Rev. John Rogers

d. Feb14, 1555 (Burned at the Stake); m. 1536 Adriana de Weyden

Rev. John Rogers was the first martyr in Queen Mary’s reign, and met death at Smithfield, Feb 14, 1555. When preaching from a high pulpit on the roadside, Bloody Mary passed on the palfrey, and seeing John Rogers, caused him to be arrested and sent to prison, where for two years he suffered greatly, not even being allowed to see his wife. Later the merciless Bishop Fardiner at the Divinity School in the Bodleian Library Building examined him, and he was sentenced to die at the stake.

Seven thousand people followed Rogers to the spot and shouted for joy, but he stood firm. He had been chosen for his learning and abilities by Cardinal Wolsey, who founded Christ Church College, to be one of the first cannons, and later by Bishop Ridley to be one of the Divinity Lecturers of the Cathedral of St. Paul’s, London.

He was also Prebendary of St. Paul’s Cathedral. A large tablet stands at Smithfield, near the place of his martyrdom. John Rogers’ name leads a list of 62 others, who, within two years also died for their faith. (21)

Bernard Rogers m. in Scotland 1564

Thomas Matthew Rogers m. Miss MacMurdo

John Rogers m. Worcester, England 1640 Lucy Iverson

Giles Rogers m. In England 1672 Rachel Eastham

Giles Rogers came to Virginia in 1670 with his own ships. His motto on his coat of arms was “Act Justly and Fear Not.” He patented 400 acres in New Kent County, April 18, 1670. He had brought 8 persons with him. He returned to England and married Rachael Eastham in 1672. In 1680 he returned to Virginia with his wife and his first three children (Giles Jr., Lucy, and Peter) and servants and materials for building. John, Rachael and Mary Anne were born in America (24)

John Rogers b. born on a ship as it entered Chesapeake Bay in 1680;

d. in 1768. m. Mary Byrd.

John Rogers was not a member of the established church, thus he could not vote, nor hold office, nor acquire land by royal grant. There simply was no opportunity for advancement. He was not of the gentry.

He married Mary Byrd in 1716. Mary was the daughter of Col. William Byrd I of Westover and the Byrd family had objected to the marriage and had disowned her, but she said she did not regret it even if she never saw any of her family again.

She stayed with her sick mother until the mother died and then left with only the clothes on her back. She told her children and grandchildren who she was. It was passed down. She was born in 1682 and died in 1763 at the age of 81. Their 8th child was named “Byrd Rogers”(24)

George Rogers b. June, 1721 d. Mar, 1802 (Caroline County, Va.)

m. Dec 5, 1754 Frances Pollard, Daughter of Joseph Pollard & Priscilla Holmes) 9 children:

1. Capt Joseph. Rogers d. in Revolutionary War while serving under George Rogers Clark Nov 4, 1782 at Piqua OH during an attack against the Shawnee.
2. Capt John Rogers served under George Rogers Clark. He recieved an allottment of land in Kentucky for his service in the Revolutionary War.

Edmund Rogers b. May 5,1762 (Caroline County, Va.) d. August 25,1843 (Barren County, KY) buried in Rogers family cemetery, Metcalf Co, KY; m. Jan 27, 1809 Mary Shirley b. Spotsylvania Co., VA, daughter of John W. Shirley, Jr and Francis Yates, d. July 23, 1836 in Barren Co., KY, buried in Rogers family cemetery, Metcalf County, KY.

Edmund Rogers served in the Revolutionary War in the battles of Green Springs, Jamestown, and was at the surrender of Cornwallis, 1781. Edmund was a Dispatch Carrier for Gen. Weedon. (20, vol 2, p 44 & 740) He refused to apply for a pension after the war, but immigrated to Kentucky in 1783, and became intimate with most of the early pioneers. ----Edmund Rogers lived to be one of the oldest of that meritorious and enterprising class of men who penetrated the wilderness of Kentucky, and spent their time in locating and surveying lands.

He began business as a surveyor in the fall of 1783 with George Rogers Clark, his cousin, on the north side of the Ohio River, opposite Louisville. In the spring of 1784, his operations were changed to the military district of Kentucky, on the south side of the Green River. He made most of the surveys on the Little and Big Barren Rivers and their tributary streams. Muldraugh’s Ridge was the boundary of the settlements towards the southwest in Kentucky, when Mr. Rogers commenced surveying in the military district. He expanded and set the boundaries for most of the souther part of Kentucky. He is credited with naming “The Barrens” from which Barren County takes its name.

Captain John Rogers and his brother Edmund made an agreement that whoever died first should return from the world of spirits and inform the other what was going on there. This agreement between the brothers was no joking matter. Edmund often said, late in life, that there could be no such things as visits from the spirits of the dead, or their holding intercourse with the living; for he said, if such a thing could be, “I know my brother John would have kept and fulfilled his promise.” Edmund discountenanced everything of a superstitious character.

The motto which Edmund Rogers espoused throughout life, was “to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly before God.” He often repeated these words as containing man's whole duty. His last illness was of short duration. He was in his perfect mind to the last breath. About an hour before he expired he was seen to smile, and being asked what occasioned it, he said, "he was thinking of the vain efforts of three of the best physicians in the country, to save the life of an old man when his time had come." He died with perfect composure and without a struggle.

Edmund Rogers married Mary Shirley in 1809. She died in 1836, leaving seven daughters and one son. In 1840 owing to his advanced age of 78, he broke up house keeping and moved with his single daughters to the house of his son, John T. Rogers, where he died on the 28th day of August 1843.

His remains were taken to his own farm and buried by the side of his wife near Edmonton. Edmund Rogers was ever ready to lend a helping hand to the needy and deserving. He raised and educated his nephew, the honorable Joseph Rogers Underwood. (20)

John Thomas Rogers

b. Jan 22, 1814 d. April 19,1881, m. Oct 29,1839 Olivia Lewis;

Kate Ganter’s archives contain a copy of a letter that John T. Rogers sent to his wife, Olivia, from New Orleans in April of 1846. He had taken his tobacco by flat boat down the Barren River, the Ohio and the Mississippi to be sold in New Orleans. Olivia’s father, Joseph Lewis would also make such trips.

Joseph Lewis would bring back furniture for the family home, Spotswood on North Race Street in Glasgow, that had been built about 1790 by George Washington and presented together with 1,000 acres of land to Gen. Alexander E. Spotswood, grandson of one of the colonial governors of Virginia, for his bride, Betsy Washington Lewis, who was favorite niece of George Washington.

Spotswood, the 2^nd brick house in Glasgow, was a “traveler’s rest,’ so called because it was in the days of its earliest existence, a home away from home for anyone seeking shelter.

It was one of the few accessible places for people to lodge who were traveling on the trails from Nashville to Louisville or Lexington, or going east to Washington. The house also has a cave or tunnel entrance, which is located in a wall in the basement. Gen. Joseph H. Lewis, CSA, bought the house in 1869 and lived there for nine years.

(22) (23)

“Oldest House in Barren County, Near the Historic Mounds”

according to an old newspaper clipping around 1900. It probably stood near the juncture of Barren River and Peter’s Creek. Charles Boles thought that the house belonged to John Rogers, grandson of Edmund Rogers. Earlier, the place was probably a part of the land owned by General Joseph H. Lewis’ family. It stood where the vacation cabins are now located, behind the Barren River State Park Lodge. (73)

Children of John Thomas and Olivia Lewis Rogers

1. John Lewis Rogers b. in Barren Co, KY Sept 7, 1845, d. July 11, 1935 m.#1 Eugene Reed, April 1873; m.#2 Capitola Snyder; John Lewis Rogers was only 16 years old when he donned the Confederate uniform, made for him by his mother and sisters, and followed his Uncle, Col. Joseph E. Lewis to war. He enlisted in Company E, 6^th Kentucky Infantry, and served with that company until after the battle of Shiloh when he was discharged. Some years later he migrated to Franklin, Simpson Co, Ky. where he lived to a ripe old age. He died July 11, 1935, the last confederate in Simpson County, and probably the last confederate who had enlisted from Barren County. (9) 2 children;

1) Arthur Read Rogers

2) Eugenia Byrd Rogers

m. June 22, 1909 Catlett Waddy Thompson; in 1903 C W. Thompson built and ran the Beula Vista Hotel at Sulfur Wells, Ky. The spring of smelly sulfur water was supposed to have healing qualities. Byrd Rogers Thompson is buried at Sulfur Wells.

----3. Edmund Pendleton Rogers b. April 16, 1856, d. 1936, m. Attelia Fowler and moved to San Luis Obispo, Calf. ------was sheriff and deputy clerk and recorder for the County
--------1) Helen Frances Rogers
--------2) Edmund Pendleton Rogers
----4. Lucy Porter (Loulie) Rogers b. April 4, 1861, d. 1953, m. Mar 4, 1880 Hon. James M Richardson son of
----Rev. James M. and Mary Woods Richardson of Mobile, ALA; d. February 12, 1925

1) Jack Lewis Richardson. m. Guy _____;
2) Hervey Woods Richardson m. Constance Duvall
3) Mary Woods Richardson b. October 8, 1898, d. May 13, 1980; m. William Perry Coffman b. 1892 d July 13, 1967
4) Loulie Rogers Richardson b. May 10, 1887, d. July 13, 1964; Palm Beach, Florida
5) Olivia Lewis Richardson m. Will H. Barlow
6) Thomas Woods Richardson
7) Joseph Rogers Richardson m. Clara Frederick

5. Joseph (Jo U) Underwood Rogers b. Oct 30, 1854

6. Hattie Rogers b. Nov 16, 1856, d. 1936; well known for her cooking;

7. Annie Eliza Rogers b. January 20, 1848, d. March 30, 1928
m. May 17, 1870 Edward Young Kilgore; 8 children (58)

1) Rev. John Lewis Kilgore b. July 23, 1871, d. January, 1964; m. Edna R Wood, Clarkston, GA;
2) Mary Kilgore b. February 20, 1876, d. January 1967; m. in 1902 Dr. Samuel Dickey Gordon, PhD, New York City. b. August 12, 1859 in Philadelphia, PA; S.D. Gordon was a noted author and lecturer on religious subjects and traveled all over the world on speaking engagements. His series of books were entitled “Quiet Talks”(14)
3) Evelyn Byrd Kilgore b. January10, 1887, d. February 3, 1965; m. W.C. Butman; 2 children;
4) Bolton G. Kilgore b. September 18, 1873, d. February 13, 1963; m. Fanny Parks, San Angelo, Texas;
5) Edward Murray Kilgore, b. March 12, 1878, d. July 1948; m. Katherine Anna Casserley, Glasgow, KY;
6) Reed Shaw Kilgore, b. February 2, 1882, d. June 21, 1925; m. Ella D. Martin, Glasgow, KY;
7) Joseph Rogers Kilgore, b. November 5, 1884 d. 1972; m. Ruth Wolf; m. Irma Whitney, Gilroy, CAL;
8) Edward Young Kilgore b. August 20, 1889, d. October 20, 1895;

Annie and Ed Kilgore built a house across the street from the Dickinson Family home on Washington Street in Glasgow that was referred to as the Kilgore House, and later as the Grey House.

Mary Kilgore Gordon enlarged the house into three apartments to be occupied by Evelyn Kilgore and her two girls, Murray Kilgore and his three children, and Aunt Annie and Uncle Kilgore, and Mary and

S.D. Gordon when they weren’t traveling. Jo.U later purchased this Kilgore house, and eventually willed it to his daughter, Leila Rogers Dickinson. Lelia willed it to Kate and Rogers.

Kate Ganter and her family eventually lived here and it was part of the three “Dickinson house compound” that became the home of the Kate, Lewis, Rogers, and the Sam Dickinson families in the late 1940s and ‘50s. (14)

9) Ellen Lavinia (Nellie) Rogers b. September 24, 1958, d. April 1906, m. Oct 22, 1880 Charles Wilson Robinson, Presbyterian minister, and moved to North Wilkesboro, North Carolina

1. Edmund Pendleton Robinson b. June 25, 1885 d, March 20, 1960;

2. Ellen Gorin Robinson b. in Monroe, NC on September 6, 1889; d. 1982, Moravian Falls, NC

3. Katherine Robinson b. August 29, 1881, d. July 11, 1981; m. James C. McDiarmid; 5 children;

 

10). Mary Rogers, b. Dec 5, 1840, d. Jan 7, 1922; m. Jan 15, 1861 James Edward Gorin, Louisville, KY

1. Lewis Jefferson Gorin, m. Standiford Danforth
2. Ellen Gorin
3. Rosa Gorin , m. J.W. Davis
4. Henry Gorin, m. Georgia
5. Olive Gorin, m. Emile Pragoff

11) Fannie Olivia Rogers b. March 7, 1842, d. 1909; m. June 24, 1866 Uriah Porter of Allen County, KY. and moved to San Louis Obispo, California in 1875 and died there.

1. Olivia Porter m. George Stephenson, 2 children
2. Reed Porter
3. Henry Porter,
4. Warren Porter