Was John Surratt engaged to Miss Roose?

[Jim Woodall]

In searching for something else, I came across an obit for a William Roose in the Evening Star 23 March 1897 page 1 column 6 near the top. Also, an obit is in the Morning Times 24 March 1897 page 2 rightmost column midway down.

Evening Star:
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/s...d-1/seq-1/

The Times (Morning Times)
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/s...d-1/seq-2/

In the obit it mentions that when he was a boy, his sister went to live with the Surratts after their parents died and she was later engaged to John Surratt Jr. After the assassination, she went into a convent and was still there in 1897 in seclusion. Her given name was not provided.

I searched these boards but did not find anything about it. I did a quick search on the web but did not turn up anything with those searches except the for-mentioned obits.

Checking the census records, William S. Roose was born in Baltimore city in 1833. Genealogy trees indicate the mother died 1841 shortly after child birth. Supposedly William was left an orphan at about the age of 12, putting it about 1845. The trees indicate two sisters of which one died as an infant. The surviving sister is shown as Sarah Elizabeth Roose born 1841 and dead in 1900.

Sarah Elizabeth and William Smith Roose were the only children to survive past 1852. William S Roose had a daughter, Mary C. An obituary attached to her in one of the trees indicates she was a belle of Washington and educated at St. Xavier's Academy near Latrobe in Pennsylvania where her aunt, Sister Mary Benedicta, was teaching.

There is a St. Xavier's Academy at Latrobe which was associated with the Sisters of Mercy. It still appears to be operating today.

That is about what I have found currently besides some supporting information for the above.