Household #99: Rodgers, Walter

Back to the 1900 Census & Household Index

In the 1900 Barney census, Walter Rodgers headed a 3-person household. The table below preserves the exact names, relationships, ages, birthplaces, and occupations recorded for the household.

Household Snapshot

Walter Rodgers headed a 3-person household in the 1900 Barney census with 2 boarders or other non-kin residents.

Walter Rodgers's listed occupation was Farmer.

All listed household members were reported as born in Georgia.

Newspaper and Public-Record Trail

This section flags public-record leads separate from the census table. The detailed discussion stays in the family narrative, research status, and source citations below.

1900 Census Household

Children and Later Trails

No child-tracking items are open for this page because the 1900 table lists no children in the household.

Family Narrative

The 1900 Barney census shows Walter Rodgers as a twenty-eight-year-old farmer born in September 1871, living alone except for two teenage boarders, Charley Rountree and James Harman. The surname appears in both Rodgers and Rogers forms across the record trail, but the later records point to the same man. By 1910 he appears in Barney as Walter H. Rodgers, age thirty-seven, married to Lelia, with daughter Lois, son Leo Roy, an orphan named Ernest Knight in the household, and father-in-law Isaac Merchant. The 1920, 1930, 1940, and 1950 censuses continue the same family in Barney or the immediate Brooks County area and show a long farming residence there. In 1950 Walter was widowed and living with son Howell L. Rogers. Two years later the Georgia death index recorded W. H. Rogers Sr. in Brooks County, dead on 3 November 1952 at age eighty-one.

The marriage record closes the biggest gap in the household. Brooks County marriage records show that Walter H. Rogers married Lela E. Merchant on 26 November 1905, with the license issued the day before. Some later records give Walter's wife as Lelia, Leila, or Leila Estell Rogers, but the handwritten marriage certificate reads Lela E. Merchant, which fits the later family well and appears to be part of the ordinary name variation in the record set rather than a separate identity. The wife side is reinforced by the 1900 household of Isaac Merchant, where Lelia Merchant appears as a daughter, by the 1910 placement of Isaac Merchant in Walter's household as father-in-law, by records tying Isaac Merchant to Howell M. Peacock, and by later records for Merchant children including Philip Taylor Merchant.

Walter's earlier placement is also much clearer than the old draft suggested. The 1880 census includes Walton H. Rogers, age nine, in the household of Joseph J. Rogers and Nancy J. Rogers. Walter H. Rogers's cemetery memorial later names his parents as Joseph J. Rogers and Nancy J. Hires Rogers, which strongly supports that 1880 identification. The month and year of birth reported in the 1900 census, September 1871, fit the later memorial and the 1952 death index well enough to make the chain persuasive.

The children can now be followed beyond the 1900 household. The later censuses identify children including Lois, Leo Roy, Jewell, Howell, Hugh, Jewett, Margaret, Thelma, and Walter H. Rogers Jr. A 1938 Atlanta Constitution article listing boys who won forestry camp scholarships includes "Hicks Rogers, Barney," which fits the later son known as Walter Hicks Rogers Jr. A World War II draft card for Howell Lee Rogers gives Barney as his residence and birthplace and names Mrs. Lelia Estell Rogers as the person who would always know his address. A 1951 marriage announcement for Walter Hicks Rogers Jr. identifies him as son of Walter Rogers and the late Leila Merchant Rogers, confirming that Lelia had died before December 1950 and matching Walter's widowed status in 1950.

Connections to Other Barney Families

HH#99 connects directly to the Merchant family through Walter's 1905 marriage to Lela E. Merchant and through Isaac Merchant's appearance in the 1910 household as Walter's father-in-law. The household also appears to connect to the earlier Rogers family of Joseph J. Rogers and Nancy J. Hires Rogers through the 1880 Walton H. Rogers identification, though that link still rests on the combined force of census, memorial, and later vital evidence rather than one single explicit parentage record.

Open Research Questions

• Parentage audit: Keep head-of-household and spouse parentage as unresolved unless a cited direct record names the parents or the entry explains the census chain supporting the identification.
• Other household member audit: Verify every non-nuclear household member, including in-laws, boarders, servants, laborers, uncles, grandchildren, and collateral relatives, before treating the stated relationship as part of the proved family structure.
• Walter's death index entry and cemetery memorial align well, but the underlying death certificate would still be worth pulling for fuller detail.
• Lelia's cemetery memorial gives a death date of 28 Mar 1947; a direct death certificate or death-index entry would tighten the close of her life in the same way.
• The 1880 Walton H. Rogers identification is strongly supported, but a document that explicitly names Walter H. Rogers as son of Joseph J. Rogers and Nancy J. Hires Rogers would make the parentage proof more direct.

Research Status

Well-researched. The household is now supported by the 1880 census, the 1900 through 1950 census chain, the 1905 marriage certificate, Walter's 1952 Georgia death index entry, cemetery memorials for Walter and Lelia, and several later records for their children. The older speculative family-network language is no longer needed. What remains are useful strengthening records, not basic identity work.

Sources

• 1880 U.S. census, household of Joseph J. Rogers and Nancy J. Rogers, including Walton H. Rogers, age 9.
• 1900 U.S. census, Barney, Brooks County, Georgia, household of Walter Rodgers with boarders Charley Rountree and James Harman.
• 1900 U.S. census, household of Isaac Merchant, including daughter Lelia Merchant.
• Brooks County, Georgia, marriage license and return for Walter H. Rogers and Lela E. Merchant, license dated 25 Nov 1905 and marriage dated 26 Nov 1905, officiated by J. M. Scarbrough, J.P.
• 1910 U.S. census, Barney, Brooks County, Georgia, household of Walter H. Rodgers and wife Lelia, with Isaac Merchant as father-in-law.
• 1920 U.S. census, Barney area, Brooks County, Georgia, household of W. H. Rogers and Leila Estell Rogers.
• 1930 U.S. census, Brooks County, Georgia, household of Walter H. Rogers and Lelia E. Rogers.
• 1940 U.S. census, Brooks County, Georgia, household of Walter H. Rogers and Lelia.
• 1950 U.S. census, Brooks County, Georgia, household of Walter H. Rogers, widowed, with son Howell L. Rogers.
• Georgia death index, 1919-1998, entry for W. H. Rogers Sr., died 3 Nov 1952 in Brooks County, certificate no. 24602.
• Find a Grave memorial for Walter H. Rogers, giving dates 21 Sep 1871 to 3 Nov 1952 and naming parents Joseph J. Rogers and Nancy J. Hires Rogers.
• Find a Grave memorial for Lelia Estelle Merchant Rogers, giving dates 28 Jul 1888 to 28 Mar 1947.
• The Atlanta Constitution, 31 Jul 1938, list of forestry camp scholarship winners including "Hicks Rogers, Barney."
• World War II draft card for Howell Lee Rogers, giving Barney as residence and birthplace and naming Mrs. Lelia Estell Rogers as contact.
• The Valdosta Daily Times, 9 Jan 1951, marriage announcement for Walter Hicks Rogers Jr., identifying him as son of Walter Rogers and the late Leila Merchant Rogers.
• Brooks County marriage record for Isaac Merchant and Howell M. Peacock, married 5 Mar 1871.
• Military headstone application for Isaac T. Marchant/Merchant, died 25 Sept 1928.
• Confederate muster record for Isaac T. Marchant, Schley Rifles, 1861.
• Death certificate for Philip Taylor Merchant, died 1 Jun 1957, naming parents Isaac Merchant and Howell Peacock.
• The Valdosta Daily Times, 8 Mar 1913, "First Liquor Still Is Found in Tift County," regarding Isaac Marchant.

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