Henry R. Rouse (1823-1861)

A former teacher and Warren County legislator who became a successful oil lease owner. One of 19 persons killed when the Little & Merrick oil well at Rouseville exploded and burned on April 17, 1861. As he lay dying, Rouse dictated a will that provided liberally for roads and the poor. Buchanan Farms had been renamed Rouseville that February; three-year-old Ida Tarbell (later famous as an oil industry critic) was a resident.