Heavy Metal Genealogy: Is Axl Rose Amish?
Welcome to the jungle, it’s in Lafayette, Indiana — home to Axl Rose and a family that could best be described as a horror show.
Axl’s biological father, William Bruce Rose Sr, was 18 when Axl was born, kidnapped him when Axl was a baby (then known as Billy — his birth name was William Bruce Rose Jr.), and was eventually murdered in 1984. Because Axl’s teenage mother was able to get Axl back and then quickly remarried, Axl grew up thinking his step-father was his biological father, and only learned the truth by accident much later.
Axl’s mother, Sharon Elizabeth Lintner Rose Bailey, was born March 24, 1945 in Lafayette, Ind., to Earl Lintner and Anna Rosenbock. Sharon predeceased her mother in 1996 from brain cancer (her mother died in 2011 at age 98 — Axl did not attend the funeral). I could not find much on Axl’s grandfather, Earl Lintner — I believe he probably left the family when Sharon and her siblings were young. Sharon Bailey’s second husband, Stephen Bailey — the informant on her death certificate — did not know his own father-in-law’s name, and Earl Lintner was not mentioned in his wife Anna’s obituary.
So where did Axl Rose come from? The story goes that his parents met at a young persons’ church mixer, which is the last place I’d imagine his parents would meet. Then again, it does make sense in an absurdist kind of way. At any rate, sparks flew, hormones raged, and Sharon gave birth to William Bruce Bailey, Jr. on February 6, 1962, when she was just shy of 17.
The couple eventually married, though did not stay together long. I believe it might’ve only been a matter of months (which would be repeated when Axl briefly married Erin Everly in 1990). Axl’s father, William Bruce Bailey Sr., was born in Lafayette, Ind. on September 21, 1943, to Dale Rose Sr. and Mary Mae Rittenhouse. Dale Rose was a railroad machinist, and his parents were William B Rose and Mary Margaret McLaughlin. I was able to trace the Rose name from Indiana, to Ohio, to Virginia, and eventually Dorking, Surrey, England, where Axl’s 4th great-grandfather, James Rose (1793–1837) was born; he eventually immigrated to the United States along with his wife, the wonderfully named Mary Ann Knights (1791–1847).
As mentioned I found very little on Axl’s maternal grandfather, Earl Lintner, but I was able to trace the Linter family from Indiana, to Ohio, to Upper Paxton, Penn., home of Axl’s 5th great-grandfather, Edmond Lintner (1750–1804), and his wife Caterina Maurer (1749–1825). Edmond was the Lancaster County Militia Captain during the American Revolution, and the descendant of the original Penn Dutch settlers (who were actually German-Swiss). So entrenched were they in the Germanic life that Caterina Lintner’s 1825 death certificate is partly in English but lists her death as Alters Schwaeche, or “age weakness.”
So does this mean that Axl Rose is Amish? Although he’s more the type to raise hell than barns, I wouldn’t be surprised if his distant cousins are riding around Pennsylvania right now in a horse and buggy. And Axl might not need your Civil War, but his 3rd great-grandfather, Daniel Lintner, was drafted in June 1863 to serve in the Union Army of Ohio.
So where did it all go wrong in Axl Rose’s family? I don’t know, so I’ll just say it’s Indiana’s fault. Then again, if it weren’t for Indiana, we wouldn’t have Sweet Child O’ Mine.
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More Heavy Metal Genealogy:
Gary Holt Is Also Lord Rathmore
Zakk Wylde’s Family Story Is Wild (& also heartbreaking)
Mike Patton Part II: Mistakes Were Made
Tawny Kitaen: From Uzbekistan to Stardom
James Hetfield and the Salem Witch Trials
Mike Patton Is Related to Columbus
