Rogers Family Adventures, Continued: More Panthers and Some Rattlesnakes

Here are some more Rogers family adventures, this time mentioning Richard Rogers (1791-1875) and his brothers, Reuben (1798-1850), Joseph (1784-1847), Benjamin (1797-1851), and Moses Rogers (1806-1879). For their connection to me, see the previous two posts, Samuel Rogers and Ann Gaunt, and Richard Rogers Recalls His Childhood.

John James Audubon: Felis concolor

Quoted from The Now and Then magazine. See source below.

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Source

Now and Then: A Quarterly Magazine of History, Biography & Genealogy, Volumes 2-3: Pages 233-234. 1888.

https://books.google.com/books?id=y5YyAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22the+now+and+then%22+a+quarterly&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Richard Rogers Recalls His Childhood

Old postcard from eBay showing the area where Richard's family lived 

Richard Rogers was the son of Samuel and Ann Gaunt Rogers, who were featured in the previous post. He was born in Yorkshire, England in 1791 and journeyed with his parents and siblings to Pennsylvania in 1801.  These stories take place in Forksville, Sullivan County, Pennsylvania, where the Rogers family settled. 

Quoted from Weavers of a Legacy (see source note):

"J. M. M. Gernerd, editor of The Now and Then, interviewed Richard Rogers (son of Samuel I) in 1874 when Richard was 83 years old. Gernerd captured some of Richard’s memories and escapades as a child growing up in the wilds of the virgin Pennsylvania forests.

Richard’s stories of encounters with wild animals give us a vivid picture of just how dangerous life could be on the frontier. Three of Richard’s adventures are noted below:

He (Richard) related with great minuteness how he went out one morning on the flat below the Forks to bring in the oxen, with his rifle on his shoulder, as was then the common custom, when leaving the house, and had a most terrific encounter with a deer. 

He said he found a large doe with the cattle and shot her. Just as he fired she slightly changed her position, in consequence of which the ball merely stunned her. When he went to bleed her she was almost instantly on her feet again, and attacked him with great fury. He undertook to hold her, but her strength surprised him. The combatants now rolled over each other, back and forth, in the savage struggle for life. She fought him until, as he said, his “shirt was torn into ribbons,” and he was “almost naked.” When he at last succeeded in using his knife, he was himself so nearly exhausted that he was for some minutes hardly able to move.

Once he killed a wolf on the same flat below the Forks with a hemlock knot. He said he was driving some young cattle through the woods, along the creek, when the wolf jumped from behind a tree and started for the stream. He managed to get between the animal and the creek, and just as it raised to attack him, with bristles up and mouth open ready to bite, he struck for its head. Overreaching his mark, he hit it a stunning blow on the back, but before the enraged beast could recover, he dispatched
it with a blow on the head.

When nearly grown up Richard went one day with several of his younger brothers to inspect a bear trap that they had set several miles away in the forest. On returning it began gradually to grow strangely and unaccountably dark. He said “a queer feeling” came creeping over them. They saw a flock of seventeen deer; the nimble-footed creatures did not seem anxious to get away, but appeared to be, as they were themselves, strangely disconcerted. 

The boys stopped at a corn field some distance from the house to do some hoeing, but the mysterious darkness continued to increase, and they could not work. The younger brothers began to cry. Richard now said, “Come, boys, I guess we might as well go home,” with all the apathy he could muster, but secretly he himself was no less strangely affected. They went home and were soon comforted. The darkness was caused by a total eclipse of the sun."

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Source

Weavers of a Legacy by Jean Paterson Rosencrantz, 2006. P. 22. http://grimshaworigin.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/WeaversOfLegacyByJeanLand.pdf

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My connection to Richard Rogers (1791 - 1875) great-uncle of wife of 1st cousin 3x removed


Samuel Rogers (1761 - 1828) father of Richard Rogers


John Rogers (1787 - 1858) son of Samuel Rogers


Rebecca A Rogers (1813 - 1878) daughter of John Rogers


Emma Little (1846 - 1933) daughter of Rebecca A Rogers


Eldorous H Whitehouse (1852 - 1938) husband of Emma Little


Mary Carroll Rankins (1827 - 1909)--my 3rd great aunt--mother of Eldorous H Whitehouse


Joseph P Rankins Sr. (1801 - 1882)--my 3rd great grandfather--father of Mary Carroll Rankins


Eleanor Ruth "Ellen" Rankins (1822 - 1914)--my great great grandmother--daughter of Joseph P Rankins Sr.


Oscar J Ellis (1852 - 1907)--my great grandfather--son of Eleanor Ruth "Ellen" Rankins


Eva Josephine Ellis (1888 - 1943)--my grandmother--daughter of Oscar J Ellis


Daniel Lawrence Harris (1907 - 1972)--my father--son of Eva Josephine Ellis


Clair Marie Harris--me--I am the daughter of Daniel Lawrence Harris

Samuel Rogers and Ann Gaunt

Fairmount Cemetery, Forksville, Sullivan County, Pennsylvania

From Find a Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/33173800

The fun of digging around in genealogical records and histories is when the stories are uncovered. Sometimes I am busy following my relatives back in time and find myself gone somewhat astray. That's what happened when I came across the Rogers family of Pennsylvania.

Rebecca Rogers (1813-1878) was the mother-in-law of my first cousin 3 x removed, but let's not worry about that--I'll spell out the connection at the bottom of this post. Rebecca's grandparents are the ones with the interesting stories about their journey from Yorkshire, England to America, and their subsequent adventures. And they sure did have a lot of children...

Samuel Rogers (1761-1828) was married in 1783 in Yorkshire, England to Ann Gaunt (1762-1823), when they were both 21 years old. They started their family in Yorkshire with the birth of Samuel, Jr. in 1782 (before they were married?--the records are a little unclear); followed by:

Joseph 1784
Jonathan 1785
John 1787
William 1788
Hannah 1790
Richard 1791
David 1793
Abram 1794
Elizabeth 1795
Martha 1796
Benjamin 1797
Reuben 1798
Jacob 1801

That's 11 boys and 3 girls (so far. Stay tuned). Abram, Elizabeth, and Martha died young and were buried in England.

With their remaining 11 children,  Samuel and Ann and Samuel's brother George sailed for America in 1801. I calculate that their oldest son was 19; then the ages were 17, 16, 14,  13, 11, 10, 8, 4, 3, and baby Jacob.

The trip couldn't have been easy in any way.

"The calamities of the voyage as told by Ann Gaunt Rogers:

Ann related that when her little ones cried for water, she gave them bits of hard, dry toasted bread to chew and abate their thirst. She told of the death of baby Jacob, 5 months old, who died from the dreaded smallpox outbreak and was buried at sea. 

After the ship had anchored about three miles from shore, some drunken sailors accidentally set a fire and nearly burned down the ship... Uncle George had his leg badly scalded during the fracas. 

Four-year old Benjamin was missing when the family was ready to disembark. Joseph, 17, rushed back to the berths and found his brother asleep. Finally, the family arrived on American soil with 10 of their 14 children. Besides the child who died at sea, they had buried Abram, Elizabeth and Martha in England. Four more children would be born in their new homeland." (3)

The four children born after the family arrived in Pennsylvania were:

George born 1802
Isaac b. 1804
Moses b. 1806
Mary Ann b.1808 when her mother Ann was 46.

Next post: More adventures for the Rogers family

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Sources

1. Ingham's History of Sullivan County, Pennsylvania. 1899. http://usgwarchives.net/pa/sullivp.html

2. Now and Then: A Quarterly Magazine of History, Biography & Genealogy, Volumes 2-3. 1888.

https://books.google.com/books?id=y5YyAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22the+now+and+then%22+a+quarterly&source=gbs_navlinks_s

3. Weavers of a Legacy: Ancestors and Descendants of Samuel Rogers (1760-1828), Ann Gaunt (1762-1823), Yorkshire, England; and Allied Families (Gaunt, Roger, Molyneaux), by Jean Peterson Rosencranz. 2006. Downloadable PDF Document, available at http://grimshaworigin.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/WeaversOfLegacyByJeanLand.pdf

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I am very loosely connected to Samuel Rogers in the following way: 

Samuel Rogers (1761 - 1828)
great-grandfather of wife of 1st cousin 3x removed

John Rogers (1787 - 1858)
son of Samuel Rogers

Rebecca A Rogers (1813 - 1878)
daughter of John Rogers

Emma Little (1846 - 1933)
daughter of Rebecca A Rogers

Eldorous H Whitehouse (1852 - 1938)
husband of Emma Little

Mary Carroll Rankins (1827 - 1909)
mother of Eldorous H Whitehouse

Joseph P Rankins Sr. (1801 - 1882)
father of Mary Carroll Rankins

Eleanor Ruth "Ellen" Rankins (1822 - 1914)--my great great grandmother
daughter of Joseph P Rankins Sr.

Oscar J Ellis (1852 - 1907)--my great grandfather
son of Eleanor Ruth "Ellen" Rankins

Eva Josephine Ellis (1888 - 1943)--my grandmother
daughter of Oscar J Ellis

Daniel Lawrence Harris (1907 - 1972)--my father
son of Eva Josephine Ellis

Clair Marie Harris--that's me, the daughter of Daniel Lawrence Harris