William B. Rogers (1835 - 1924)

Born 8 Feb 1835 in Fayette, Ohio, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Cynthia Ann (Buren) Rogers — married 14 Apr 1863 in Daviess, Missouri, United States

Descendants

Died 22 Mar 1924 at age 89 in Trenton, Grundy, Missouri, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Alexis Nelson [send private message]

Biography

Colonel William Rogers served in the United States Civil War.
Enlisted: 1861
Mustered out: Aug 1865
Side: USA
Regiment(s): Mercer Co., Militia, Company D, 44th Missouri Volunteer Regiment

William B. Rogers was born in Fayette County, Ohio in 1835. William served in the Civil War and was Captain in Company D, Regiment 44 of the Missouri Volunteers, and he was a Colonel in the Mercer Co. Militia. He married Cynthia Buren and they had three children:

Carrie Rogers Clark (1868–1946)

William Buren Rogers (1871–1886)

Nobel Giotto Rogers (1877–1912)

Sadly after losing their two sons, his wife Cynthia died in 1913, and his daughter Carrie's husband and child had died in 1893. He and Carrie ran the newspaper in Trenton, Missouri. They adopted a newspaper boy, Francis "Ray" Van Meter, after his family moved back to Iowa. Col. William B. Rogers passed away in 1927.

From the history of NW Missouri Vol. #3:

"Col. William B. Rogers. A veteran editor of Northwest Missouri, it has been given to Colonel Rogers to attain many distinctions both in and out of his profession. His career is a somewhat remarkable one, both for its length of service in the newspaper field, and for its experience as a citizen, and official, a soldier, and a hard and conscientious worker for the right in whatever sphere duty has called him. He has been at the head of the Trenton Republican for forty-five years, and in his eightieth year is still an active figure in Grundy County affairs.

William B. Rogers was born February 8, 1835. His birth occurred in a portion of Greene Township now included in Perry Township of Fayette County, Ohio. His father was Joel Rogers, born in Pennsylvania in 1808, a son of Joel Rogers, a native of New Jersey, and the great-grandfather was named Thomas. The grandfather lived a time in Pennsylvania, moved thence to Ohio, and settling early in Fayette County, bought a tract of land in Greene Township, to the clearing of which he devoted all his spare time. By profession he was a Baptist minister of the old school, but like many pioneers in the faith gained most of his livelihood by tilling the soil. He continued his life as a preacher and farmer of Fayette County until his death. His first wife, grandmother of the Trenton editor, was Milcah Young, who died in early life. He was afterward twice married and had children by each wife. Joel Rogers, father of Colonel Rogers, grew up in Fayette county, was trained in pioneer surroundings, and after reaching manhood bought a piece of timbered land in Perry Township.

The mother of Colonel Rogers was Priscilla Beals, who was born in Greene Township, Fayette County. William Beals; her father, was born in North Carolina, moved, to Tennessee, later to Ohio, where he early settled in Fayette County, and cleared a farm from the wilderness of what was later Perry Township. He died there at a good old age. He married Nancy Caldwell, a native of the North of Ireland and of Scotch stock. Her oldest brother inherited the family estate, sold out and brought other members of the family to America, settling in Highland County, Ohio.

Priscilla Beals Rogers died at the age of twenty-nine, leaving four sons and two daughters, the latter then spending several years in the home of their grandparents before returning to their father. The latter did not marry again until his children were nearly all grown.

With this ancestry and early environment, William B. Rogers was reared to habits of industry and as soon as old enough took his share in the duties of the household and farm. The school he first attended was kept in a house of logs. There was a typical fireplace and mud-andstick chimney, and all the furniture had been roughly made by the home community. He sat on a slab seat, with no back and supported from the ground by wooden pins. For the older pupils in their writing exercises with the old quill pen a broad board was fastened at an angle to the side wall, and the boys and girls stood while at this rude desk.

Colonel Rogers first came to Missouri in 1856.

At Burlington he left the railroad and crossed the Mississippi, and made his way on foot to Mercer County. None of that country had a railroad, a few of the streams were bridged, and civilization had taken an only insecure foothold.

At fifteen dollars a month he labored as a farm hand, and that was his first business in this state. Having a pretty good training in the fundamentals, he was then selected as teacher of a district school, and was paid twenty-five dollars a month for looking after the intellectual and corporeal welfare of some country boys and girls who attended a log school such as he himself had known back in Ohio. With his earnings he advanced his own education through the Grand River College at Edinburg, and was a student there when the war broke out.

One of the instructors of the college resigned and young Rogers for a time supplied her position and also continued his own studies. Returning to Mercer County in the fall of 1861, he enlisted in the Mercer Battalion for six months, and remained in the service until the end of his enlistment. Some while after his return home he was elected in the fall of 1862 sheriff of Mercer County. .. A little later came the general order from Governor Gamble that all able-bodied men should join the state militia, and in response to that order twelve companies were formed in Mercer County, with Sheriff Rogers holding a commission of colonel from the governor and in nominal command of all the county troops.

Before the expiration of his term as sheriff he raised a company of volunteers for active service, which was designated as Company D and attached to the Forty-fourth Regiment of Missouri Infantry, commanded by Col. R. C. Bradshaw, and himself as captain of the company. From Rolla, the first rendezvous, the regiment went into Tennessee and joined the Sixteenth Army Corps. Colonel Rogers was on the firing line at the great battles of Franklin and Nashville, and was with the federals who pursued the shattered troops of Hood toward Shiloh, and for a time was encamped on the Tennessee River. From there he went to New Orleans, was at the operations about Mobile Bay, including the siege and capture of Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely. The regiment then went to Montgomery and went into camp on the site now occupied by the famous Tuskegee Institute. While on the march from Mobile to Montgomery the first news came of Lee's surrender. Colonel Rogers received his honorable discharge after a long and creditable record in August, 1865.

Returning to Missouri, he was engaged in the mercantile business at Ravenna 'four years. In 1869 he bought the Grand River Republican at Trenton, and thus entered upon his long career as newspaper publisher and residence at Trenton. The Republican was established in 1864, under the name of Grand River News, and will soon complete its. fiftieth volume. A. C. Bentley and G. W. Buckingham were the first proprietors and editors. The ownership soon changed, and the name became Republican-News. When Colonel Rogers bought, the paper was a small weekly issue, four pages and seven columns to the page. Many improvements have been introduced. It has alwavs progressed with not be omitted in any comprehensive survey of the last half century in that portion of Northwest Missouri. Some years ago a daily issue was begun and has successfully continued. The Republican has the distinction of being the only country paper in Northwest Missouri having the Associated Press service.

Colonel Rogers was married April 14, 1863, to Cynthia A. Buren. They had been students together at Grand River Institute, and the acquaintance there ripened into marriage. Theirs was an unusually long and happy companionship. On April 14, 1913, family and friends celebrated wifh them their golden wedding anniversary, and a few months later, on August 21, Mrs. Rogers passed away. She was a member of the Ninety-nine, a woman's club, and was reared a Methodist, but joined the Baptist Church after marriage, and she and husband were both devout worshipers in that faith.

Cynthia A. Buren was born in Daviess County, Missouri. Her father, Rev. John Johanneus Buren, was born near Rogersville, in Hawkins County, Tennessee, a son of Henry Buren, who in turn was a son . of Simon Boerum. The latter, probably of Holland Dutch stock, lived in New Jersey, was a member of the first Continental Congress, and later fought for independence in Captain Brinkerhoff's company of New York volunteers. Grandfather Henry Buren went to Hawkins County, Tennessee, where he was granted a large tract of land, part of which is still owned by his descendants, and died there at the age of one hundred and five years. He married Mary Miller. Rev. John J. Buren early joined the Methodist Church, was licensed to preach, and about 1833 migrated to Missouri, and after residence in Jefferson County became one of the pioneer ministers of Northwest Missouri in Daviess County and vicinity. Later he was appointed presiding elder for the South St. Louis district, and lived in St. Louis four years. He then settled near Edinburg, where he entered government land, and lived until his death in 1852. Rev. John J. Buren was married in Tazewell County, Virginia, in 1809, to Cosby Peery, a daughter of William and Sarah (Evans) Peery, and granddaughter of Thomas and Mary Peery of Augusta County, Virginia. William Peery, who fought in both the War of the Revolution and the War of 1812, as is proved by Virginia records, subsequently became a planter and slaveholder in Tazewell County, where he and his wife died. Both Rev. John Buren and his wife received a present of slaves at their wedding, but the blacks were freed, and Reverend Buren was an original abolitionist and active in the cause. Cosby Peery Buren survived her husband until 1884, and her ten children were named: Paschal, Sarah M., Fielding P., Wilbur F., Melville C., Emily, Cullen E., Cynthia A., John 0. and Alvin B.

Colonel and Mrs. Rogers had three children, Carrie, Noble Giotto and William B., Jr. Carrie, the widow of Frank Louis Clark, was for thirteen years librarian of the Jewett Norris Free Public Library until she resigned in November, 1913. Noble Giotto Rogers, whose lamented death occurred July 21, 1912, was liberally educated, first in the Trenton schools and then in De Pauw University at Greencastle, Indiana. For two years he taught Latin in the Trenton High School, and for some years prior to his death was associated with his father in newspaper work. He .was the compiler and publisher of a handsomely illustrated booklet setting forth the advantages and resources of Trenton, and in 1911 published a history of Mercer County, a work of great merit and a contribution to local annals in that section of the state. By his marriage to Minnie Isabelle McGuire were born three children, namely: Alice Marion, William B. and Robert M. William B. Rogers, Jr., died when fifteen years old.

Colonel Rogers cast his first vote with the republican party, and has been a stanch upholder of the policies and candidates of that great political organization. Besides the office of sheriff, he was also honored while in Mercer County with election to the state senate, representing the fourth senatorial district. He has affiliation with Col. Jacob Smith Post No. 72, Grand Army of the Republic, and with Trenton Lodge No. Il1, Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons. Among other interests he is president of the Trenton Building and Loan Association."

Sources

• "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MXQ9-QBV : 21 December 2020), William B Rodgers in household of Joel Rodgers, Green Township, Fayette, Ohio, United States; citing family , NARA microfilm pub...

• "Missouri, County Marriage, Naturalization, and Court Records, 1800-1991," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2ZS-NBB4 : 2 October 2019), William S Rogers and Cynthia A Sunese, 14 Apr 1863; citing Marriage, Daviess, Missouri,...

• "United States Census, 1870", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M46Q-HB4 : 12 June 2019), William B Rogers, 1870.

• "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M6XQ-HBG : 7 September 2017), Wm B Rogers, Trenton, Grundy, Missouri, United States; citing enumeration district ED 214, sheet 412A, NARA microfilm publication T9...

• "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M3CL-6C6 : accessed 6 November 2019), W B Rodgers, Trenton Township Trenton city Ward 4, Grundy, Missouri, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 61, she...

• "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M2YQ-1YH : accessed 6 November 2019), William B Rogers, Trenton Ward 4, Grundy, Missouri, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 61, sheet 5A, family ...

• "United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKDF-NT6M : 16 March 2018), William B Rogers, 1921; citing Passport Application, Florida, United States, source certificate #11874, Passport A...

• Find A Grave: Memorial #9497464 , memorial page for William B. Rogers Sr. (8 Feb 1835–22 Mar 1924), Find a Grave Memorial ID 9497464, citing Masonic Cemetery, Trenton, Grundy County, Missouri, USA ; Maintained by Larry G. Flesher (contributor 43207742) .

Notes

• History of NW Missouri Vol. #3