Joe Rogers of the Foster neighborhood

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Research completed: August 18, 2026

Bottom line

The "Mr. Joe Rogers" whose family lived near Foster in March 1894 was probably the later Barney farmer Joseph J. Rogers (22 August 1839-21 August 1922), husband of Nancy J. Hires. Family history gives his full name as Joseph Jasper Rogers [27]. The 1908 county map now supplies an important geographic link: it marks "J. J. Rogers Res." near the south end of Land Lot 274, about 1.5-2 miles by land-lot geometry from Foster's Land Lot 227 [5]. The map and the documented Rogers-Hires-Moody family chain make Joseph the clear leading candidate. The identification remains probable, not verified, because the 1894 newspaper gives no middle initial, spouse, child, or land lot.

No inspected original record expands his middle initial. The census, marriage, tax, death, pension, and cemetery records use Joseph J., Joe, or J. J. The dossier therefore records "Joseph Jasper Rogers" as the family's name for him while noting that "Jasper" remains unverified in the original records [6, 9, 26-27].

What the Foster article says

The Valdosta Times reported on 24 March 1894 that Miss Blanche Clements, who lived near Adel, had been visiting "Mr. Joe Rogers' family near Foster" [1]. It does not call Rogers a turpentine employee, place him in the settlement, or connect him to Rozier, the Conolys, or Land Lot 227. "Near Foster" is the full geographic claim.

Why Joseph J. Rogers is the leading candidate

Joseph J. Rogers already had a well-established northern Brooks County household. The 1890 Brooks tax digest places him in the Morven district [2]. The original tax image, as previously reviewed for the Barney household work, records 340 acres in Land Lot 270 of the 12th district; the Ancestry index page confirms the man, year, and Morven district but omits the acreage and lot [2]. This record should not be used as evidence that he was then in the immediate Foster neighborhood. On the 1908 county map, Morven's mapped boundary enters the southern part of Land Lot 270, and the town grid lies directly along the lot's southern side [5]. The tax digest does not locate Joseph's 340 acres within the lot, and the 1908 boundary cannot be projected backward to 1890. The tax entry proves Morven-district landholding, but no more precise residence.

The 1900 census then enumerates "Joe Rodgers", born August 1839, as a farmer in Barney with wife Nancy and children Ophelia, Effie, Everett, Miles, Dove, and Willie [3, 23]. In 1910 Joseph J. Rodgers still owned a farm at Barney, free of mortgage [4].

The 1908 Brooks County map prints the exact label "J. J. Rogers Res." beside a residence marker on the road at or just north of the southern boundary of Land Lot 274 [5]. The site is in the southwest part of the lot, immediately north of Land Lot 273 and west of Lots 333 and 234. Foster's Land Lot 227 lies roughly two land-lot widths east-southeast. The road continues toward the junction in or near Land Lot 234. The map does not print "Strickland Road"; identifying this segment with the historic Strickland Road corridor depends on the separate 1907 deed language and the project's road reconstruction. The residence label is nevertheless much more specific than the dossier's earlier description of a location merely south or southeast of Barney.

This is a strong circumstantial fit: the same Joe/Joseph name, an established family, a mapped J. J. Rogers residence close to Foster, and continued residence in the Barney area. It is still circumstantial. The map dates fourteen years after the article, uses initials only, and does not identify the 1894 newspaper man.

Hires and Moody family connections

The broader Rogers Family page traces Joseph's verified parentage, his strong-probable relationship to Mary Ann Rogers Folsom, and the resulting Moody, Westberry, and Folsom connections.

Nancy J. Hires Rogers was the daughter of David Hires/Hiers and Rebecca Yates. The 1850 census places five-year-old Nancy in David and Rebecca Hiers's Lowndes County household, and Nancy's 1932 Georgia death certificate names her parents as David Hires and Rebecca Yates [20-21].

In 1876 a Brooks County notice named David Hiers as the contractor building a separate lagoon bridge near Folsom Bridge. County officials directed the Morven District road commissioners to inspect his work before payment [22]. The local contractor is a strong match for Nancy's father, but the notice gives no age, middle initial, or family detail; the same-person identification is therefore strong probable, not fully verified. The work concerned the swamp approach at the Folsom crossing, not repair of the river bridge itself.

The 1900 census directly identifies Dove Rodgers, age twelve, as a daughter in Joe and Nancy Rodgers's household [23]. By 1910 Dove was the wife of James I. Moody of Barney; the census records the couple as Jim and Dove Moody, and later cemetery evidence supplies the fuller James I. Moody identification [24-25]. This establishes the Rogers-Moody family connection independently of the 1894 Foster notice.

Documented life of the candidate

• 1839: Joseph was born in Georgia. His death record gives 22 August 1839, although Ancestry's displayed birth-year field mistakenly reads 1939; age 82 and the 1850-1910 census chain show that 1839 is intended [6].
• 1850-1860: Joseph appears with Uriah and Elizabeth Rogers, first in Lowndes County and then in Brooks County [7-8].
• 1866: Joseph J. Rodgers married Nancy J. Hires in Brooks County on 21 October [9]. The original-image index supplies the marriage date and county.
• 1867: A reconstruction oath places Joseph J. Rogers in Brooks County Election District 7 [10].
• 1870-1880: Joseph and Nancy headed a Brooks County farming household. The 1880 household included children Emma, Iola, Walton H., David U., Ophelia, Havilah, and Effie [11-12].
• 1890: The tax digest places Joseph in the Morven district [2].
• 1894: A Joe Rogers family, not otherwise identified, lived near Foster [1].
• 1900-1910: Joe/Joseph and Nancy were farmers at Barney [3-4].
• 1908: The Brooks County map marked "J. J. Rogers Res." near the southern edge of Land Lot 274 [5].
• By 1910: Their daughter Dove had married James I. Moody and lived with him at Barney [23-25].
• 1920: J. J. and Nancy Rogers were still in the Barney district. The index places them in a household headed by "Q M Rogers", but the adult child's identity remains uncertain without inspection of the original image [13].
• 1922: Joseph died at Barney. His Georgia death record names Uriah Rogers and Elizabeth Hicks as his parents and Nancy Rogers as his wife [6]. Gornto Cemetery evidence agrees on the 1839-1922 dates [14].

Identity conflicts and exclusions

1. "Jasper" is family-reported. James's family gives Joseph's full name as Joseph Jasper Rogers, but no inspected original record expands the middle initial. The family name belongs in the dossier with that provenance, not as an original-record fact.
2. The 1894 article supplies no family bridge. Blanche Clements's name did not lead to a documented kinship with Nancy Hires Rogers or one of Joseph's children.
3. The two land references do not carry the same geographic weight. The 1890 tax land in Lot 270 belongs to the Morven side of the district; the 1908 map even shows Morven's boundary extending into the lot's southern part. That record proves landholding but does not place Joseph near Foster. The separate "J. J. Rogers Res." label in Lot 274 is the useful Foster-proximity evidence, although it dates fourteen years after the newspaper item. Neither reference puts him inside the still settlement or Lot 227.
4. Other Rogers lines existed. The 1900 Barney roster also contains a separate John Rodgers household. He is not a Joe/Joseph candidate, but his presence warns against treating every local Rogers reference as Joseph J.'s family [15].
5. The 1920 index is awkward. It calls the head "Q M Rogers" and Joseph and Nancy his parents. The earlier local narrative identified the household differently. The 1920 record proves the older couple's continued Barney-area presence but should not be used to settle the adult child's identity without the original image [13].

Assessment of the Foster connection

Numbered sources

1. The Valdosta Times, 24 Mar. 1894, p. 1, "Foster Notes", Newspapers.com image 889769208, clipping 193408136. Subscription may be required.
2. Georgia Archives, Brooks County tax digest, 1890, Morven District, indexed to Joseph J. Rogers, Ancestry record 716570. The acreage and Land Lot 270 reading comes from the previously inspected original image; the public index page does not reproduce those fields.
3. 1900 U.S. census, Barney, Brooks County, Georgia, Joe Rodgers household, ED 9, sheet 5, dwelling/family 100, NARA T623 roll 181, Ancestry record 52873177.
4. 1910 U.S. census, Barney, Brooks County, Georgia, Joseph J. Rodgers household, ED 21, sheet 6A, NARA T624 roll 174, Ancestry record 3199211.
5. R. D. Flippen, Map of Brooks County, Georgia (Hudgins Co., 1908), Georgia Archives County Maps, record cmf0526, catalog record, full-resolution IIIF image. The map prints "J. J. Rogers Res." near the south edge of Land Lot 274; it does not print "Strickland Road" on that segment. Around Morven, the mapped town boundary crosses the southern part of Land Lot 270, with the street grid immediately to the south. The map does not locate Joseph's 1890 acreage within that lot.
6. Georgia death record for Joseph J. Rogers, died 21 Aug. 1922, Barney, file no. 19500, parents Uriah Rogers and Elizabeth Hicks, Ancestry record 136027. The displayed 1939 birth year is an indexing error; the page also reports age 82.
7. 1850 U.S. census, Lowndes County, Georgia, Uriah Rogers household, including Joseph, Ancestry record 18778794.
8. 1860 U.S. census, Brooks County, Georgia, Uriah Rogers household, including Joseph, Ancestry record 10751164.
9. Brooks County marriage return, Joseph J. Rodgers and Nancy J. Hires, 21 Oct. 1866, original image 40951_294515-00132, Ancestry record 182418.
10. Georgia reconstruction oath, Joseph J. Rogers, Brooks County Election District 7, 28 Jun. 1867, Ancestry record 928051.
11. 1870 U.S. census, Brooks County, Georgia, Joseph and Nancy Rogers household, Ancestry record 3680901.
12. 1880 U.S. census, Quitman district, Brooks County, Georgia, Joseph J. Rogers household, ED 4, p. 325C, original image 4240127-00294, Ancestry record 11969003.
13. 1920 U.S. census, Barney, Brooks County, Georgia, J. J. and Nancy Rogers, ED 46, sheet 4B, NARA T625 roll 237, Ancestry record 7325862.
14. Find a Grave memorial 51988571, Joseph J. Rogers, Gornto Cemetery, direct memorial; Ancestry Find a Grave index 17414755. Memorial relationships are derivative unless independently supported.
15. 1900 U.S. census, Brooks County, Georgia, Militia District 1571, Joe Rodgers household 100 and John Rodgers household 158.
16. Ancestry exact candidate search for Joseph J. Rogers with Nancy Hires, Georgia birth, and 1922 death, reproducible search. Search results include an unsourced "Joseph Jasper Rogers" tree form; that result was not used as proof.
17. Newspapers.com exact-name search, Georgia, 1885-1900, Joe Rogers results. The Foster page was the only reviewed result that tied the name to Foster.
18. Georgia Historic Newspapers advanced search attempted for "Joe Rogers", 1885-1900, search URL. The site returned results outside the requested dates in this session, so it was not treated as a reliable exhaustive result set.
19. FamilySearch exact death/place search for Joseph J. Rogers, 1922, Brooks County, search URL. It redirected to sign-in; no FamilySearch record page was inspected.
20. Georgia death certificate for Nancy J. Rogers, died 29 June 1932 at Barney, certificate 32-13280, naming parents David Hires and Rebecca Yates, Ancestry record 1053971.
21. 1850 U.S. census, Lowndes County, Georgia, David and Rebecca Hiers household with five-year-old Nancy Hiers, Nancy's Ancestry record 18781039, David's record 18781037.
22. Brooks County Court order dated 20 June 1876 and published in the Quitman Reporter, 22 June 1876, p. 3, naming David Hiers as contractor for the lagoon bridge near Folsom Bridge and directing an inspection before payment, Georgia Historic Newspapers page.
23. 1900 U.S. census, Barney, Brooks County, Georgia, Dove Rodgers, age twelve, recorded as daughter in Joe and Nancy Rodgers's household, Dove's Ancestry record 52873183; household head at source 3.
24. 1910 U.S. census, Barney, Brooks County, Georgia, Jim Moody and wife Dove, Ancestry record 3199145.
25. Find a Grave memorial 73801574, Dove Rogers Moody, wife of James I. Moody, direct memorial. This is derivative cemetery evidence and is used with the census chain.
26. Georgia Archives, Confederate Pension Applications, Brooks County, "Rogers, J J", digital record 342627. The record preserves initials and does not expand the middle name.
27. Rogers-Moody family information recorded 18 August 2026: the family knew Joseph J. Rogers as Joseph Jasper Rogers. Family provenance; no external link.

Reproducible search ledger

• Ancestry: logged-in searches covered the 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, and 1920 censuses; Brooks marriage records; reconstruction oaths; Georgia tax digests; Georgia death records; Find a Grave index; newspaper/obituary indexes; and public-tree results. Exact and variant searches used Joe, Joseph, Joseph J., J. J., Rogers, and Rodgers with Brooks, Quitman, Morven, Barney, Foster, Nancy Hires/Hiers, and 1839-1922.
• Newspapers.com: Georgia, 1885-1900, searched "Joe Rogers", "J. J. Rogers" Brooks, "Joseph Rogers" Brooks, "Joe Rogers" Foster, and "Joe Rogers" Morven. The March 1894 Foster item was found; no second item supplied a spouse, child, middle initial, or other identity bridge.
• Georgia Historic Newspapers: exact-name date-range search was attempted, but the returned result set ignored the range and mixed in later material.
• FamilySearch: the exact death/place search redirected to sign-in. The Georgia death collection's Ancestry page identifies FamilySearch as the source of its extracted data, but a FamilySearch ARK was not obtained.
• Cemetery: Find a Grave was checked directly and through Ancestry. It supports burial, dates, and the Dove Rogers-James I. Moody identification when read with the censuses, but it does not prove the 1894 Foster identity.
• Land/probate: the 1890 tax record was inspected. No subject-indexed probate record or deed naming Foster or Lot 227 was found in the documented online search.

Remaining proof targets

The best remaining bridge would be an 1894-era Brooks deed, tax row, voter list, church record, school record, or local newspaper item that places Nancy, Dove, or another named member of Joseph J. Rogers's family at Foster. Blanche Clements's family correspondence or an original Quitman Free Press social item might also identify the household. Until one of those appears, Joseph J. Rogers should remain the probable leading candidate, not a settled identification. An original record expanding "J. J." to "Joseph Jasper" would separately verify the family-reported middle name.