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Salem Pioneer Cemetery ~ John A. Rotan ~ part of the Marion County Pioneer Cemeteries of Oregon
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John A. Rotan
LAST NAME: Rotan FIRST NAME: John MIDDLE NAME: A. NICKNAME: 
MAIDEN NAME:  AKA 1:  AKA 2:  AKA 3: 
TITLE: Mr. GENDER: M MILITARY: Civil War - Union
BORN: Mar 1846 DIED: 5 Jul 1904 BURIED: 8 Jul 1904
ETHNICITY:   OCCUPATION:  Businessman; Furniture Dealer; Undertaker
BIRTH PLACE:  New York
DEATH PLACE: Salem, Marion Co., Oregon
NOTES: 
OSBH DC (Marion Co., 1904) #1652 - John A. Rotan age 57, married, d. 4 Jul 1904 of drowning, interment IOOF 8 Jul 1904.
IOOF - J. A. Rotan, age 57, d. Salem, Oregon of drowning, jumped off bridge.
1880 IA CENSUS - J. A. Rotan, age 33, occupation farmer, b. New York, is enumerated with wife Elizabeth, age 33, b. Ohio, along with  Wilfred [Wilford], age 7, b. Iowa, Inez, age 5, b. Iowa, and Cora, age 3, b. Iowa.  Also enuemerated with the family are E. M., Sorber, age 21, identified as brother-in-law [of J.A.], occupation farmer, b. Iowa, and Philip Sorber, age 78, widowed, identified as father-in-law [of J.A], occupation carpneter, b. Pennsylvania.
1900 OR CENSUS - John A. Rotan, age 52, b. Mar. 1846 in New York, occupation furniture dealer, is enumerated with wife Elizabeth, age 51, b. Dec 1848 in Ohio (they've been married 30 years and she is the mother of 4 children, 3 of whom are still living), along with 3 daughters.
BIOGRAPHICAL: 
Advertisement in Statesman, 26 Apr 1884: 
SAVE MONEY, J. A. Rotan, Undertaker, wishes to say to the people of Marion county and vicinity in need of Undertaker's goods, that they will find it to their advantage to call and examine his prices before purchasing elsewhere. He also pays cash for second-hand furniture, or he will sell the same for to per cent commission. This is not talk, but business. Call at next door east of R. M. Wade's, Court street, Salem.
DEATH CERTIFICATE: 
OBITUARY: 
THE SUICIDE WELL KNOWN. 
Well Known Business Man Recognized as Yesterday's Suicide. 
Left Letters for Family. 
Despondency and General Debility of Health Caused Him to Take the Rash Leap. 
Had Told a Number of People That He Would Take His Own Life in Case His Eyesight Failed Entirely.
Leaves Family -- Insurance. 
The mystery surrounding the suicide which occurred on Monday afternoon, when a man leaped to his death from the Willamette steel bridge, was cleared up yesterday when evidence was found to establish the fact beyond a doubt that the man who took the fatal plunge was none other than J. A. Rotan the well known furniture dealer of this city. 
The news came as a surprise to the people of Salem, who during the past many years have had social and business connections with Mr. Rotan, and a general feeling of sorrow was expressed over the fact that a former business associate and acquaintance had been driven by misfortune to resort to desperate means to hasten the end. 
The identity of the suicide remained a mystery until yesterday afternoon, when Mrs. Rotan, alarmed at the continued absence of her husband, went to his place of business at No. 149 Court street, where she found his coat and watch, and a note that explained all, except the motive for the rash act. 
The grief stricken woman hastened to the undertaking parlors of Coroner A. M. Clough and at once identified the hat, picked up in the river by those who witnessed the drowning, as the one worn by her husband when he left home on Monday morning. 
In the brief note left by Mr. Rotan, he bid his wife and children farewell, and asked forgiveness for his desperate deed. It developed later that Mr. Rotan was seen on the big bridge but a few moments before the suicide occurred. And that upon several occasions in the past, while conversing with friends, he had touched upon his financial and physical conditions, and intimated that suicide would be a desirable means of ending his troubles and suffering. 
On Saturday afternoon of last week, he exacted a promise from W. F. Boothby to the effect that Mr. Boothby pawn whatever assessment Rotan might owe to the A. O. U. W. lodge in case his death should occur before Monday of this week. In explanation Mr. Rotan said that he was suffering from heart trouble and that death might come at any time. However, at 11 o'clock on Monday morning Mr. Rotan called upon W. T. Rigdon, who is receiver for the local lodge, and paid his assessments up to date. Mr. Rotan was suffering from a defect in his eyes and was gradually growing blind, and he had stated at different time that if he ever lost his eye-sight he would not remain long upon this earth. He had also met with reverses in his business, and the mental worry and physical suffering is supposed to have affected his mind. 
J. J. Longcore of this city, crossed the steel bridge on his wheel Monday afternoon, and met Mr. Rotan about half way across the river. Mr. Rotan was standing on the foot bridge and remarked that he was always afraid of the wheels on account of his defective eyesight. Mr. Longcor conversed with him for a few moments and then rode on. The meeting took place about 3:45 o'clock and but a few minutes before Rotan ended his life. 
J. A. Rotan came to Salem about twenty-five years ago from Ft. Dodge, Iowa, and with the exception of a few years, spent at Santa Ana, California, Albany and Portland, has been continuously engaged in the furniture business in this city. He was 57 years of age and leaves a wife and three daughters, Mrs. Harry T. Clark and Miss Cora Rotan, of Portland, and Miss Oskie Rotan, of Salem to mourn his sad and tragic death. Mr. Rotan carried $2000 insurance in the A. O. U. W. lodge, and was also a member of Salem Lodge No. 4, A. F. and A. M. 
An effort will be made today to recover the body of the dead man, as it is supposed to be located in a hole of the river bed near the east bank of the stream. 
Chapman, pg. 169. 

LIFE and DEATH -- As the procession bearing the remains of the late J. A. Rotan passed along Commercial street yesterday afternoon on its way to the cemetery, the streets were thronged with men and women busy in the pursuits of their daily vocations. 
Here and there a man stopped for a moment, apparently noticed what was going on, and resumed his attention to business. One prominent business man, walking up the street hurriedly with a sheet of paper in his hand, met another, both of whom had known Mr. Rotan for twenty years, and giving but a glance toward the street, began a discussion of the contents of the paper. 
The procession passed on, gaily dressed women and playful children are standing in groups exchanging cheerful greetings or examining attractive show window displays, automobiles are racing hither and thither, beautiful teams with fine livery attached to rubber tired turnouts are skipping gaily along with happy families, and the sound of the hammer and saw are heard in every direction, and yet, how dark seemed the world to the sorrowing family as the procession wended its way over the hill to the silent city of the dead. 
Though a prominent business man of Salem for twenty years, Mr. Rotan will not be missed save in his own home circle. No man is missed but for a moment and the world moves as though he had not lived. "So the multitude goes, like the flower or the weed That withers away to let others succeed. 
Oregon Statesman 6 July 1904 1:4, 7 July 1904 1:4, 8 July 1904 6:2
INSCRIPTION: 
Rotan 
John A. 
1846 - 1904 
(shares marker with Elizabeth and Wilford)

ALSO:
John A. Rotan
Co. H
44 Wis. Inf.
SOURCES: 
LR 
LD 
OSBH DC (Marion Co., 1904) #1652 
Rigdon Bk 3 #14 
DAR pg 74
Saucy
1880 IA CENSUS (Webster Co., Douglas, ED 215, pg 429A)
1900 OR CENSUS (Marion Co., Salem Pct., ED 129, sheet 1B) 
OS 6 July 1904 1:4, 7 July 1904 1:4, 8 July 1904 6:2 
Chapman, pg 118
Chapman, pg 169
CONTACTS: 
LOT: 887 SPACE: 2 NW LONGITUDE:  LATITUDE: 
IMAGES:
           
 
 

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