ROSWELL NOYES ROGERS

Bio written by James Rogers

Minor editing and hyperlinks by Ryan E. Rogers

Roswell Noyes Rogers was born as one of twins on 23 May 1848 to Joseph Noyes L. and Roxania (Brainard) Rogers. His place of birth, as well as that of his brothers and sisters, appears to have been in Geauga County (near Huntsburg), Ohio. The 1850 Federal census shows the family living there with Roswell and his twin, Rockwell H., having by that time reached the age of two years. Their eldest brother, Eli S. C., later declared in army papers that his own birthplace had been Huntsburg, Ohio. It is not known if Roswell and Rockwell were fraternal or identical twins.

Geauga County at that time was a tranquil area of northeast Ohio on the bank of Lake Erie. Settlers there escaped any significant Indian troubles such as were experienced in other parts of the country.

The family went west, and Roswell was counted with them in the 1855 Illinois State census. At that time they were living in rural North Henderson Township of Knox County near Galesburg. He probably witnessed the wedding of his brother Albert to Sarah Artis on 28 February 1856, in the same county.

During the era of the Civil War, this writer presumes Roswell stayed with his mother Roxania in various places of central and northern Illinois (perhaps including Keithsburg in Mercer county, where his brother Eli married in 1862) while his father served in Illinois volunteer regiments. Most of his father’s service was at Camp Douglas, near Chicago. Roswell himself is not known to have served in any Union unit, probably because of his young age, though his father and brother Eli did volunteer and serve. Another possibility is that Roswell went with other family members to Minnesota to stay with relatives while they waited out the war.

In June of 1865, Roswell is believed to have been living with his brother Albert, Albert’s (apparently second) wife Anna, and a Thomas Rogers in rural Wright county, Minnesota. The family appears to have joined relatives who had been living in that part of the state since the late 1850s. Following the war, Roswell’s father Joseph N. L. rejoined the family at Clearwater, Minnesota. The 1870 Federal census shows Roswell and his parents living on an evidently rented farm near the town of Buffalo in Wright county. This was a lake-filled portion of the state not far from the Mississippi.

The family may have moved south to Louisa County, Iowa, for it was there on 23 August 1873, that Roswell married Emily "Amy" Louisa Munden. The ceremony was performed at the house of the local Methodist minister, Rev. Morris Bamford, at Morning Sun, Iowa. Roswell’s father signed an affidavit as to the couple’s eligibility to marry, there being no impediments to the union. It appears that a split later developed between Roswell and his parents, though at that time they were apparently in harmony. (A granddaughter, Thelma Lee (Ingersoll) Long, of El Paso, Texas, attributed the estrangement to Roswell’s marriage to Amy). Perhaps she and her parents-in-law did not get along, but this is speculation. A family tradition related by Iva Valaria (Keeton) Rogers to her daughter-in-law, Sophia (Reynolds) Rogers of Rock Island, Illinois, may also have some bearing on this. Vague memories indicated that Roswell’s father (or grandfather?) got angry with them one day, put his wife in a buggy, and drove away, never to be seen again).

Roswell and Amy began their family and moved to Illinois, where in 1877 an entry appeared in the directory of Warren County for "R. N. Rogers." He lived in the village of Gerlaw, and was employed as a laborer for a wealthy farmer named W. J. Miller. Curiously, the same page shows a John H. Murphy employed as a farmer for Roswell. (During this part of his life he was frequently referred to as "R. N. Rogers." Vital records for children confirm that R. N. and Roswell were one and the same). The directory also shows his political leanings as "Dem."

Around 1880, Roswell and his family are believed to have still resided in rural Warren County (Spring Grove and Sumner Townships) in west central Illinois. They appear to have been missed by the census taker for that year, although a suspiciously similar listing was made for a "Roswell and Emiline Rogers" in Mills county, Iowa, for 1880. More research should be done on this point.

Three chattel mortgages from this period of residence in Warren County have been discovered. The first, dated 3 September 1883, shows that Roswell pledged two horses named Dock and Fann, a wagon (Moline make), and 100 cords of wood (subject to a prior lien).

Three weeks later, Roswell pledged a horse called Barney. The third mortgage ten months later repeated a pledge of a horse called "Fan" for a loan.

The cordwood and its large quantity may be an indicator of some of the family’s income during this period. Roswell would later work in some lumber related jobs in Burlington, Iowa. (One also wonders if the name "Barney" for one of his horses had some humorous or sentimental import. Roswell’s late father-in-law had also been named Barney.)

The real significance of these documents is that they indicate the family was experiencing financial difficulties. The chattel mortgages were security arrangements in which Roswell’s chattels (moveable personal property) were pledged as collateral for loans. The probability that Roswell had run on hard times is further strengthened by the fact that the family moved to Monmouth, the urban county seat, shortly thereafter.

The Monmouth City directory of 1885-86 (dated Feb. 1885) lists Roswell (R. N.) residing on the east side of Warsaw St., two blocks south of Depot. By this time, Roswell and Amy were the parents of five children. These were: Charles Lavanson, (perhaps named for a probable cousin of Roswell’s, Lavanson Rogers of Minnesota, who died as a Union soldier in the Civil War). Charlotte Ellen, Frank Francis, and Mary Jane.

A delayed birth certificate for the next child, Harry Arthur, indicates that at the time of his birth, the family may have been living in Gladstone, Illinois, on the east side of the Mississippi River. Harry was born 20 September 1885. (When this writer was asking about the possibility of directories for early Gladstone, a woman in the county clerk’s office of Henderson County commented, "I don’t think Gladstone even knows it’s a town!" Gladstone is not very large.)

Roswell is first listed as a resident of Burlington, Iowa, in 1888. The family lived in a structure at 814 South Main. The house has since been removed. Other buildings along that stretch of Main Street are built in a brick two-story Federal style.

At that time Roswell worked for the Burlington Lumber Company, founded by E. D. Rand around 1870. The mill was on the west shore of the Mississippi, just east of the South and Main street junction. The work force numbered up to about fifty hard-working men. Log rafts were floated downriver from Minnesota and Wisconsin to provide the firm with raw material. Some of the workers would leap from log to log while delivering instructions to others. A steam-powered saw was capable of cutting timber up to three feet in diameter. Cut lumber would be stacked in batches 30-40 feet high in company street fashion, in such quantity the wagon paths between the stacks needed to be numbered. Planks extending from the wood stacks at 12" intervals formed crude stairways that allowed workers to climb them at any time.

That same year a fourth son, Clarence Alden, was born. In 1891 a third daughter, Daisy Lee, was born. She would be the baby of the family.

The Burlington City directories for the period 1891-1898 show the family living at the corner of May and Elm Avenues, as well as 1118, 1112, and 1415 Agency Street.   Roswell's eldest daughter Charlotte married Harry Ingersoll in 1896.  The certificate indicates the ceremony was performed at her father's home (at that point 1112 Agency), and Amy attested to her daughter having reached the marriageable age of eighteen years.  A lack of ownership records at the county level indicates that each of Roswell's homes had been rented.

Roswell worked in 1894 for Sam Wadleigh, a prominent Burlington businessman who sold wood and coal.  Apparently Roswell also tried his hand at being a "veterinary surgeon," which at that time was another term for horse doctor.  According to Dr. Coles of the Burlington Health Center, a veterinarian at the turn of the century would have felt it beneath his dignity to treat (publicly, at least) farm animals other than horses.  At that time horses still meant transportation, wealth, and status symbol all rolled into one.  Both the city directory and a reference to this occupation in his son Harry's delayed birth certificate indicate that Roswell did indeed try this line of work.  Roswell's granddaughter Albertine L. (Rogers) Rego, of Denver, recalled hearing that Roswell had some practical medical ability.  She'd heard that he once cleared up (or cured) a cancer on his own face by applying some sort of chemical poultice.   This writer found no display advertisement for Roswell in the city directory under "veterinary surgeon" for the year he was listed as being one.  Records of the American Veterinary Association, Mississippi Valley Veterinary Medical Association, and the Iowa Veterinary Medical Association do not show him as a member, though not all records go that far back.

The 1895 Iowa State census listed Roswell and his family in one clear picture.  It showed Roswell as a laborer with Amy keeping house.  Their sons William and Charles were working as machinist and poultryman, and their sister Charlotte was employed as a housekeeper.  The religious belief of the family members is noted as all Methodist except for Roswell.  No denomination was stated for hime.  He may not have been a regular churchgoer.

As the turn of the century approached, there was trouble brewing in Amy and Roswell's relationship.  In 1899 Amy sought and found the Reverend Morris Bamford living in Kansas.  She needed him to complete a marriage return to be recorded with the original license (that had been filed years before in Louisa county, Iowa).   Evidently this was in preparation for divorce from Roswell. Amy (reffered to as Emma in court records) filed for divorce on the 16^th of September 1901. According to Amy’s account, Roswell was
unmindful of his marriage vows, has been guilty of such cruel and inhuman treatment as to endanger the life of this plantiff, repeatedly striking and beating her; knocking her down, and threatening to take her life.” Roswell’s account differs from that given by Amy. According to Roswell, he was always a “dutiful and loving husband” and that he never deserted Amy, but that she deserted him. But he later admits that he did on “one occasion slap her in the face, but that this act was provoked by certain immoral acts” by Amy. He also states that “she (Amy) never was a strong minded woman after the birth of her first child.”

Thelma Lee (Ingersoll) Long believed, from what she had heard from family members, that Roswell had a great temper and had been too abusive to Amy.  It certainly appears that the marriage of 27 years ended around 1900.  The Federal census of that year shows Roswell living with his sons Harry, Frank, and Clarence -- with no Amy -- in Burlington at 212 High Street, not far from the Mississippi River.  The Davenport city directory for 1900-1901 shows his son Charles L. Rogers boarding at the Linden Hotel, and the next one shows Charles with a wife Emma (Emily F. Jahn) residing at 624 Front Street.  Roswell and Harry also appear for the first time (1902-1903) in the Davenport listings, living at 53 Putnam Building at 2nd and Brady Streets in downtown Davenport, Iowa.  The Putnam Building was evidently a structure of two segments joined in the middle, perhaps opening onto Brady.  In the following several years, Roswell, Harry, and Clarence continued to live in the building.  (It was replaced by Davenport's first eight story skyscraper in 1910).  A 1909 listing showed him called "Ross Rogers."

The only documented occupations shown for Roswell in following years are laborer and bricklayer.  Family tradition  maintained he was a bricklayer, and this is confirmed by directory listings for R. Noyes Rogers of 1024 Farnam Street having that occupation.  A search of the 1910 census at that address shows no Roswell, but there was a "Frank Rogers," age 46, of unknown background (a nephew?).  Roswell appears in no more Davenport directories until 1920.  Perhaps he moved too frequently to be recorded, or perhaps he shadowed Amy for the brief period in which she lived in Monmouth, Illinois.

There was a family scandal in 1911 concerning Daisy that was covered up by her sisters.   A mention in the Clarksville MO paper, The Piker, tells of the surprise the family had at news that Daisy had eloped the previous November.  It also stated, "that parental objections forbade the bans, hence the clandestine marriage."  A short time after the birth of Daisy's baby, she overdosed on a prescription medicine, and subsequently recovered.  How Roswell responded is not known.

There is no evidence known to this writer that Roswell ever remarried.  At present, 1920 census is not available for study, due to privacy restrictions.   Perhaps it will provide more confirming information when it is released.

Elderly parents have traditionally been found living with their children.  So it was in the case of Roswell.  A letter to a sister from Roswell's daughter-in-law, Caroline Schafer Rogers (Clarence's second wife), refers to Clarence's parents living with them.  Social Security would not be enacted until a few years after Roswell's death.   Sophia Rogers, of Rock Island, Illinois, also confirmed that the children of Roswell and Amy took them in at various times.  Their eldest son William often sent his mother money from Canada.  It is not known if he ever sent his father similar assistance.

On 22 January 1931 Roswell passed away at his home at 628 Brown Street in Davenport, evidently from a stroke.  His death certificate gives "apoplexy" as the cause, with arteriosclerosis and old age as contributory factors.  He was then in his 83rd year.

His son Clarence served as informant, and some inaccuracies crept into the record.   For whatever reason, his name appears as Roswald Norris Rogers.  (It was reported in the Davenport Democrat as Roswald Morris Rogers.)  His year of birth was given as 1847, and the place of birth was given as Gerlaw, Illinois.

The Hartwig Funeral Home handled arrangements, and he was buried 26 January in Fairmount Cemetery.  His final resting place is lot F8 of the PG Oaklawn section, an area of mostly single space burials, apart from any relatives.