Thomas ROGERS

Notes:

Name:
Thomas Rogers was born at Watford, Northamptonshire, England, circa 1571, the oldest son of William and Eleanor Rogers. Thomas and his oldest son Joseph Rogers were on the 'Mayflower'; Thomas died at Plymouth in the winter of 1620/21 'in the first sickness'.

Thomas rogers married at Watford 24 October 1597 Alice Cosford, who was baptized there 10 May 1573. She was the daughter of George and Margaret Cosford; George Cosford named both Alice and Thomas Rogers in his will (TG 10:138-49). Here date of death is unknown. She probably died at Leiden, The Netherlands; there is no evidence that she emigrated to Plymouth Colony.

Evidence from Dutch and New England primary sources establishes that Thomas and Alice rogers had at least five and possibly six children who were all baptized at Watford; Thomas Rogers (who died young), possibly Richard Rogers (who died young), Joseph rogers, John Rogers, Elizabeth Rogers and Margaret Rogers were born in that order (TG 10:138-49).

Thomas Rogers and his family had left England by 22 February 1617 when he bought a house on Barbarasteeg at Leiden for 475 guilders. In Leiden Rogers worked as a 'greyntrapier' (greyn weaver) or camlet merchant. On 1 April 1620 Rogers sold the house on Barbarasteeg to another English immigrant, Mordecai Cohen, for 300 guilders (Bangs' Strangers and Pilgrims 323-24, Dexter 632).

Later in 1620, Thomas Rogers and his oldest surviving child, Joseph rogers, came to Plymouth on the 'Mayflower (Badford's Hist 442). The 1622 Leiden poll tax list shows that his wife Alice, two daughters Elizabeth Rogers and Margaret Rogers, and younger son John rogers remained in Leiden in the household of Anthony Clements, one of the English Separatists who did not emigrate to Plymouth (TAG 52:110-13).

Thomas Rogers died in Plymouth in the first sickness; his son Joseph was still living in 1650 (Bradford's Hist 442,446). In the 1623 Plymouth Colony land division, Joseph Rogers was allotted two acres, one for himself and one on behalf of his late father Thomas Rogers (PCR 12:4). Joseph may have lived in the household of Governor William Beadford with whom he was grouped 22 May 1627 in the division of cattle; Joseph and twelve other inhabitants of Plymouth received "An heifer of the last yeare wch was of the Greate white back cow that was brough ouer in the Ann, & two shee goats" (PCR 12:12).

William Bradford wrote "The rest of Thomas Rogers' came over and are married and have many children' but did not give specific names (Bradford's Hist 446). Only one of Thomas Rogers' other children, John Rogers, can be authenticated from New England records. john Rogers probably arrived in Plymouth circa 1629/30 when the last of the Separatists arrived from Leiden as he first appears in the Plymouth Colony Records when he was taxed 25 March 1633 (PCR 1:11). In April 1640 Joseph Rogers and John Rogers, "his brother," were granted fifty acres each at North River (Marshfield), thus confirming John's identity (PCR 1:144).

Thomas married Alice COSFORD on 24 Oct 1597 in Watford, Northampton, England. Alice was christened on 10 May 1573 in Watford, Northampton, England; died in Leidon, Holland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact: Daughter of George and Margaret Cosford