Servants & Tenants

Harry and Sussie Roseberry were tenants at the Dinsmore Homestead for many years and raised their family there.  We at Dinsmore are very thankful for Harry’s presence because he was instrumental in keeping the buildings and the artifacts in the main house in good order.  Had Harry not lived on the property, Dinsmore might not even exist today as a museum.

Harry outside the Cook Cabin

Harry Roseberry was born in 1881 to George and Mary Jane Sebree Roseberry.  In 1894 Harry first came to work on the Dinsmore farm, though George had been working for Julia on a seasonal basis previous to that.  On November 23, 1904, Harry married Sussie Riley a Boone County native.  There were four daughters born to the family – Cleopatra, Essie, Annie Myrtle, and Mary Ruby.

Harry died in 1970 and was buried next to his wife and Essie in the Belleview Baptist cemetery, less than a mile from the farm where he spent so much of his life.

Read here for an extended biography.

Born in Virginia, Julia was living in St. Paul when she agreed to accompany Patty Selmes to the Dakota Territory to keep house. Julia helped to raise Isabella and then followed her to New York City and raised her children, Martha and Bobby Ferguson. Over six feet tall and fluent in French, she retired to California. When Martha Ferguson died, she requested to be cremated and to have her ashes placed in Julia Farley Loving’s grave.

Read here for an extended biography.

Sally Taylor – born ca. 1810, perhaps in Mississippi. She was on the plantation in Louisiana & brought to Kentucky with all of her children except Adam and Henry, two of the oldest. James Dinsmore never mentioned her husband but it is odd that he purchased Jamison soon before moving here, so I suspect he may have been the one. Her children that we know of are: Adam (1830), Daniel (1831), Henry (1833), Nannette (1835), David (1838), Angeline (1840), Judy (1841), and Jane (1842). Mandy/Amanda may be her child & was born in 1850 or so. Julia always mentioned an Aunt Susan in the 1880s & 1890s – she may have been another daughter.