John Rogers Sr. (abt. 1745 - bef. 1835)

Born about 1745 in North Carolina [uncertain]

Husband of Elizabeth Emory — married 1776 in Cherokee Nation (East)

Descendants

Died before 1835 before about age 90 in Fort Smith, Sebastian, Arkansas, United States [uncertain]

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Biography

There were at least seven John Rogers living in Cherokee territory in the mid-1700s. See research notes below.

This John Rogers was thought to have been born around 1745 in either North or South Carolina. He had a trading post on the Hiwassee River in Tennessee.^{[citation needed]} He was often called Captain. John may have been a Tory Captain in the Revolutionary War,^{[citation needed]} but this is uncertain.

John married Elizabeth Emory around 1771; Elizabeth was still alive as late as 8 Aug 1806:

"Today on the 8th, Mr. Rogers's two women, namely a mother and her daughter!, visited the school in the afternoon."^[1]

The footnote for this entry reads:

"The mother was Elizabeth Emory and her daughter was Jennie Due, Rogers’s step-daughter. Starr, History of the Cherokee Indians, 305"

John and Elizabeth were the parents of five children:

1. Charles,
2. Aky,
3. John,
4. James,
5. Nannie.

Around 1783, John began having children with his step-daughter, Jennie Due. They were also the parents of five children:^[2]

1. Annie,
2. Joseph,
3. Willia,
4. Tiana
5. Susannah.

John died before 1835, but place and date are unknown.

Seeking source for the place currently listed in the Death Place field, namely: Fort Smith, Sebastian, Arkansas.

Research Notes

The other John Rogers are:

• John Rogers who married "Alsey" Fawling and resided near the Moravians' Spring Place mission in Georgia. This man was the father of a daughter, possibly named "Polly" who was to be enrolled in the mission school.
• Captain John Rogers, son of John Rogers and Elizabeth Emory who fought in the War of 1812 and became the Chief of the Old Settlers.
• John Rogers, a white man who married Sarah Cordery and resided on the Chattahoochee River in Georgia.
• John Rogers, mixed blood or white, living with the tribe at Newton, Georgia in 1830 and said to be poor.
• John Rogers, grandson of John Rogers and Elizabeth Emory, in Indian Territory by 1852.
• John Rogers, unknown, in Indian Territory by 1840.

The following is from an unsourced web site, https://www.songofml.com//john_james_rogers.htm

However, we do know more about our Captain John Rogers since the Revolution. He was a Tory Captain in the British Army and fought in the Carolinas with Captain John Stuart. Stuart's son was known as Bushyhead. From this man comes the well-known Bushyhead families of Oklahoma. Reverend Jesse Bushyhead led a group to Arkansas. Why the family name of Bushyhead was adopted, rather than Stuart, we have no historical record.

Captain John Rogers was called "Hell-Fire Jack" by the Cherokees because of his hot temper, and also to designate him from another John Rogers, who was called "Nolichucky Jack". Some sources say that the nickname of "Hell-Fire Jack" came from his decadent lifestyle among the "uncivilized" Cherokee.

He was Scotch (English). We know very little about the life of this man before he came among the Cherokee during the Revolution. In an early history of America, it gives that there were two Rogers brothers who came to this country. They first came into Wythe County, Virginia. William went to Pennsylvania, and Ben came to Tennessee. From this we can gather that our line of the Tennessee Rogers are descendants of Ben.

His first marriage was to Elizabeth Emory Due - he being her third husband. Elizabeth was the daughter of William Emory and Mary Grant, granddaughter of Ludovoc Grant and a Cherokee of the Long Hair Clan.

John Rogers's second marriage was to Jennie Due, a daughter of his first wife, Elizabeth Due, by her first husband, Robert Due. Their daughter, Talahina or Tiana Rogers, born about 1800, married Sam Houston.

All of the following refers to John the son, and possibly his brother James, not the man in this profile.

https://www.songofml.com/john_james_rogers.htm

John [or] James Rogers was a very prominent figure among the Cherokee. He gave them much help and advice. You will find many letters, written by him to the government. He once paid the ransom, demanded for a young boy named Jennings and returned him to his family. John Rogers was often a delegate to Washington, D.C., a Councilman of outstanding ability; and his influence was manifested then and yet today.

John Rogers lived about twelve miles south of Calhoun, Tennessee, on the Hiwassee River. He had boats plying on both the Hiwassee and Tennessee Rivers. He was a man of wealth. Captain John must have loved to entertain, for in the minutes of the mission, this is mentioned. The Christmas of 1806 he gave such a large party - they tell what his guests consumed - not how many were present as we do today; saying, the guests consumed a number of beeves, two barrels of flour, and two barrels of rum, and their stock ate two stacks of hay and one hundred bushels of corn. At one time there were two hundred present. Nancy Vann, a guest, was reported as saying, "I never had such a good time in all of my life.".

In 1818 Captain John Rogers came to western Arkansas from his home, Ross Landing, on the Tennessee River near Lookout Mountain. Leaving there in 1817. It is interesting to know how the government had provided the Indians transportation to the west. A boat was constructed to be sixty feet long and twelve feet wide, two thirds of it were to be covered, two side oars and a steering oar, they were called Keel Boats. Each was given a gun, a kettle, a beaver trap and some ammunition. Often these boats fell apart on the rocky shoals of the Tennessee. He and thirty-one members of his party settled at Big Mulberry Bend, about twenty miles south of the present Ft. Smith. Captain John Rogers Sr. is buried there.

From this marriage [which marriage?] comes three of the Cherokee Chiefs of Oklahoma; namely, Chief John Rogers, Jr. born 1779 Chief of the Western Cherokees and Grand Saline; Judge Charles Coody Rogers and Chief William Charles Rogers, last Chief of the Cherokee Nation.

John Rogers married Alsey Vann (also known as Anna Pruitt) and their only child, Polly Ann, born 1787, married Samuel Dawson, a Scotch-Irish. They were the parents to the well-known Dawson families of Oklahoma. F. M. or Bud Dawson was one of the leading ones in establishing the rights of citizenship of a large family, who were placed on the Cherokee rolls by the Dawes Commission. Alsey was Cherokee.

(Update 9/6/2023 by Tamra New: DNA shows I match the 2 children of Tiana/Diana Rogers and Sam Houston, proving that Polly Ann and Tiana were 1/2 sisters). I also match Charles Rogers and John Siler Rogers, also sons of Capt John Rogers. There were 2 Capt John Rogers in the area and witnesses in the court trial of the Nation vs the Dawson's, witnesses state that Polly Ann Rogers (Anna Pruett) was the daughter of Capt John Rogers and Mrs. Pruett (Alcie Vann). In Joseph Vann's will he first names Mary (Anna) and Robert Vann (children of Mrs. Pruett), then names his other children of his last wife. The Nation tried to stop the will but the state of GA overrulled them. As DNA proves or disproves stories, this disproves that Alcie was a Fawling with a daughter of Polly and that Polly Ann Rogers (Mary Anna Pruett) was the daughter of this John Rogers, and disproves Emmett Starr's assumptions.

Sources: [needs checking]

Narvel Lee Rogers (Address Unknown).

William Vann's genealogy "Vann Generations with Cherokee Origins".

Sources

1. ↑ Rowena McClinton, The Moravian Springplace Mission to the Cherokees, Vol. 1, University of Nebraska Press. (p. 121)
2. ↑ Starr, Emmet. History of the Cherokee Indians. Oklahoma Yesterday Publications edition, Tulsa, OK. 1979.pp. 305, 306, 307. Digitized edition at Starr

See also:

• James Manford Carselowey, "My Journal," Oklahoma section; from Mahon Library
• George Morrison Bell Sr, Genealogies of Old and New Cherokee Indian Families, Bartlesville, OK: 1972 Call Number: 929.2 B433G
• "A Brief Genealogy of the Samuel Felix Magee Family," acquired from Vada Pitts home; author unknown; Cobb archives - Lubbock, Tx 79423
• Chronicles of Oklahoma, Volume 17, No. 2, pgs 6, 7, 8. Interviews 1921-1962. Oklahoma Historical Society, June 1939. Oklahoma State University Library Digital Collections.
• Old Cherokee Families and their Genealogy, Reprinted from "History of the Cherokee Indians and their Legends and folk lore by Emmet Starr Compiled by J J Hill Publication: (Norman: Univ of OK, 1968).
• https://sites.rootsweb.com/~tnpolk2/rogers.htm