they moved up to Manhattan where my grandfather was born and where my mother was raised.
Ethel was married twice, but we only know of one husband, Edward Rose.  I do not yet know when they were married and I do not know her first husband’s name or what became of him.  We don’t have any pictures of Ethel, but we do have this picture of her husband Edward with her sister-in-law Iris, wife of her brother George.

From my mother’s descriptions of Ethel, she was always prim and proper. And, mommy says she had a “thing” about making sure the kids in the family’s teeth were clean.  Ethel never had children. I have a memory of being in Ethel’s house once around the time my grandfather died. I remember she had a town home that was one of many in a row on a cute block.
Ethel died May 31, 1988, her husband preceded her in death in January of 1978.  Both are buried in Mt. Hope Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, though her name was never put on the grave marker.  She is buried near her sister Lucinda and their mother Lucinda.

To follow-up on for the family records:

• locate the Ethel in the 1910 census as a 2 year old with her family
• locate Ethel in the 1930 census (but, i may need to find her 1st husband’s name before I can)
• order her death certificate
• look for her marriage records?
• possibly search NYC directories?
• and, since I’m looking at the family, I realize I need to order my grandfather’s (her brother) birth certificate