A Dearly Beloved Wife – Edith Rosman

Memorial for Edith M V Rosman

I’m sure that I’m not the only one that sees beauty in memorials in cemeteries.  I have spent a great deal of my life wandering around cemeteries, especially our Kalgoorlie Cemetery.  The view from the road is often as much as is seen but if you venture through the gates you will discover so many human stories about how people lived and died without knowing who they were.  We can find out who loved them and who they loved. The names of their children and perhaps their parents names.  Some graves have simple memorials with just the name and the date, many, so very many, just have a cast iron number marker where others have magnificent memorial  such as this one to ‘Edith Mary Victoria Rosman‘. From her grave we can see that she was the beloved wife of E H Rosman, that her father’s name was W J Spicer and that she was born in Melbourne Victoria. She died at the Great Boulder Mine on the 9th January 1901 and she was only 22 years old.  So much about someone we have never know.  So very young, I wonder what she looked like?

As you will see she has the symbol of an anchor with rope wrapped around it.  I have been told that this symbolises, steadfastness, a symbol of safety of something  to cling to, an anchoring influence.  It is often used on the graves of mariners but not in this case.  It is not a usual symbol for such a young woman I would think but I may be wrong.

I wanted to know more about this poor young woman. The lady who I was doing some research for provided me with the following photograph which depicts among the men present her Gt Grandfather. He is seated 8th from the left in the back row.  The photograph was taken for ‘The Chamber of Mines of Western Australia Inc, 10th Annual Meeting Kalgoorlie 28th march 1911’.  All she knew is that he had been married to Edith. She told me his name was Emanuel Rosman.

Chamber of Mines 10th Annual Meeting, Kalgoorlie 1911

I first found Edith’s death in the online deaths records and then found her  in the Kalgoorlie Cemetery and took the above photograph.  From this I learnt her full name and her maiden name and where she was born and that her father was W J Spicer. The online death records showed her parents as William and Jane nee Jackman Spicer.   It was then to my trusty friend  TROVE and it turned up the following article:- Kalgoorlie Miner – Mining Notes, 10th January 1901 The wife of Mr Rosman of the Great Boulder Mine succumbed yesterday afternoon from an attack of peritonitis. She was a member of the Baptist Church in Boulder.  If you look at the photograph above you will see that her husband looks quite a bit older than her.  I then searched the free online  marriage records and found that  Emanuel Horace Rosman married a Jane Pascoe in Boulder in 1904, they were to have a daughter the same year born on the Ivanhoe Lease (same web site) .  At some point the family moved to Perth and ‘courtesy again of TROVE’ Emanuel set up an accountancy business.  I then checked the Metropolitan Cemetery Records and found the death of Emanuel who was 89 in 1966 and is buried in the same grave in the Karrakatta Cemetery, Perth with his wife Jane who died on the 7th Nov 1931 aged 55. So he was a widower for 35yrs.

So from a walk in the cemetery (grave located with the help of the cemetery office), then a check of the free online Birth Deaths and Marriage Records. The the free ‘Trove’ index of Australian Newspapers. An amazing amount of information is able to be found about this family. Then one final search that I am sure everyone would do (or maybe not!!)  a Google search of her full maiden name (with quotes) “Edith Mary Victoria Spicer”  the search turned up only a few results. I did find the family tree of Edith’s sister ‘Elsie May Spicer’ which shows her siblings names as follows:-

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Moya Sharp

Owner at Outback Family History

My name is Moya Sharp, I live in Kalgoorlie Western Australia and have worked most of my adult life in the history/museum industry. I have been passionate about history for as long as I can remember and in particular the history of my adopted home the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia. Through my website I am committed to providing as many records and photographs free to any one who is interested in the family and local history of the region.

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