William ROGERS

Male Abt 1612 - 1664  (52 years)


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  • Name William ROGERS  [2, 3
    • "Connecticut Ancestry": William Rogers was born at Stratford-On-Avon, Warwickshire,England about 1612, and was baptized there on 7 February 1612/13, the son of one Thomas Rogers, whose identity has not been resolved by earlier researchers. He died at Huntington, Suffolk County, Long Island, New York "probably rather suddenly" on 13 July 1664.

      it is important to note that William's father was not the Thomas Rogers who was among the passengers of the MAYFLOWER. One author describes the situation as follows:

      "Thomas Rogers of Stratford-on-Avon, father of William Rogers was not Thomas Rogers of the 'Mayflower'. The Rogers family was numerous and prominent in Stratford-on-Avon. Thomas rogers, Bailiff and alderman, who was buried February 20 1610/11, was of this family. This Thomas had at least 16 children, one becoming mother of the John Harvard of New England. The handsome Rogers House in Stratford-on-Avon which the alderman Thomas Rogers built in 1596 is believed to still be standing."

      Some authors have called him a member of the followers of the Rev. Richard Denton who settled in succession Wethersfield and Stamford, Connecticut, and Hempstead,on Long Island, but this appears to be an overstatement. William Rogers did in fact own property in Wethersfield by 1645, but he is not listed among the first settlers of that town who came from Watertown in 1635 and 1636. Although it is reasonable to presume that he spent some earlier time in Massachusetts, he is not mentioned in Savage's "Genealogical Dictionary" at all, and apparently did not leave any records elsewhere in new England prior to the land ownership in Wethersfield. Seversmith said he appeared "supposedly" in Boston in 1638, but gave no source for the statement. Seversmith also call him a "cousin" of Thomas Wickes/Wilkes of Wethersfield and Huntington.

      He married Anna or Anne hall at Stratford-On-Avon on 2 February 1630/31. She survived her husband and died 22 November 1669 and 21 February 1669/70, the dates of he will and its probate. The suggestion by Miner and Jacobus that she was possibly Anne Sherman, daughter of Edmund Sherman of Dedham, England and Wethersfield, is NOT mentioned at all by Seversmith, and appears to have been superseded by Seversmith's more detailed discoveries. In particular, Seversmith noticed in the parish registers that Anne was probably identical with that Anne Hall, illegitimate daughter of Grace Hll, who was baptized at Sratford-on-Avon on 16 February 1612/13, less than one week after the baptism there of William Rogers. Anne's mother appears to have been Grace, daughter of robert "hawle", who was baptized at Stratford-on-Avon on 18 june 1583.

      William Rogers was in Southampton, Long Island at an early time, but the exact sequence of his residences is not clear. The Southampton historian Mr. Howell gave the following account:

      "William Rogers is mentioned as a resident of Southampton from 1642, so, at least, March 1645-6. In 1645 the Gen. Court of Connecticut mad him a grant of land. In 1649 he is made freeman. he appears to have had a home in Hempstead, for a few years previous to 1649. From 1649 to 1655 we find him an inhabitant of Southampton, and after this he disappears altogether...Subsequent to 1655, Obadiah Rogers is mentioned as residing on the homestead that William had occupied...Now it is probable that William gave the Southampton homestead to his son Obadiah about 1655, and with his wife and younger children removed to Huntington where he might have resided several years."

      We do know that on 30 July 1656, Jonas Wood, William Rogers and Thomas Wilkes purchased the major portion of what would become the Huntington lands from Asharoken Montinnicok, Sachem, and the other native Americans "for and in consideration of 2 coates, fore shertes, seven quarts of licker and aleven ounces of powther." This agrees very well with Mr. Howell's estimate of the time William Rogers moved to Huntington.

      William Rogers did not leave a will (at least not one that has survived), but the will of Anne Rogers of Huntington mentioned her son Obadiah and his eldest son (not identified by name), her sons John, Noah and Samuel, and her daughters mary and hannah. Miner and Jacobus found that "Although Jonathan was not named in the will, he was called brother by Noah in a conveyance and was certainly son of William, though possibly by a former wife." Seversmith presumed that Jonathan was left out because of a family disagreement, but a more plausible argument might be that Jonathan had already received his portion. At any rate, if Anne was indeed the person who married William Rogers in England in 1630, the Jonathan (baptized in 1636 and still living in 1669) must have been her son. samuel is felt by most writers to have been not her own child but the husband of her daughter Mary, probably Samuel Titus.

      Hebert F. Seversmith, "Colonial Families of Long Island, New York and Connecticut", manuscript notebook #6 of 11, microfilm copy used at the connecticut State Library, 780. Seversmith's treatment is by far the most complete one available, and is used extensively herein. Although the citations are at a minimum, he was a careful researcher and his work is highly regarded. [1]
    Birth Abt 1612  Stratford-On-Avon, Warwickshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 2, 3
    Christening 7 Feb 1612/13  Stratford-On-Avon, Warwickshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Gender Male 
    Death 13 Jul 1664  Huntington, Suffolk, New York, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 2
    Person ID I47166  Main Tree
    Last Modified 22 Mar 2018 

    Father Thomas ROGERS,   b. 1586/7   d. Feb 1621 (Age 34 years) 
    Relationship Birth 
    Mother ElsgenElizabeth ?   d. Aft 1622 
    Relationship Birth 
    Marriage Abt 1606  England Find all individuals with events at this location  [3
    Family ID F17860  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Anna HALL,   b. England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Between 22 Nov 1669 and 21 February 1669/70 
    Marriage 2 February 1630/31  Stratford-On-Avon, Warwickshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Children 
     1. Anna ROGERS,   c. 7 Mar 1631/32, Stratford-On-Avon, Warwickshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [Birth]
     2. Obadiah ROGERS,   c. 29 Sep 1633, Stratford-On-Avon, Warwickshire, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1689 or 1690 (Age ~ 56 years)
    +3. Jonathan ROGERS,   b. 1636, Stratford-On-Avon, Warwickshire, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Aft 4 Apr 1708, Huntington, Suffolk, New York, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 72 years)  [Birth]
     4. John ROGERS,   b. 1640   d. 1676, Branford, Connecticut Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 36 years)  [Birth]
     5. Noah ROGERS   d. 8 Oct 1725, Branford, Connecticut Find all individuals with events at this location
     6. Mary ROGERS  [Birth]
    Family ID F27741  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 6 Aug 2012 

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsDeath - 13 Jul 1664 - Huntington, Suffolk, New York, USA Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 

  • Sources 
    1. [S4916] Connecticut Ancestry 2007 November Vol. 50 No. 2.

    2. [S03317] Samuel Richardson and Josiah Ellsworth.

    3. [S02578] John Cox Underwood, C.E., A.M., Lineage of the Rogers Family - England - Embracing John Rogers the Martyr.