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

From Rome to Cherokee, Part 2

Children of Joseph and Joanna Rankins, circa 1886 [17 years after the trip to Cherokee]
Back: Lydia 41 years, Adah [49] years
Front: Eleanor 64 years and Mary 59

Continuing the story of my great great grandparents' trip from Maine to Iowa in 1869.

In the last post, I tried to list the members of the traveling party going from Rome, Maine to Cherokee, Iowa in 1869. I kept having to go back and add to the post as I found more and more relatives making the move at the same time. Bear with me, I think I might have it now. Ages are approximate and in parentheses.


Joseph (68) and Joanna Rankins (70)

Their grown children who also traveled to Cherokee:
 Harriet (46), her husband William Bickford (52) and their two children: Melinda (25) and Edwin (15)

Mary Carroll (42), her husband Isaac Whitehouse (54) and their four sons: Julius (22), Samuel (20), Eldorous (17), and Joseph (10)

Eleanor Ruth, my great great grandmother (48), her husband, Robert Winslow Ellis (50); and their five youngest children Helen (15), Henry (12), Cora Bell (8), Ellsworth (6), and Robert (2)

Adah (32), her husband John Louis Burgess (41), and one child, Anna (9).  Adah was pregnant during the trip, giving birth to her son, Johnny, in December 1869.

Lydia Frances (25), who would marry Obed Wells (also from Maine) in Iowa in 1869.

At this point in my research, I would say that at least 23 members of the extended Rankins family made the trip in 1869.

Now, how do 23 people travel from Rome to Cherokee in 1869? Here is what I have found out about westbound travel in those days.

The routes of travel by which the pioneers gained access to the haunts of our beavers and to our fertile acres were mainly three:  First, via the Great Lakes to Green Bay, thence up the Fox river to Lake Winnebago, thence across to the Portage, and down the Wisconsin river; second, via the Ohio river, thence up the Mississippi and Missouri rivers; third, overland by wagon.  The degree of use of these routes before the advent of the railroad can only be surmised.  Prior to 1845 certainly the river routes were the highways chiefly used by the westward bound emigrants.  From 1845 overland travel by wagon became increasingly common until the railroad became a practicable mode of travel, round about 1860.  ~from The Nativity of the Pioneers of Iowa, by F.I Herriott, Iowa Official Registers, 1911-1912. http://iagenweb.org/history/oir/11-12/pioneer.htm

I searched and searched for an answer as to how my relatives traveled--by steamboat, canal boat, train, or covered wagon? Then I was lucky enough to have some correspondence with another family history researcher (known only to me as "Norma from Albuquerque"), who is descended from the Burgess family. She offered a clue: There was a family story that the granddaughters of Adah Rankins and John Burgess had written an account of their grandparents' journey to Iowa in a covered wagon.  We don't know if such an account was ever published, but it gives us something to go on. Thank you, Norma!

My next subject for research: What was it like to travel in a covered wagon in those days? Next time...

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Note about the Rankins family: There were two more children of Joseph and Joanna Rankins who didn't make the trip and never did join the family in Iowa. Sarah (1835-1908) was married to Frederick Morton and settled down in Augusta, Maine raising her own large family.  

And then there was Thomas (1830-1892). At one point, I had imagined that he just stayed behind and farmed in Maine. Nothing could have been further from the truth! I'll tell his story another time.

My Father's Ancestors: The Midwest Connection

When I asked my mother in the late 1950s about my father's family, she wrote out a sheet that explained what little she knew about them. There was an "Ellice" in Maine, and there was my father's grandmother, "Ellen" whose maiden name was unknown.

And there was a note about a midwest connection, which I always thought referred to my paternal grandfather, Albert Harris. As it turns out, it may well have referred to the family of my paternal grandmother, Eva Ellis Harris.

There wasn't a lot to go on, but my mother's information was the springboard for my research on my father's family. I eventually found my great grandfather Oscar J. Ellis (see Finding Oscar, which appears elsewhere on this blog).

Oscar's father, my great great grandfather, Robert Winslow Ellis (1821-1876), was born in Maine and married a Maine girl, Eleanor Ruth Rankins (1822-1914). Their ten children were all born in Maine, but some time after the birth of the youngest, Robert C., in Dec. 1867, they moved to Cherokee County, Iowa, where they appeared in the 1870 U.S. Census on June 8: Robert, Eleanor, and their five youngest children, Helen, Henry, Cora Bell, Ellsworth, and Robert. (See Robert and Eleanor's family chart in the Notes at the end of this post for clarification of who is who).

1870 U.S. Federal Census, Willow Township, Cherokee County, Iowa

Of their five oldest children, two--Isaac and Anna--had died young in Maine. Thomas R. (1848-1910) apparently stayed in Maine [later edit: Thomas actually went to Australia! His story starts here: Where Thomas Went]. My great grandfather, Oscar J. Ellis (1852-1907) and his brother Edward (1841-1916) went from Maine to Rhode Island to Massachusetts. Oscar's daughter was Eva Ellis Harris, the mother of my own father, Daniel Harris, who was born in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1907.

With Robert Winslow Ellis, I now had a midwest connection for my father's family! Of course, in family history research the answer to one question just generates even more questions. How did exactly the Ellis family get to Cherokee from Rome, Maine? Which route did they take? What means of transportation were available? Did they travel alone, or did others make the journey from Maine with them? And what did they find when they arrived at their new home?

Next time: From Rome to Cherokee

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Notes

1. How Robert is connected to me:

Robert Winslow Ellis (1821 - 1876)
2nd great-grandfather

Oscar J. Ellis (1852 - 1907)
son of Robert Winslow Ellis

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

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

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

2. Robert and Eleanor's family: