Skip to content

The Rogers Family

The Rogers families around Foster and Barney cannot all be joined from surname and proximity alone. The best-documented local branch begins with Uriah Rogers and Elizabeth Hicks and continues through their son Joseph J. Rogers. A second child, Mary Ann Rogers Folsom, is strongly probable from the 1850 household and later census chain. A collateral line through James Rogers, Thomas F. Rogers, Aaron J. Rogers, and Arthur Richmond Rogers is supported by Ancestry trees and several original records, but the older parent-child links remain unproved. The parentage of Priscilla Jane Rogers Folsom also remains unresolved.

Uriah Rogers and Elizabeth Hicks

The 1850 Lowndes County census places Uriah and Elizabeth Rogers in one household with Mary A. Rogers, age eighteen, and Joseph Rogers, age eleven. The census did not state family relationships. Joseph's 1922 Georgia death certificate later names his parents as Uriah Rogers and Elizabeth Hicks, verifying his place in this family.[1][2]

Mary's place is less direct. She next appears as Mary Ann Folsom, born about 1832–1833 in Georgia, with Lawrence A. Folsom in the 1860, 1870, and 1880 Berrien County censuses. Her age, birthplace, name, and disappearance from the Rogers household after marriage make her identification as Uriah and Elizabeth's daughter—and Joseph's older sister—strong probable. No inspected probate, Bible, obituary, or death record names her parents directly.[1][3]

Joseph and Nancy Hires Rogers

Joseph J. Rogers married Nancy J. Hires in Brooks County on October 21, 1866. The original marriage record fixes the couple in Brooks County immediately after the Civil War. Nancy's 1932 death certificate names her parents as David Hires and Rebecca Yates, joining the Rogers household to the local Hires family.[4][5]

Joseph and Nancy headed a farming household in Brooks County in 1870 and 1880. By 1900 they were enumerated at Barney with children Ophelia, Effie, Everett, Miles, Dove, and Willie. Joseph's 1890 tax return placed him in the Morven district with 340 acres in Land Lot 270. The 1908 Brooks County map marked “J. J. Rogers Res.” near the south end of Land Lot 274, close to the Foster neighborhood. In 1910 Joseph still owned his Barney farm free of mortgage.[6]

Family tradition gives Joseph's middle name as Jasper. The census, marriage, tax, death, pension, and cemetery records inspected for this research use Joseph J., J. J., or Joe and do not expand the initial. “Joseph Jasper Rogers” is therefore retained as a family-reported name rather than an original-record fact.[6]

Nancy Hires and the Hiers branches

Nancy Jane Hires Rogers and Sim or Simeon Hires belonged to David Hires and Rebecca Yates’s family. The later census and family reconstruction makes William Ellis Hiers, the strong-probable identity of Barney’s 1911 mayor, their first cousin once removed. William Ellis was a son of William T. Hiers and a grandson of the elder William and Susan Hiers.

The cousin relationship is strong probable: it depends on the elder William and David being brothers. The inspected records do not directly name both as sons of Daniel and Nancy Hiers. The Hiers dossier sets out that link and the separate collateral branch through Phillip Hiers.

Barney family connections

Dove Rogers and James I. Moody

The 1900 census identifies Dove Rogers as a daughter of Joseph and Nancy. By 1910 she was the wife of Barney merchant James I. Moody. Nancy Rogers died at the Moody home in Barney in 1932.[7]

Walter H. Rogers

The 1880 census places Walton H. Rogers, age nine, in Joseph and Nancy's household. Later records identify him as Walter H. Rogers. His separate Barney household appears in the 1900 census, and he married Lela E. Merchant in 1905. The family remained in the Barney area through the first half of the twentieth century.[8]

Mary Ann Rogers Folsom and the Westberry line

If the strong-probable sibling identification is correct, Mary Ann Rogers Folsom was Joseph's older sister. Mary married Lawrence A. Folsom. Their daughter Marietta Elizabeth Folsom married General Jackson Westberry on July 30, 1884. Marietta was therefore Joseph's niece, and her son Emerson Westberry was his great-nephew. His identification as councilman W. E. Westbury is strong probable; the combined full name Walter Emmerson remains unresolved.[1][3][9]

The same relationship makes Marietta and Dove Rogers Moody first cousins. Emerson Westberry and Dove Moody were first cousins once removed under that reconstruction. This Rogers connection complements Marietta's close ties to the Folsom family: her grandfather John Folsom was a brother of pre-Barney landowner William Folsom, while the maternal Rogers line joined her to Joseph's Foster and Barney household.

The James–Thomas–Aaron–Arthur branch

Ancestry public trees place Thomas F. Rogers, born about 1820, as a son of James Rogers and Nancy Ann Giddens. The same compiled trees place James and Uriah Rogers as sons of William Thomas Rogers and Lucretia Treadwell. No inspected original record names Thomas as James's son or James and Uriah as brothers, so both links remain secondary-supported rather than verified.[10]

The original local records are consistent with that reconstruction. In the 1844 Lowndes County tax digest, James Rogers and Thomas F. Rogers each returned 163 acres in District 12, Land Lot 199, and Uriah Rogers appeared immediately after Thomas. Thomas later administered James's estate. Those records establish a close Rogers land and estate network, but neither record states the men's kinship.[11][12]

The later generations are clearer. The 1860 Brooks County census places ten-year-old Aaron Rogers in Thomas F. Rogers's household, and an 1868 guardianship bond appears to include Aaron among Thomas's orphan children. Aaron J. Rogers married Emma Cooper in Brooks County on July 9, 1868. Their son Arthur Richmond Rogers appears with them in the 1880 Colquitt County census, and Arthur's 1926 death certificate names A. J. Rogers and Emma Cooper as his parents. The continuous identity Thomas F. Rogers → Aaron J. Rogers → Arthur Richmond Rogers is therefore strong probable at the first link and verified at the second.[13][14][15]

Arthur is also the strong-probable A. R. Rogers in Barney's LL321 deeds. Ancil Lawrence sold Arthur R. Rogers one acre there on February 22, 1897. In March 1898, A. R. Rogers sold half an acre to William M. Eatman and conveyed a separate sixty-five-acre tract in northeastern LL321 to G. W. Barrington. The matching name, initials, chronology, and Lawrence setting support the identification, although the later deeds use initials rather than Arthur's full name.[16][17]

If the compiled parentage is correct, Thomas F. Rogers was Uriah's nephew; Aaron J. Rogers and Joseph J. Rogers were first cousins once removed; Arthur Richmond Rogers and Joseph were first cousins twice removed; and Arthur and Marietta Folsom Westberry were second cousins once removed. These relationships remain conditional until an original probate, family Bible, or other parent-naming record confirms that James and Uriah were brothers and that Thomas was James's son.

Priscilla Jane Rogers Folsom: a separate unresolved branch

Priscilla Jane Rogers Folsom, mother of Israel Lee “I. L.” Folsom, belongs in the Rogers research but cannot yet be joined securely to either Rogers branch. Cemetery and compiled family material identify her maiden name as Rogers. The Ancestry trees inspected for this study generally identify James Rogers as her father, but one names Nancy Ann Giddens as her mother while another names Nancy Wallace. Neither tree supplies an original record proving the assignment.

If James was the father of both Priscilla and Thomas F. Rogers, Priscilla and Thomas were siblings—or half-siblings if the competing maternal assignments reflect two different wives. Under that reconstruction, Thomas's son Aaron J. Rogers and Priscilla's son Israel Lee “I. L.” Folsom were first cousins, and Arthur Richmond Rogers and I. L. Folsom were first cousins once removed. These relationships are secondary-supported and conditional, not established facts. No inspected probate distribution, family Bible, obituary, deed, or death record names Thomas and Priscilla together as James's children.

Mary Ann Rogers Folsom and Priscilla Jane Rogers Folsom should therefore not be described as sisters or cousins without new evidence. The shared Rogers surname and their marriages into nearby Folsom branches are research leads, not proof of kinship.

Evidence grades

  • Verified: Joseph J. Rogers was a son of Uriah Rogers and Elizabeth Hicks.
  • Strong probable: Mary Ann Rogers Folsom was their daughter and Joseph's older sister.
  • Verified: Joseph married Nancy J. Hires; Nancy was a daughter of David Hires and Rebecca Yates.
  • Verified: Dove Rogers was Joseph and Nancy's daughter and married James I. Moody.
  • Strongly supported: Walter H. Rogers was the Walton H. Rogers enumerated as their son in 1880.
  • Secondary-supported: James Rogers and Uriah Rogers were brothers, sons of William Thomas Rogers and Lucretia Treadwell.
  • Secondary-supported / strong probable: Thomas F. Rogers was James Rogers's son.
  • Strong probable: Aaron J. Rogers was Thomas F. Rogers's son.
  • Verified: Arthur Richmond Rogers was a son of Aaron J. Rogers and Emma Cooper.
  • Strong probable: Arthur Richmond Rogers was the A. R. Rogers who held and conveyed property in Barney's LL321.
  • Secondary-supported / unresolved: Ancestry trees identify James Rogers as Priscilla Jane Rogers Folsom's father but disagree whether her mother was Nancy Ann Giddens or Nancy Wallace. If James also fathered Thomas F. Rogers, Priscilla and Thomas were siblings or half-siblings.
  • Family-reported: Joseph J. Rogers's middle name was Jasper.

What would settle the open questions

The most useful missing records are probate or family papers naming Uriah and Elizabeth's children; a death, obituary, Bible, or probate record naming Mary Ann's parents; James Rogers's complete probate distribution; an original record naming Thomas F. Rogers's parents; and a parent-naming record for Priscilla Jane Rogers Folsom. Those sources could confirm Mary Ann's placement, test the proposed James–Thomas line, and determine whether Priscilla belonged to either branch.

Sources

  1. 1850 U.S. census, Lowndes County, Georgia, Uriah and Elizabeth Rogers household, including Mary A. and Joseph Rogers, Mary A. Rogers record and Joseph Rogers record.
  2. Georgia death certificate for Joseph J. Rogers, died August 21, 1922, Barney, file no. 19500, naming Uriah Rogers and Elizabeth Hicks as his parents, Ancestry record 136027.
  3. 1860, 1870, and 1880 U.S. censuses, Berrien County, Georgia, Lawrence A. and Mary Ann Folsom households; 1880 household record for their daughter Marietta, Ancestry record 11917575.
  4. Brooks County marriage return, Joseph J. Rodgers and Nancy J. Hires, October 21, 1866, Ancestry record 182418.
  5. Georgia death certificate for Nancy J. Rogers, died June 29, 1932, Barney, naming David Hires and Rebecca Yates as her parents, Ancestry record 1053971; 1850 Lowndes County census, David and Rebecca Hiers household, Nancy Hiers record.
  6. Joseph J. Rogers records summarized in the Joe Rogers dossier: 1870–1920 censuses, 1890 Brooks County tax digest, 1908 Brooks County map, death certificate, pension record, and Gornto Cemetery evidence.
  7. 1900 U.S. census, Barney, Brooks County, Georgia, Dove Rodgers in Joe and Nancy Rodgers's household, Ancestry record 52873183; 1910 census, Jim and Dove Moody household, Ancestry record 3199145; Tampa Tribune, June 30, 1932, Nancy Rogers obituary.
  8. 1880 U.S. census, Brooks County, Georgia, Joseph and Nancy Rogers household, Ancestry record 11969003; Brooks County marriage record for Walter H. Rogers and Lela E. Merchant, November 26, 1905.
  9. Berrien County marriage record for General Jackson Westberry and Marietta E. Folsom, July 30, 1884.
  10. Ancestry public family trees for Thomas F. Rogers, James Rogers, and Priscilla Jane Rogers Folsom. The trees name James Rogers and Nancy Ann Giddens as Thomas's parents and William Thomas Rogers and Lucretia Treadwell as James's parents. They generally attach Priscilla to James but disagree whether her mother was Nancy Ann Giddens or Nancy Wallace. Used as secondary evidence only because the inspected original records do not state those parent-child relationships.
  11. Lowndes County, Georgia, 1844 property-tax digest, Captain Blair's District, consecutive entries for James Rogers, Thomas F. Rogers, and Uriah Rogers; Ancestry collection 1729, record 3367432, image 18 of 82.
  12. Thomas F. Rogers, administrator of James Rogers, to Isaac J. Rogers, Brooks County Deed Book B, pages 387–388, FamilySearch image. The deed identifies Ann Rogers as James's widow but does not state Thomas's relationship to James.
  13. 1860 U.S. census, Brooks County, Georgia, Aaron Rogers in the Thomas F. Rogers household, Ancestry record 10752022; Brooks County guardianship bond concerning Thomas F. Rogers's orphan children, March 2, 1868, Ancestry collection 8635, image 005782591_00125; Brooks County marriage record for Aaron Rogers and Emma Cooper, July 9, 1868.
  14. 1880 U.S. census, Colquitt County, Georgia, Arthur Rogers as son of Aaron and Emma Rogers, Ancestry record 12257322.
  15. Georgia death certificate for Arthur Richmond Rogers, died April 3, 1926, naming A. J. Rogers and Emma Cooper as his parents, Ancestry record 17398.
  16. Ancil Lawrence to Arthur R. Rogers, February 22, 1897, Brooks County Deed Book N, page 302, one acre in LL321, FamilySearch image.
  17. A. R. Rogers to William M. Eatman, March 25, 1898, Brooks County Deed Book N, page 304, FamilySearch image; A. R. Rogers to G. W. Barrington, March 18, 1898, Deed Book N, page 152, FamilySearch image.