ROSSITER, James R. 1864-1947

ROSSITER, WALK

Posted By: County Coordinator
Date: 6/18/2009 at 13:57:52

St. Ansgar
Man Hit and
Run Victim

St. Ansgar, Iowa - James R. Rossiter, 84, was fatally injured about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver as he crossed Main street at the west edge of St. Ansgar, Marshal Alfred Hansen said Wednesday.

The aged man, who Marshal Hansen said was hard of hearing, suffered fractures of both legs and head and chest injuries and died a few minutes after he was found in the middle of the road about 50 feet from an intersection by two unidentified motorists from Kensett.

The only clue, according: to Marshal Hansen, is that shortly after 6:30 the Kensett car, traveling east, met a westbound automobile a short distance west of St. Ansgar traveling without lights, but as it was dark the Kensett men could not give a description of the car.

Marshal Hansen also said that residents near the accident scene heard the screeching of brakes at 6:30.

Mr. Rossiter was on his way home after visiting Mr. and Mrs. Clyde Carpenter. He made his home with two other elderly St. Ansgar men at the west edge of the town.

He was the son of pioneer parents who came to the St. Ansgar vicinity about 1870, and was the youngest of a family of five children, his tow brothers and two sisters all living. They are: Alfred, 92; Elizabeth, 90, and Matilda, 88, all of National City, Calif.; and Charles, Sidney, Iowa. Charles was to arrive here Wednesday to make funeral arrangements.

Mr. Rossiter was a charter member of the Methodist church here. His two sisters for many years operated St. Ansgar's only photographic studio.

Surviving also is a son, Earl, living in Pennsylvania.

The body was taken to the Schroeder Funeral Home.

Mitchell County Sheriff Theodore Horn is assisting Marshal Hansen in investigation of the accident.

Source: Waterloo Daily Courier, Wednesday, October 1, 1949, p.6
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Funeral at St. Ansgar
for Aged Man Killed
When Struck by Auto

ST. ANSGAR - Funeral services were held Saturday afternoon at the Methodist church for James Rossiter, 83, who was killed Tuesday evening by a car which struck him as he was crossing the street in the west part of town, going to his home. The Rev. E. E. Pencook officiated and burial was in the East Cemetery.

Mr. Rossiter was born March 29, 1864, at Orfordville, Wis. In 1895 he was married to Emma Walk of St. Ansgar, and they made their home on a farm west of St. Ansgar for many years, and with the exception of 6 years spent in Wyoming, Jones County, Iowa, he lived in St. Ansgar and vicinity all his life.

Surviving are one son, Earl William, living in Pennsylvania; two grandsons, Claude and Marlin Rossiter, Jamaica, Ill.; two brothers, Charles Edward, Sidney, and Alfred R., National City, and two sisters, Elizabeth and Mathilda, National City, Cal.

Source: Mason City Globe-Gazette, October 6, 1947

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NOTE: St. Ansgar's "main street" is really 4th Street, not to be confused with "Main Street" which runs north-south near the west side of town.