Joseph T. Rountree apparently followed his kinsman (uncle?) Charles T. Rountree from Wilson to Xenia, Ohio.

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In the 1870 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: Rebecca Rountree, 50, and children and grandchildren Henry, 20, butcher, John, 23, barber, Dempsy, 26, farm laborer, Charles, 15, Benjamin, 24, butcher, Mary, 30, domestic servant, Joseph, 9, Willie, 8, Lucy, 20, domestic servant, Worden, 2, and Charles, 1.

Charles T. Rountree, 25, married Alice Thorn, 19, on 26 May 1880 at C.T. Rountree’s in Wilson. Rev. F.K. Bird performed the ceremony in the presence of Squire Sharp, Alfred Boyett and Preston Thorn.

In the 1880 Census of Xenia, Greene County, Ohio: on Charles Street, Charles Roundtree, 24, hotel cook, and wife Alice, 19.

In the 1900 census of Xenia, Greene County, Ohio: at 16 Columbus Street, Charles T. Roundtree, 44; wife Alice, 38; and children Mary H., 19, Alice R., 18, Charles T., 16, John W., 15, Maggie H., 13, Benjiman J., 11, James D., 10, David G., 8, Shadrack R., 7, and Edith O., 2.

Xenia Daily Gazette, 2 November 1903.

Charles and Alice Rountree’s youngest daughter died of “congestion of the brain,” a catch-all term for what would now likely be a diagnosis of ischemic stroke. I haven’t identified the other child that died.  Xenia Daily Gazette, 20 May 1907.

In the 1910 census of Xenia, Greene County, Ohio: at 325 East Main Street, hardware store driver Charles T. Rountree Sr., 51; wife Alice, 47; and children Charles T., Jr., 26; Ada A., 23; Benjamin, 21; Quint S., 16; Helen L., 9, Paul D., 7, and Ward T., 4. All the children were born in Ohio.

Charles Rountree’s father was likely Jesse H. Artis. Xenia Daily Gazette, 17 January 1911.

Four years after Edith’s death, the Rountrees lost son Quinton, 18, to tuberculosis. Xenia Daily Gazette, 7 August 1911.

Rountree’s move to Racer & Glossinger was ill-timed. Per The Hub, a wagon, carriage and automobile manufacturers’ trade journal, the company filed for bankruptcy by November 1913. Xenia Daily Gazette, 19 June 1912. 

In social news…. Xenia Daily Gazette, 22 November 1916.

Ada A. Rountree married William A. Joiner on 10 October 1917. Joiner was a graduate of Wilberforce and Howard University’s Law Department. He returned to Wilberforce in 1910 as Superintendent of the school’s new Normal and Industrial Department. In 1915, he published A Half-Century of Freedom of the Negro in Ohio, a socio-economic history of African-Americans in Ohio since the Civil War. Xenia Evening Gazette, 20 October 1917. 

William A. Joiner (1869-??)

In the 1920 census of Xenia, Greene County, Ohio: at 14 North Columbus, Charles T. Rountree, 63, laborer; wife Alice, 56; and children Charles T., Jr., 35, department store decorator, William H., 33, David G., 27, Paul D., 16, Ward V., 14, and Helen K., 18.

 

Ada Ann Rountree Joiner (1886-1972).

It appears that Charles Rountree’s son William sued his father and sister over a ten-acre plot in Xenia. A later article reported an amicable resolution. Xenia Evening Gazette, 6 August 1922.

William Rountree (1885-1934).

Xenia Evening Gazette, 1 December 1924.

Ward Vincent Rountree (1905-1981).

Charles T. Rountree died 16 June 1926 in Xenia, Ohio.

Charles Thomas Rountree Sr. (1856-1926).

Photos courtesy of Ancestry.com user ktreenga.