Excerpts from "Land Ownerships of the Rogers Family, 1750-1835, in the Foxtown Area of East Haddam, Connecticut," a draft manuscript currently (December 1999) being completed by James A. Rogers, with Research Assistance from Dr. Russell I. Haley.
A genealogy of Adam Rogers is available in abridged form in a 1977 article entitled "The Mulatto Adam Rogers and His White Wife Katherine Jones." (1) Similar family data is presented with less detail and discussion in two other publications, Tapestry, and Black Roots in Southeastern Connecticut 1650-1900 (2).
Adam Rogers, a freed mulatto, was raised in the New London, Connecticut, house of John Rogers, founder of a radical and disruptive religious sect (modeled after the Quakers) called the Rogerenes. After setting up his own rural household, Adam was a squatter for what he himself described as "thirty years" on some of New London's common ground (land not yet sold or "set out" to individuals), between Alewife Brook and Royce's Mountain. Before the land under him was sold in 1744, he and his family were forcibly evicted from the property, their belongings were tossed over the fence, and his "mansion house" (about 16 feet square) was destroyed. He is estimated to have been 70 to 75 years old at the time. Adam filed suit in court for damages, but lost his case in November 1746. (3) One might assume that afterwards, he and his wife lived with relatives in nearby East Haddam, Connecticut. This was where their daughter Jemima was living with her husband of nearly four years, John Fox (who was also her cousin), and where their son Adam Junr had married just one month before Adam's 1744 eviction. This writer has found no evidence to either support or disprove this possibility. Exactly where they lived, and the dates and place(s) of their deaths and burial have not been determined. Some of their descendants are known to be buried in Three Bridges Cemetery at North Plain in East Haddam. Some may be in unmarked graves, as appears to be the case with their sons Ralph and Gammon. (4) Not marking graves was a characteristic practice of the Rogerenes. Many of their children lived in the southeast part of the Town of East Haddam. This rural area lies northwest of New London immediately west of what is now the Town of Salem, Connecticut. Salem was created partly from the north part of Lyme (also formerly called the Parish of New Salem) and partly of southern Colchester. The region was also called Paugwonk, an area frequently mentioned in the Hempstead Diary, (5) a well known resource for researchers in this part of Connecticut
(1)George Waller-Frye, 1946 - , "The Mulatto Adam Rogers and His White Wife Katherine Jones" was published in "The American Genealogist" (1977, Vol. 53, No. 4), pp. 217 - 224. An expanded and annotated version is on deposit with the LDS Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, The Connecticut State Library in Hartford, Connecticut, and other institutions. Its title reference in expanded form is: George Waller-Frye, 1946 - , "Connecticut Genealogies; 1: Adam and Katherine Rogers of New London Ct.; James and Katherine Merritt of Killingworth Ct." (Spring Hill Press, Storrs, Ct, 1977, 57 pages); An electronic version (transcribed by Mark Merritt, with permission of the author) is currently available on the Internet, in the area for New London, Connecticut, within the U.S. Genweb Project; Additional discussion of the Rogers family and related Jones and Fox families is found in the genealogical column of the microfilmed newspaper, "The Boston Transcript," 21 January, 30 January, 20 February, 31 March, and 26 May 1924, and 11 January 1933. All are referenced as: Query # 1099.
(2)Barbara W. Brown and James M. Rose, "Tapestry, A Living History of the Black Family in Southeastern Connecticut" (New London Historical Society, New London, Connecticut, 1979), pp. 65-67; Barbara W. Brown and James M. Rose, "Black Roots in Southeastern Connecticut 1650-1900" (Vol. 8 of the Gale Genealogy and Local History Series, Gale Research Co., Detroit, Michigan, 1980), p. 349.
(3)Connecticut Court Case: Adam Rogers of New London vs Joseph Bools [Bolles] (# 218). Tresspass [sic], Court at Norwich, 4 Tuesday of November 1746, Files at the Connecticut State Library.
(4)"Millington Society Congregational Church Records," 1733-1931. Vol. 2, pp. 80, 87. LDS microfilm. Death dates: Gammon - 20 November 1787, Ralph - 25 April, 1803; Gilbert H. Strong and Moreau J. Stark, "Old Roads, Trails, and Houses [of East Haddam]" (Compiled for the Nathan Hale Memorial Chapter, NSDAR, East Haddam, Connecticut, manuscript, 1930), p. 38. Ralph and Gammon are reported to be buried in the cited cemetery. There is no record of them in published cemetery data, i.e.: "Inscriptions from Gravestones at East Haddam, Conn.," "NEH&G Register" (NEHGS, Boston, 1927, Vol. LXXXI), pp. 59, 60.
(5)Joshua Hempstead, "The Diary of Joshua Hempstead" (New London Historical Society, New London, Connecticut, 1901).