Elijah Rogers family

These are notes from Tenn Find a Grave, KY Find a grave, etc.
I've found mention of places people were doing thing...like Elijah's son marrying in Sevier TN in 1791...earliest date I've known the Rogers were there.

Elijah Rogers' brother George Rogers...

Birth:	Feb. 6, 1764 Somerville Fauquier County Virginia, USA
Death:	Nov. 16, 1858 Wayne County Kentucky, USA
Son of Henry Rogers and Elizabeth Lankford. Married Elizabeth Randall 27 Oct 1791 Sevier, Tennessee. Was a private in Capt. Francis Triplett's and John Combs' Virginia companies. Fought in the battles of Rugley's Mills and Cowpens. In 1781,he enlisted in Capt. Thomas Helms company, in Col. Darke's Virginia regiment. He was at the seige of Yorktown. Father of: Mary "Polly" Jane Rogers Dodson 1792-1826 Josiah Rogers 1795-1867 James W Rogers 1797-1868 Nancy Rogers Gooding 1799-1859 Elizabeth Rogers Tuttle 1801-1884 Margaret Rogers Gooding 1804-1891 William Rogers 1807-1884 Jemima Rogers Dodson 1809-1876 Rhoda Rogers Dick 1812-1851 Jennette Rogers Chrisman 1814-1895 Sarah "Sally" Rogers Dick 1815-1857 George Rogers 1820-1887 Family links:  Parents:   Henry Rogers (1740 - 1794)   Elizabeth Lankford Rogers (1743 - 1775)  Spouse:   Elizabeth Randell Rogers (1779 - 1881)  Children:   James W. Rogers (1797 - 1868)*   Nancy Rogers Goodding (1799 - 1859)*   Jemima Rodgers Dodson (1809 - 1874)*   Jenettie Rogers Chrisman (1814 - 1895)*  Siblings:   George Rogers (1764 - 1858)   Josiah Rogers (1766 - 1834)**   Elijah Rogers (1774 - 1841)* *Calculated relationship **Half-sibling Note: DOD from Kentucky death records, COD: Affliction of Kidneys, age 96y 9m 12 d
Burial: Rogers Pueblo Wayne County Kentucky, USA

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their father Henry Rogers

birth:	1740 Fauquier County Virginia, USA
Death:	1794 Sevierville Sevier County Tennessee, USA
Virginia Ancestors and Adventures Vol 1-3 page 24 Fauquier County VA Land 1833-1850 Steven Rogers of Switzerland County Indiania appeared...son of John Rogers and a brother of Henry Rogers both late of Fauquier County. Named in a lease 1763 giving to John Rogers and his sons, Henry and Steven.  Don't believe this info...until I figure out how Indiana had anything to do with this early date. Family links:  Spouse:   Elizabeth Lankford Rogers (1743 - 1775)  Children:   George Rogers (1764 - 1858)*   Josiah Rogers (1766 - 1834)*   Elijah Rogers (1774 - 1841)* *Calculated relationship
Burial: Church in the Forks Baptist Cemetery Sevierville Sevier County Tennessee, USA

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Elizabeth Lankford Rogers, wife of Henry
 Birth: 1743 Fauquier County Virginia, USA Death: 1775 Fauquier County Virginia, USA Elizabeth must be buried in VA. I will try to find her. Family links: Spouse: Henry Rogers (1740 - 1794)* Children: George Rogers (1764 - 1858)* Elijah Rogers (1774 - 1841)* *Calculated relationship Burial: Church in the Forks Baptist Cemetery Sevierville Sevier County Tennessee, USA

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Josiah Rogers, bro of Elijah? Birth: 1766 Fauquier County Virginia, USA Death: Aug. 12, 1834 Sevierville Sevier County Tennessee, USA Family links: Parents: Henry Rogers (1740 - 1794) Siblings: George Rogers (1764 - 1858)* Josiah Rogers (1766 - 1834) Elijah Rogers (1774 - 1841)* *Calculated relationship Burial: Church in the Forks Baptist Cemetery Sevierville
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Rev. Elijah Rogers (acdg to Find a Grave)
 Birth: May, 1774 Fauquier County Virginia, USA Death: May, 1841 Sevier County Tennessee, USA In 1789 Elijah's father,Henry, moved his family to Servier area.
1789 Servier Co TN was part of "Western Territory of North Carolina" Elijah married in 1794 Beulah Catherine Clack, daughter of Spencer Clack.
Elijah was ordained by age 36.
 Family links: Parents: Henry Rogers (1740 - 1794) Elizabeth Lankford Rogers (1743 - 1775) Spouse: Beulah Catherine Clack Rogers (1778 - 1850)*
 Children: Amanda L Rogers Henderson (1812 - 1876)*
Siblings: George Rogers (1764 - 1858)* Josiah Rogers (1766 - 1834)** Elijah Rogers (1774 - 1841)
 Sacred to the memory of Elijah Rogers. Burial: Church in the Forks Baptist Cemetery Sevierville Sevier County Tennessee, USA

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NOTE: nowhere in my records is Catherine Clack Rogers called  Beaula.  Where did that come from>?
Beaula Catherine Clack Rogers, Elijah's wife

Birth:	1778 Tennessee, USA
Death:	1850 Sevier County Tennessee, USA
Family links:  Parents:   Spencer Clack (1746 - 1832)  Spouse:   Elijah Rogers (1774 - 1841)  Children:   Micajah C Rogers (1795 - 1873)*   Amanda L Rogers Henderson (1812 - 1876)*  Siblings:   Rhoda Clack Randles (1776 - 1850)*   Beulah Catherine Clack Rogers (1778 - 1850)   Francis Clack Mynatt (1783 - 1855)* *Calculated relationship
Burial: Church in the Forks Baptist Cemetery

So the search continues to answer this question:
How did the Micajah Rogers children from Sevierville TN meet the Hiram Gibbs children from Union SC? Then marry and move off to parts of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisana, Missouri, Kentucky and Texas?  I'll search more back and back into whatever scraps of valid information might exist.  Micajah and Hiram were both listed on census records as merchants.  Perhaps they dealt with each other that way.  There was also a Thomas Rogers living in Union District, SC on an early census.  Any relation?  See another post soon of Virginians moving to TN.

Happy birthday Catharine Clack Rogers, June,1778

Catharine Clack Rogers b. June 23.1778 in Virginia d. 10.30 1850 Sevier County, TN

married to Rev. Elijah Rogers in 1794 (b. May 1774 Farquier County, VA d. 5.11.1841 Sevier County, TN)  His birthday post was in May HERE.

SOURCE: Rogers Family Bible, as transcribed by George Elmore Rogers, Sr. in 1950s. (My grandfather may have mis-spelled her name, as he's the only source that spells Catharine with the second "a".)

I'm learning the ins-and-outs of research.  But the Family Bible was also poorly organized.  Have you ever seen one?  There's a listing of Births.  There's a listing of Deaths.  There's a listing of Marriages.  They often have the same names, and you have to figure out which one was married and put it after they were born and before they died!  I'm transcribing the actual posting in the Rogers Bible for each person as I can get to it.

Catherine Clack Rogers' mother was Mary Beavers Clack (name may have been de Beauvior, Beavier, or Beauville, changed during French & Indian war) born 1.12.1745 in New Jersey, d. after 1832

Catharine Clack's father was Lt. Spencer Clack born 3.28.1746 in Loudon County.VA, d. 7.9.1832 Sevier County, TN. Also from Franklin, Henry & Brunswick Counties, VA and Sevier County, TN. He trained in surveying and military tactics under Gen. George Washington who sponsored him when he joined the Masons.  Representative and Senator from Sevier County from 1796-1832.  Member of committee who drafted State constitution of Tennessee.

Her father (and Henry Rogers, her father-in-law) were thus veterans of the American Revolution.

The further reaches of the branches of the Rogers Family Tree, before those in the Rogers Family Bible were probably completed by a professional genealogist. I have yet to have some connections explained adequately to me, so I continue to look for what are called "Primary sources" like family Bibles, cemetery records, obituaries, church records, census records, etc.

In 1935 an application for Sons of the American Revolution also published connections that I can't find to substantiate relationships.  I am beginning to think there were a lot more folks named Rogers who had these various children than just the ones in my tree.

It is noteworthy here, when talking about records that may not be accurate, to say how nobody is probably falsifying information on purpose.  But the inaccurate records (for instance on Ancestry.com) are often used as research materials.  As these are records that are typed into forms by many different descendents, there are sometimes typos, or differing opinions on dates.  I am also glad to find more accurate information of other web sites where cemetery records confirm birth and death dates of some ancestors (like Find A Grave. com)

An important thing to consider in a woman's life, is her being a mother.  Catharine Rogers had three children who lived to be married, according to the Rogers Family Bible.

Other sources give her another daughter who was the great grandmother to an author in Sevierville, TN who provided some of my research, namely Mr. J. A. Sharp.  A historical library in Tennessee had microfilm copies of his writing, which was very interested in Elijah and Catharine Rogers.  I took notes from the microfilm in 1993.

Mr. Sharp had also written to my grandfather, saying that his own grandson then lived on the land of the Rogers original homestead in Sevierville.  I don't know how much of the Sharp publication is fact and how much anecdotal, but it is very interesting.  He added a child to Catharine's family that wasn't in the Rogers Bible.  But it is perhaps possible that the people who moved to Texas and started keeping the Bible didn't remember details about this daughter, just the details of themselves, and somehow forgot to include her.  Mmm, what a strange thing genealogical research is.

 
Mr. Sharp told the Sevier Historical Society he was Catherine and Elijah's descendent, and he put a lot of effort into commemorating them.  Since he was in Sevierville, TN, and my branch of the Rogers were in Texas, I am really grateful for his efforts.

There is a DAR chapter in Sevierville for Spencer Clack, Catherine's father.  Mr. Sharp was involved in efforts to create the Memorial Cemetery "Forks of the Little Pigeon River," which is next to a state highway, and he applied for a memorial marker for Spencer Clack (see below).

It may have been there when I was asking about the Rogers of Sevierville, (in 1993) but it wasn't well known, and I never visited it.  And the markers are mostly new, not ones from the actual burials.  That bit of information should be included somehow in Find A Grave, where pictures of markers are available.  These markers are all commemorative, not of the actual graves.  At least that's what I now surmise.  Maybe in a few weeks or months I'll know more.  There is a list of internments that Find A Grave has listed...I wonder how they figured that out if the markers were put up in the 70's.

Ah-Ha!

Where have I spent most of my time lately?  Here.  Well, with my various ancestors.  Here James Moore Powell (1791-1868) has a marker in Texas.  He had been born in North Carolina, (the state in which I now live, but nowhere near me).

Here's a census report from Louisiana, giving his wife's name and various children.

I noticed the neighbors (all farmers) were a family by the name of Traylor.  Didn't think much of it until I saw 2 Traylor children listed as living with the Powells.  Then as I noticed one of the Powell children grew up (over various census reports) and she married a man named Richard Bass, there were still these one or two Traylor children being part of the household.

Then when they moved to Texas and I again saw Traylors in the neighborhood as well as the household I went Ah Ha!!

The wife must have been a Traylor.  And by looking at the originals of many census reports back and forth, there she was.  Alabama, Louisiana, and finally Texas, she was Nancy Jones Traylor Powell (1804-1881).  I guessed the neighbors to be her brothers, the ones who had all these other children...and one must have lost his wife or maybe some of the children were orphaned, so the Powell and the Bass families took them in.  This was the way families took care of their own in the old South, and many still do.

I also have guessed some other neighbors might have had a sister Traylor marry and raise her family named Hill.  Haven't got anything that connects these famlies for sure yet.  This mystery solving has certainly attracted my attention.

It wasn't until I was telling a friend how I spent yesterday, that I realized the name sounds like trailer, so these days it might have the new-South connotation of trailer-trash.  I wonder how many people might have changed their names because of that.

And Mary Jones Traylor Powell  was listed with a sur-name for her middle name.  Doesn't that make me think her mother might have been a Jones?  I wonder if I'll find a connection and be able to go further back in her family tree.  Even if I can't, NJ Powell was my grandfather's great-grandmother, who he never knew.

While my fingers continue to heal and I do my exercises instead of pottery, (and I've got more pottery than I know what to do with anyway,) the computer has become my pal.  I know these people have been gone for over a hundred years.  But their bones that lie in those graves carry the same DNA as I have, and they have given me the gift of curiousity as well as creativity.  Don't you know that's carried genetically?  Why not? So this is where I'll be for a while.

Rev. Elijah Rogers, May Birthday, patriarch

Rev. Elijah Rogers was born in May, 1774 in Farquier County, VA and died in May, 1841 in Sevier County, TN.

Rev. Rogers married in 1794 to Catharine Clack Rogers (b. 6.23.1778 in Virginia d. 10.30 1850) Sevier County, TN

Rev. Elijah Rogers' mother was Elizabeth Lankford Rogers of New Jersey.

His father was Henry Rogers (c.1741-1794)  of Farquier County, VA, Chatham County, NC, and Sevier County, TN.  Henry Rogers was in American Revolution.

SOURCE: Rogers Family Bible, as transcribed by George Elmore Rogers, Sr. in 1951.
(Henry Rogers c.1741-1794 was the first entry into Rogers Family Bible)

Rev. Elijah Rogers is my five times grandfather (going in a patriarchal way by my father's father's back to him.)  

There are some interesting things published in Sevierville, TN, by historians who are also descendents of Rev. Elijah Rogers as well.  The Sevier County courthouse records were lost in fires several times.

What has been verified is the pictured marker below.  And whoever published this picture on Ancestors.com added a middle name, which I'd never seen before, Elijah Chinn Rogers.  I don't see it anywhere besides in the caption added to the photograph, it's not on the marker itself.  (Thus historical accuracy may go out the window.)

 

This marker says: "Sacred to the memory of Rev. Elijah Rogers, Baptist, Born May, 1774, Died May, 1841"

More information about Rev. Elijah Rogers is that he was a Baptist Lay Pastor.  He is thought to have been present in baptising a few hundred people in the Tennessee River near Knoxville, TN.  He fought with Col. Dogherty in The East Tennessee Militia against the Cherokees. He went to Natchez with other Tennessee Volunteers to force surrender of New Orleans by the Spanish in 1803.   His farm was located at the mouth of the Little Pigeon River and the French Broad River, in what is now Pigeon Forge, TN. (Source: see below)

The colorful information includes that he could neither read nor write, but memorized many passages of the Bible.  Early frontier ministers often were on horseback, and would perform all the necessary rituals of baptism, marriage and funerals when they passed through a community.  

Rev. Rogers may have preached and baptized around the Sevier County area, but he remained located where his father had settled the family after leaving VA and then NC.

His son Micajah Clack Rogers was also born in May, and moved with his family to Texas. I'll talk about him in a few more days.

For now, let me cut and paste a lot of information that was published about early Baptists in TN, with a lot of anecdotes about Elijah Rogers.  I also want to provide this information to any other descendents of Rev. Rogers.

Sketches Of

Tennessee's Pioneer Baptist Preachers

ELIJAH ROGERS

(pages 425 - 429)

I am now standing on historic ground-the ancient site of the Forks of Little Pigeon (now Sevierville) Church, the first Baptist church of Sevier County, constituted in 1789. Just out there stood the old meeting-house, where the Baptist saints worshipped, and where Richard Wood and Elijah Rogers preached the gospel and ministered to them as pastors for more than fifty years. And here in the old cemetery is a tombstone bearing the inscription: "Sacred to the memory of Elijah Rogers; born May, 1774 ; died May, 1841." 

Maj. E. E. McCroskey, a descendant of Elijah Rogers, says the Rogers family is originally from Wales. In its later history it was identified with the Puritan stock of Plymouth Rock fame. Two brothers of this name came from over the waters in the "May Flower" with the goodly company of the Pilgrim Fathers. One of them located in Massachusetts, the other in Virginia. The members of the family in the New England states have an unbroken family record back to the year 1300.  (SEE MY NOTE BELOW)

Elijah, the son of Henry Rogers, was born in Fauquier County, Virginia, but at the age of 15 came with his father and other members of the family to Sevier County, Tennessee, then a part of the "western territory" of North Carolina. This county at that early date was largely an unsubdued wilderness, infested by the Indians, whose hostile aggressions, for a number of years, involved the races in perpetual warfare or vigilant watching on the part of the settlers against the sudden raids of the hostile and suspecting natives. In all this young Rogers was an "active participant." (S. C. Rogers, in Borum's Sketches.) 

Elijah Rogers lived before the day of public schools in Sevier County, or even private ones. But his battle with the wilderness developed in him strength of character as well as strength of muscle. He was in every sense a self-made man. His education, from first to last, was secured by hard digging and persistent application. He possessed the talent of self I helpfulness and acquired in large measure the virtue of self reliance. In his early ministry and even on toward middle life, though not lacking in masculine strength, he was "raw and awkward and unpromising," we are told; yet by dint of effort and perseverance he became, in time, a fairly polished speaker, for his day. 

At the age of 20 Elijah Rogers was married to Miss Katherine Clack, daughter of Spencer Clack, a Baptist, and a prominent citizen of Sevier County-one of a delegation of "five members," elected to represent his county in a convention called by the Governor (William Blount) to meet at Knoxville, January 11, 1796, to formulate the first constitution for the government of the new State of Tennessee (Ramsey's Annals, p. 651) ; and was also a member of the legislature for a number of terms. This union was blessed with a family of ten children, five sons and five daughters. 

In 1796 he and his companion united with the Forks of Little Pigeon (Sevierville) Church, and were baptized, it is supposed, by Elder Richard Wood, who was then pastor of the church. Subsequently this church licensed him to preach, but he was not ordained to the full work of the ministry till he had reached his thirty-sixth year. In 1810 Boyd's Creek Church called for his ordination, and he was accordingly ordained, in the usual way, as we may suppose, by the laying on of the hands of a presbytery, presumably by the authority of the old Forks of Little Pigeon Church, of which he seems still to have been a member. 

He served Boyd's Creek, Alder Branch, and Sevierville as pastor the greater part of his ministerial life. Of Boyd's Creek he was pastor more than thirty years. He was the first pastor of Alder Branch, he and Augustine Bowers being the joint founders of the church. He was successor to Elder Richard Wood in the pastorate of the Sevierville Church. For more than fifty-two years these two faithful under-shepherds took care of the Baptist flock at Sevierville, each serving the flock faithfully to the close of his life. 

These men were present at the baptism of John Hillsman (August, 1825) in the Tennessee River at Knoxville, in the presence of 3,000 people, Elijah Rogers being the administrator. This was the first baptism in the city of Knoxville, and the beginning of Baptist history at this now Baptist city. (Old record.) 

These two men were the chief pillars of strength to the Baptist cause in all their part of the country for years, serving the churches, for the most part, at their own charge. They, with other Baptists, had seen and felt the injustice of a compulsory religious (?) tax to support the state church, and the pendulum had swung the other way. Right or wrong, following the Baptist custom of the times, they said little about pastoral support, and "farmed" for a living. "Preacher Rogers" was held in repute as a farmer, and was said to be the "best corn-grower" in Sevier County.

Elijah Rogers was moderator of the Tennessee Association twenty-four years in succession - a fact in itself showing unusual influence and popularity, and an honor rarely duplicated in the history of deliberative bodies.
He was pioneer in missions, and a John the Baptist preparing the way for a missionary movement, even while he was held in fellowship by his anti-mission and anti-effort brethren. While the leaders of the anti-mission school gave their time and energy to discussing "fixed fate, free-will and foreknowledge absolute," Elijah Rogers was one of the first to break the shell of fatalistic belief and declare for missions. His contention was for "free salvation," or a salvation available for all men, a universal commission, and the obligation of the churches to give the "gospel to every creature." In the war with the so-called "Ironsides" he was able and distinguished as a fighter. He had an appointment, I am told, on one occasion between the "missionaries" and the "antis." The appointed day came round, the multitude gathered, the sermon - a "great sermon" - was preached. It was a great triumph for the cause of truth. The opposition was not entirely quieted, but to a great extent was disarmed. The friends of missions were encouraged, and furnished arguments for the defense of their cause. The controversial spirit, however, was not natural to him. He was inclined to be conservative and conciliatory, rather than combative. Churches, rent asunder by strife over the question of missions, sent for Elder Rogers, far and near, to help them settle their troubles; and few men could do more by tact and prudence than he to restore peace and unity to a divided church.

I close the sketch with the relation of the following anecdote, which is vouched for by good authority. Elder Rogers had a small Testament which he was accustomed to carry about with him in one of the hind (p)ockets of his coat. While getting ready to start to one of his Saturday appointments he happened upon a pack of cards about the barn, which some of his boys, as he supposed, had been playing on the sly, and had forgotten to "hide", as they intended to do. He put the cards in the same pocket in which he had previously put his Testament, and went on to church, intending to give the boys a lecture, on his return home. When the time to begin the preaching service had arrived, he had forgotten all about the "cards". Imagine his surprise, when, putting his hand in his pocket for his Testament, he pulled out the cards instead, in plain view of the audience. As soon, however, as he could recover himself from his embarrassing perplexity, he explained the situation and proceeded to give a moral lecture on the wickedness and folly of "card-playing".

Burnett, J .J. Sketches of Tennessee's Pioneer Baptist Preachers. Nashville, Tenn.: Press of Marshall & Bruce Company, 1919.
URL: http://www.knoxcotn.org/tnbap tists/index.html


(MY NOTE: I don't believe the Mayflower is the correct or verifiable lineage of the Henry Rogers family, though there is still controversy over this)