A Brief History of the
John Rogers
Family
Compiled by Anna R. Hawkes
October 1958
John
Rogers was born July 11, 1788 at Amroth,
Pembrokeshire, Wales. He lived at East Lake, Pembrokeshire,
Wales. He was a well-to-do farmer. His first wife was Jannet
Reese. She died February 29 in Amroth and was buried there March
1, 1837. They had nine children: John,
born 1810; Janet, born 1813; Sarah, born about 1816; William, born about 1821;
Martha, born about 1823; Elizabeth, born about 1827; Thomas, born 2 April 1830;
Henry, born 11 December 1833; and Ann, born 30 December 1835. All were born at Amroth,
Pembrokeshire, Wales.
John
married Ann Williams, 13 December 1838. They had a daughter, Mary, who married Thomas
Fryer and lived in Deweyville, Box Elder, Utah. She was the mother of Mary Fryer and
grandmother of William Fryer of Preston, Idaho.
In
the year 1842, the Rogers family at East Lake accepted the gospel message
and the spirit of gathering came with great force. John made arrangements to go to Zion, although his eldest son
tried to discourage it. This son was a
schoolteacher and a parish minister. He
felt his father was not strong enough to make such a trip. The North American climate would be too
severe.
In
a booklet about the history of Amroth, published by
the Amroth parish church in 1980, the situation is
recounted as follows:
In the middle of the last century, there was a great
interest in the Mormons. The
schoolmaster at that time was John Rogers.
Legend has it that one dark night some local youths climbed on to the
roof and called down the chimney in sepulchral tones, “John Rogers, John
Rogers, the Lord wants thee to go to Salt Lake City.” Similar pranks were said to have been played
at other houses in the parish also.
Whether this is true or not, who can say? What is true is that many people from the
district did go to Utah,
including some of John Rogers’ own family.
He remained here, a very respected member of
the community and an excellent teacher, according to the school inspectors’
reports. In recent years some of the
descendants of these emigrants have returned to find their roots.
On January 12, 1850 the family sailed with a company of Saints for America. The Rogers family appears on the first
page of the shipping list of the ship Josiah
Bradlee, dated December
17, 1849, as follows: Ann Rogers - 29,
John Rogers - 62, Sarah - 29, Elizabeth - 23, Thomas - 20, Henry -
17, Ann - 15, Mary - 9, and Ann Evans - 20.
The
ship was dragged into port at New Orleans on April 17th. They had to wait in New Orleans for a week
(presumably from April 18th to April 25th); they arrived
at St. Louis in eight days (from April 25th to May 3rd);
they had to wait five days in St. Louis (from May 3rd to May 8th);
and they were on the Missouri River for twelve days (from May 8th to
May 20th).
Thomas
Rogers married his father’s ward, Annie Evans, while sailing up the Mississippi River after having courted her on
the journey from Wales. Sarah Rogers married Louis John Davies while
sailing across the Atlantic. When the family reached St. Louis, Thomas and wife, Annie,
and, Sarah, and her husband, Louis, decided to remain there and get work. Elizabeth Rogers was murdered by a jilted
suitor while aboard the Mississippi riverboat. The rest of the family continued on up river
to Council Bluffs. The
family, now greatly reduced in size, consisted of John Rogers, his wife, Ann,
and their daughter, Mary, and John’s children, Ann and Henry Rogers. The Church authorities advised that they
remain there and rent a farm. John
Rogers, 62 years old, was not strong and died 22
August 1850 in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
