On one of my rounds as a paper carrier for the Johnsonburg Press I recall reading in that week’s edition an interesting tidbit likely under the title “60 years ago” which would have placed the time period around the beginning of the 20th century. The news item explained that the Johnsonburg Catholic Church, Holy Rosary, once stood at the corner of Spruce and Market Streets, not in its current location of Bridge and Penn Streets, and that the church rectory stood next door. The article went on to disclose that when the old church was torn down the rectory was sold to the Geary family and operated as a boarding house until the Sophie L. Rood American Legion Club #501 acquired the property in the mid 1940’s.

The opportunity to read the Press occurred usually between my stop at the Piano Box apartment house on Market Street and the Zilkofski home on East Center Street across from the Keystone Service Station; for there was about a quarter mile of dawdling between the two customers, giving me the chance to peruse the Press as I ambled toward the East End of town. The fact that the Catholic Church had been anywhere other than the corner of Bridge and Penn Streets astonished me, but I knew about the Geary establishment and the American Legion Club since my grandfather often spoke about the Geary’s and he was a member of the Sophie Rood #501 Post. With little thought I concluded that Sophie Rood, obviously a feminine sobriquet, must have been some sort of nurse who in the spirit of Florence Nightingale attended to our embattled soldiers in one of our world wars. Why else name a servicemen’s club after a female?

Jumping to conclusions often got me in hot water in elementary school and reflected on my grades, suffice to say that the French and Indian War was not fought between the French and the Indians, the spelling of Pharmacy did not begin with the letter “F”, 100 pounds of steel and 100 pounds of feathers do weigh the same, read (reed) and read (red) can have two different meanings, the teacher can sometimes be wrong (not), and so on and so on. I should have asked my grandfather about Sophie Rood, gramps was a World War I veteran, but I didn’t and many suns and moons later, after wiping the egg off my face, I found out that Sophie Rood was not a military nurse, a WAVE, or a WAC, but a Johnsonburg male casualty of World War I. So who was Sophie Rood and why did American Legion Post #501 of Johnsonburg, Pennsylvania honor him by giving the Post his name?

John and Catherine Rood settled in Cochecton and Fremont, New York, and Herrick and Starrucca, Wayne County, Pennsylvania between 1856-1900. John worked as a teamster and Catherine labored as a homemaker. They raised six children; Mary (1856), Ellen (1860), Edward (1865), John (1868), Sophia (1870), and Frank (1879). John and Catherine resided in Starrucca well into their seventies.

Edward, the eldest son, married in 1890 to Jane E. (maiden name unknown but could be McKinley, McKenny, or Kinley) and they may have lived in Johnsonburg in the mid 1890’s but by 1900 they were back in Starrucca. In the 1900 Federal Census Edward is 34, but his birth year is listed as 1856 and Jane E. is 24, her birth year listed as 1876. It could be that Ed’s birth year is transposed which would make his age correct. From the other available census, 1870, 1880, 1910 and 1920 Edward is born in 1865.

Edward works as a laborer and Jane a homemaker and the 1900 Federal Census reveals five children; Pearl (1890), Edward Jr. (1891), Frank (1892), Richard (1898), and a baby boy one month old (May 1900, no name). It is important to note that Richard’s marriage record shows him born in 1896 to Edward Rood and one Louise Kinley in Johnsonburg. The plot thickens. Who was Louise Kinley? Who was Jane E.? On the census it is noted that Jane E. has birthed five children and they are all alive. Is Sophie Rood the baby born in May?

In 1910 Edward Rood Sr. is living on First Avenue in Johnsonburg and working for the local paper mill. He has a live-in servant, Florence Bayley (married with one child, although neither the child nor her husband is listed as residing at the Rood residence), son Frank is 16 and also works at the mill, the other children, Richard (14) and Sophie (11) are in school and Wilferd (2) is home, likely under the care of Florence. They are all sons; no wife is listed although Edward Sr. is noted as being married. Compared to the 1900 Census Frank’s and Richard’s ages are 2 years out of whack, Sophie should have appeared on the 1900 census, but doesn’t, unless he is the baby boy and then his age would be one year off. Who is the mother of Wilferd?

Pearl, the oldest child of Edward Sr. and Jane E., has married Albert Gelatt and they reside with Joseph and Vesta Paugh in Deposit, New York. Edward Jr., a cripple, lives with them, but is listed as a nephew. That would only make sense if Vesta was his aunt and his mother’s sister. Vesta’s maiden name is listed in various documents as Kenny, McKenny, or McKinley. She does not have a sister named Jane, but does have a younger sister, Louise. Is this Louise, Richard’s mother? Is she the mother of any other Edward Rood children? So many unanswered questions.

Edward Sr. gave one son his namesake, and Frank and Sophie he named after a brother and sister. We do not know if Sophie resented his feminine name but we do know that he spent some early years of his life in Erie, Pennsylvania (with his mother?), was working at the paper mill at age 16 in the machine room, and quietly left Johnsonburg to enlist in the regular army of the United States on September 22, 1916 at Columbus, Ohio. He fibbed about his age and name to get in, enlisting as Sofey L. Rood, born May 25, 1898. Apparently, he was musically inclined as he became an army bugler, serving for a time along the Texas border, and then in the summer of 1917 at Syracuse, New York where the 9 th Infantry camped on the State Fair grounds. There he met and became a close friend of Dexter Wright, a Syracuse native, who was also assigned to Company L Headquarters with Sofey. Sophie, now going by his proper name, told Syracuse folks he came from Illinois and that both his parents were deceased. Sophie became very popular in Syracuse.

In 1915 with war raging in Europe and America attempting to stay neutral a German U-Boat sank the British ocean liner Lusitania with hundreds of Americans on board. This event and continued German sinking of United States merchant vessels caused President Woodrow Wilson to ask Congress to declare war on Germany in March 1917. On July 3, 1917 Wilson called for troops and America mobilized for the war effort.

On September 17, 1917 Sofey L. Rood and his bunkmate, Dexter Wright, sailed for France aboard the Carmania with Company L, 9 th Infantry, arriving in Europe on September 22 nd . The Company was organized under the 3 rd Infantry of the Second Division. Their insignia was an Indian head on a star. During the war they would be known as the “Fighting Ninth” or “Indianheads.” While most of the soldiers on the Carmania transport manifest listed a wife, mother, or father as the person to contact in the case of injury or death, Sofey L. Rood listed Elizabeth Katz of Johnsonburg as a “friend.”

Elizabeth Ruth Schwartz Katz was born in Clarion County in 1858. She married Winfield Scot Katz in Jefferson County about 1878 and after their three children reached adulthood she and Winfield divorced. By 1910 Elizabeth was living in Johnsonburg as a neighbor to the Edward Rood family taking in washing to earn her livelihood. She must have developed an emotional attachment to Sophie Rood for him to identify her as the person to contact in case of his demise.

Upon arriving in France the Second Division continued training at Bourmont, France. On March 16, 1918 the Division moved to a relatively quiet part of the front line between Verdun and Saint- Mihiel; the Toulon, Troyon sectors. The troops mingled with the French troops and were involved in several minor operations. On the night of April 13-14 the 9 th Infantry repulsed a strong and unusually large German attack. Communications in World War I were crude compared to later military conflicts and buglers were important in sounding out various commands to control troop movements, especially at night; the bugler had to stand tall and prominent in order to be heard above the din of machine gun fire and shelling. Opponents attempted to curtail or hinder troop movements by strategically targeting the enemy’s buglers. Sofey L. Rood, performing his duty on that night was hit by enemy fire, removed from the field, he received medical attention, but succumbed to his wounds. He was a little more than a month shy of his 18 th birthday, although the Army assumed he was two years older. He was the first Johnsonburg soldier to die in World War I.

Back in Johnsonburg, on Friday, April 11 1917, about a year before Sophie’s untimely death, 50 elementary and high school boys walk out of school because the American Flag was not displayed on top of Johnsonburg School Buildings. The boys paraded around town holding indignation meetings and handing out handbills on which was penciled a brief statement of their grievances. In the afternoon, a number of girls, who seemed sympathetic with their co-eds, also retired from school. A flag of ordinary dimensions had been displayed in front of the First Avenue and High School building for several days but the boys wanted Old Glory displayed from the flag staffs at the top of the buildings. The walkouts caused much consternation among school officials. Over the weekend it is agreed that appropriate flags would be purchased and placed atop the buildings. American spirit was running high.

At the time of Sophie’s death the policy of the United States Government was to bury its soldiers on foreign soil with full military honors and religious ceremony and to pay to bring the remains back to the United States after the conflict. Sofey L. Rood is buried in Cemetery Plot B, Row 7, Grave 7 in the Saint-Mihiel American Cemetery in Thiaucourt, France. After the war no family member requested the return of Sophie’s remains to the United States.

On April 24 th , 1918 Mrs. Elizabeth Katz of Johnsonburg, Pennsylvania received the following Western Union Telegram from Washington, D.C. “Deeply regret to inform you that it is officially reported that Bugler Sofey L. Rood, infantry, died 4/14 of wounds received in action. McLain, Adjutant General.”

The Johnsonburg Press wrote: “The above message to a soldier’s foster mother Lila. This story of a Johnsonburg boy to give his life in France for the honor of the U.S.A. and to help make the world a safe place to live in. Strangely enough, there were few people in Johnsonburg who knew the town was represented by him in the service so quietly and ostensibly had he slipped away from here to enlist for Freedom under the Stars and Stripes. Sofey L. Rood was the son of Edward Rood of this place, was born in Strucka, Wayne County, this State May 16, 1900….The last letter his father received from his son was on June 14 of last year. He was stationed in Syracuse. No word had been received that he was in France….With moistened eye, with faltering click, we silently pay our honor and respect to the Paper City boy who gave his life in a foreign country.”

After the Armistice was declared on November 11, 1918 the many Johnsonburg boys who had enlisted or were drafted into the armed forces came straggling home. Johnsonburg rejoiced in the Armistice within the week by having the biggest parade celebration the Paper City had ever seen. No World War I soldiers had yet to return, but Veterans of the Civil War and Spanish American War marched in the parade. Overall, there were 2,715 participants in the line of march. There never was a formal parade for the doughboys of Johnsonburg when they all returned. Johnsonburg celebrated the Armistice without its military participants.

However, in the Spring of 1919 20 Johnsonburg World War I veterans came together at the I.O.O.F. meeting hall to organize a group that would perpetuate the spirit of good fellowship, promote social activity, and organize themselves that their interest could flourish. The new nationwide American Legion Club effort was referenced.

Another meeting was held on May 23, 1919 and it was determined that the organization would meet every Sunday. On January 18, 1920 the organization formally organized at City Hall under the American Legion. On Friday, January 23, 1920 126 members of the Johnsonburg American Legion Post met and formally named their club after Sophie L. Rood, the first Johnsonburg serviceman to die in World War I. A benefit show at the end of the month was held to honor and raise funds for the new organization.

For the next several years the American Legion Club meets at various other club and municipal buildings around Johnsonburg. Then, in 1923 the Paper Mill decided to tear down its wood- washing building and offered the lumber to the American Legion. The veterans took up the gift and by January 1926 the American Legion Sophie L. Rood Post clubhouse stood in the East End of Johnsonburg on Paper Mill property aside Powers Run. (Near the old water dam).

In the 1920 Federal Census Elizabeth Katz lived on Short Street in Johnsonburg as the head of the family with Edward Rood Sr. and Edward Rood Jr. as boarders. Edward Sr. still worked at the paper mill. Sometime before 1930 Ed and Elizabeth married and moved to the Ridgway Road area. Elizabeth died on January 11, 1934 and is buried in Sigel, Pennsylvania next to her first husband and their daughter.

Edward Rood Sr applied for his son Sophie’s World War I compensation in March 1934. He received $200. On the application he did not know Sophie’s birthdate. Edward Sr. died in the Warren State Hospital of senility and heart disease on November 18, 1935. He had been at the hospital for four months. Edward Rood Sr. is buried in the Wardvale United Methodist Cemetery in Johnsonburg.

Sophie’s actual birthdate, who his mother was, how he spent his early years, where he learned to bugle, and if his family relations were strained, are mysteries we may never know. But we do know that Sophie went off to war, did his duty, and died so that others could live free. He and other Johnsonburg veterans of all wars make Johnsonburg proud and it is fitting that the Johnsonburg American Legion Post honors his name.

POSTSCRIPT

In researching the Sophie L. Rood mystery I was certainly surprised to find a fine article about Sophie in the Syracuse, New York newspaper. The article regrets that Sophie had been reported killed in action and that he was a fine young man who made quite a favorable impression during his encampment in that city.

Dexter Harvey Wright, Sophie’s friend from Syracuse and bunkmate, took over for Sophie as Company L. bugler after Sophie’s death. Dexter was wounded, gassed, and captured for a time during the war but survived to become a schoolteacher in the Syracuse area. On his return from the war he spoke to the Oswego Daily News and mentioned his pal Sophie Rood. Dexter died in 1971.

Florence Bayley, Rood’s servant in 1910, was married to William Bayley and they had one daughter, Bertha. William worked for the Bell Telephone Company. They moved to Warren, Pennsylvania after living in Johnsonburg for a time. It is possible that the youngest brother of Sophie, Wilfred, was the son of Edward Sr. and Florence Bayley, although there is no known direct evidence of that.

Horace Alvin Decker of Johnsonburg enlisted in the United States Army even earlier than Sophie Rood; on June 2, 1916 in Erie, Pennsylvania. He was 18 years old. Alvin, as he was more commonly known, rose to the rank of Sergeant. Sergeant Decker may have been the last Johnsonburg boy to give his life for his country in WWI; he died in France on October 4, 1918 from wounds received the day before at Le Chev Tondu. His parents, Arthur and Julia Decker, erected a monument to honor Alvin on Route 219 in the East End of Johnsonburg. His remains were returned home and Alvin was buried on October 18, 1921 in the Wardvale United Methodist Cemetery in Johnsonburg. Alvin always had a little wanderlust in his veins, at age 12, not wanting to return to school, he made his way to Philadelphia to see the sights and make his way in the world. Late one night a Pennsylvania Railroad policeman found young Alvin asleep on a bench in a railroad station; Alvin had worked all day at his restaurant job and had no place to sleep. Authorities held him until his parents arrived to return him home. Several months later his parents held a large 13th birthday party for him and gave him a gold ring for his present.

Pearl Rood Gelatt died in 1923 in Deposit, New York, Delaware County, shortly after giving birth to a daughter Bertha. Pearl was 15 years old when she married.

The last known address of Edward Jr. (Eddie) is the Delaware County Home where he was a inmate in 1925. County homes were popular up until the 1960’s. They housed and fed the aged, poor, and indigent who had no one else able to care for them. There is no record of his death at this time.

Frank Rood, just like his brother Sophie, was working in the paper mill at age 16. The last mention of Frank is of a trip he took with his father in 1914 to Susquehanna, Pennsylvania. His whereabouts after that and death are unknown at this time.

Richard Rood left school after the fourth grade and eventually joined the Poole traveling carnival out of North Chicago, Illinois where he married Minnie Henderson in 1916. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in July 1918 at Camp Custer, Michigan but was mustered out the same month on a Surgeon Certificate of Disability. Richard later married Ada Gilman (1922) and spent the remainder of his lifetime working as a pipefitter in a Kalamazoo, Michigan paper mill. He died in 1969. Kalamazoo, which also is known as the “Paper City”, had 10 paper mills at one time in the early 1900’s!

The only mention of Wilferd Rood is of a two year old in the 1910 Federal Census.

After WW II Johnsonburg citizens collected money for a new clubhouse for the American Legion. About $5,000 was accumulated and used to purchase the Geary residence on Market Street. This became the new and current club of the American Legion. The old clubhouse near Powers Run was sold by bid to Allan Fitch, who tore it down and used the lumber to build his house in Terra Cotta.

AFTERWORD

It is highly doubtful that Sophie Rood ever thought that his hometown would honor him in any way. Apparently, he found a family in the U.S. Army, and his story, although a sad one, has now been told. Maybe it would have caused him to smile if he knew that his death has touched so many through the Sophie L. Rood American Legion Post # 510 in Johnsonburg, Pennsylvania.

Kevin “Reg” Barwin

2024

Kevin Barwin, a Johnsonburg native, who spent his youth peddling newspapers in Johnsonburg and reading the newsprint, while walking his routes, acquired a taste for the past.

THE PAPER BOY FROM THE PAPER CITY, More on his book: here