April ancestor's birthdays

Happy birthday to whoever was born in April.  I have several relatives that aren't ancestors yet with April birthdays, so a big Happy Birthday to those wonderful girls (I don't know of any boys in the family born in April).

I must comment that while researching various birthdays in my ancestors, I found a lovely site which gives at least 2 birthday dates wrong.  I was excited to find the site until I noticed my date of birth was given as Aug 21 rather than the 23.    If you publish information, please double check your dates!

Now let's see who has gone before...

Elmore Gibbs Rogers b. 4.2.1906
Alice Luella Rogers Ross b.4.18.1853, (or maybe 4.28.53, perhaps, based on just one source out of many)

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Alice Luella Rogers Ross was born on 4.18.1853 in Mt. Lebanon, Bienville Parish, LA and she and her husband became guardians of my grandfather George Elmore Rogers at 2, and his sister Annie Lou Gibbs Rogers Wilson (age 2 months), when their father died in 1879. (see HERE for some of Annie Lou's story)

Alice Luella was my grandfather's aunt, sister of William Sandford "W. Sam" Rogers.  Their mother was Lucinda Benson Gibbs Rogers b.3.28.1818, who I talked about HERE

Alice Luella Rogers Ross married 1.18.1876 in Huntsville, TX to John Elmore Ross  (b.2.22.1850, d.1.14.1918.) and he was born in either Cotton Gin, Freestone County, TX, or Alabama according to another source (which is doubtful).

So let's see what we know about this woman.

She was 22 when she married.  Within 3 years her brother, "W. Sam" Rogers, died on 5.29.79. (I don't know when his wife, Bette Bass Rogers, died exactly.) They lived in Huntsville, Texas.

Oh, I forgot to mention that Alice Luella's first child was born 09 NOV 1876, and her second on 19 SEP 1878.  By 09 DEC 1880 she had her third son.

Where did she live her life?  Born in Mt. Lebanon, LA, she was married in Huntsville, TX.  The Rogers were involved with managing the Texas State Penitentiary in some capacity, (which hasn't been bragged about around the family circle very much.)  There was a Rogers connection with Gibbsland, LA and Mt. Lebanon in my great-grandfather's aunts and uncles in the Gibbs family.

But after Alice married, the Ross family moved, as well as her sister, Laura Terissa Rogers, (b. 2.28.1852, Mt. Lebanon, LA,) to Mexia, Texas.  You may have no idea where these places are. I'll try to have map connections below.

The Ross family lived in Mexia, TX because all her seven children were born there.Also living with them was a maiden sister, Laura Terissa Rogers as well.  Several of these were lifelong friends of my grandfather.

Alice Luella Rogers Ross did live a pretty long life, dying on 15 JUN 1925, age 72, in Harrisburg, Texas, now part of Houston.

Mt. Lebanon, LA is just south of Gibbsland (which I mentioned before HERE talking about Lucinda Benson Gibbs Rogers' brother.)  Highway I-20 goes west toward Shreveport, LA (then on to Dallas which is about 30 miles north of Mexia, TX.)  (Please forgive me, every time I try to put a link to a map, it goes somewhere else instead.)

I'll try again, if you get to it... the following map has Houston at the very bottom, and Huntsville is about 40 miles north on present day I-45, which then continues about 60 miles north to an exit to Mexia, TX, where the little pin is (as just mentioned above, about 30 miles south of Dallas)  http://mapq.st/ZQVRhd   My mileage guesses are just eyeballing along the map, not whatever Mapquest says.


Alice Luella Rogers Ross seems to have had a very fulfilling life.  My grandfather named his first born after a Ross family idol...Elmore.  (More on the origin of that name later)
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Elmore Gibbs Rogers b. 4.2.1906, d. 23 OCT 1916 (one source says he drowned), Galveston, TX.  He would have been my father's older brother for about a year, since my father was born 11.9.1915.



Here is a portrait of my grandparents holding Elmore, their first son in 1906.  I hesitated to include him in this birthday wish, then realized how many members of our ancestors' families didn't make it to adulthood.  The other interesting thing is again that name, Elmore. (When another of the Elmore's birthdays comes I'll go back into the history of who everyone was probably named after.)

Both John Elmore Ross and my grandfather had the same middle name, and remember John Ross was guardian of my grandfather.  And then my father had the name as well, being George Elmore Rogers, Jr.  Since my father was born before young Elmore died at age 10, it seems strange that he carried that middle name, but perhaps being called "Junie," by the family forever, it didn't really matter.

I celebrate all my ancestors born in the month of April!

An addendum to my post on Lucinda Benson Gibbs Rogers (this source has lots of us Rogers' listed, (but with at least 2 incorrect birthdays as mentioned above.)  Lucinda Benson Gibbs)