John Rogers

  General Notes:

Sources:
~James Rogers of New London, Ct., And His Descendants, James Swift Rogers, Boston, 1902, pp. 38, 42-44
~The Griswald Family: England-America, p. 127

  Noted events in his life were:

• He died John died of Smallpox. On 17 Oct 1721 in Lyme, New London, Conneticut, British American Colonies. ⁵⁴⁸

• Dates & Events: ¹⁰⁷
Early in 1675 John Rogers became pastor of a Seventh Day Baptist Church in New London, under the Newport Church. His father, mother, brothers and sisters were among the first members of this Church. His father and his brother James were especially active in promulgating the new faith under John's leadership.

~Colonial Clergy and Churches of New England, Surnames Q-R, p. 176

• He was religious. ⁵⁴⁸
According to The Griswold Family: England-America, John founded a sect called Rogerene Quakers, which was the underlying reason for Elizabeth Griswald asking for a divorce from him. The Griswold Family: England-America also says that John was angry about the divorce and did not remarry for twenty-five years.

~The Griswold Family: England-America, p. 127

• Background Information: ⁵⁸⁹
John Rogers, the third son of James, gained local notoriety because he was the founder of a new religious sect. No man in New London County suffered so heavily from the arm of the law, the tongue of rumor and the pen of contemporary writers. His followers viewed him as a man eminent for piety and filled with the love of God and his neighbor. His opponents left an image of a man that excites not only indignation, pity and disgust.

Rogers produced tracts and treatises in abundance, which often refer to his own experience. His followers printed out many pamphlets. Yet it is the statements of the opponents of Rogerenes that had the widest circulation, and had more influence on the telling of Rogers's history.

James Rogers, his children, and his family, with the exception of Samuel Rogers and his wife, all became dissenters in some sort from the established Congregational church, which, at the time, was the only church recognized by the laws of the New England Colony. The beginning of this dissent started due to trading with the Sabbatarians, or Seventh-day Baptists of Rhode Island. John was baptized by the Sabbatarians in 1674. The others in his family, including his father and wife, were also baptized into the Sabbatarian faith.

John Rogers assumed the ministerial offices of baptizing and preaching. Once he had gained a few disciples, formed a church or society called Rogerenes, or Rogerene Quakes, and sometimes Rogerene Baptists. One of the traits of the founder and his immediate followers, was their determination to be persecuted. They were aggressive, and esteemed in a matter of duty, to challenge the law and its power. They did not believe in having a house of worship, and considered all days alike in respect to sanctity, They would meet on the first day of the week for religious purpose, but felt that once they were done, thy were free to labor as on any other day. They regarded a steeple, a pulpit, a cushion, a church, and a salaried minister in a black suit of clothes all utter abominations. They believed that all prayers should be mental and not vocal. They never resorted to drugs, medicines or doctors when they were ill.

The Rogerenes angered everyone in the community. The fines and imprisonments for John & James Rogers Jr., their wives, sons, daughters and other followers, for profanation of the Sabbath began in 1676. For this and neglect of worship, they were usually arraigned at every session of court, for many years.

John Rogers's first wife, Elizabeth Griswold, divorced him. John's children remained with their mother during their childhood, but when they became old enough to act for themselves, they preferred to be with their father.

John remarried, Mary Ransford, twenty years later. No one would marry them in Connecticut. His son John described this dilemma: "They agreed to go into the County court, and there declare their marriage; and according they did so; he leading his bride by the hand into court, where the judges were sitting, and a multitude of spectators present, and then desired the who assembly to take notice, that he took that woman to be his wife; his bride also assenting to what he said. Whereupon the judge (Wetherell) offered to marry them in their form, which he refused, telling them that he had once been married by their authority and by their authority they had taken away his wife again, and rendered him no reason why they did it. Upon which account he looked upon their form of marriage to be of no value, and therefore he would be married in their form no more. And from the court he went to the governor's house, with his bride and declared their marriage to the governor, who seemed to like it well declared, and wished them much joy, which is the usual compliment."

There were violent family quarrels between Mary Ransford and the younger John Rogers and his family. This marriage ended just as it began, with both parties denouncing the marriage. Mary left her two children she had with Rogers behind when she left. Rogers married a third time to the widow Sarah Coles of Oyster Bay. The ceremony was performed within the jurisdiction of Rhode Island by a magistrate of that colony.

John Rogers continued his unorthodox behavior up to the time he died in 1726. His son John wrote of the death of his father, "who lived to the age of seventy-three year, and then died, in his own house, and on his own bed, having his reason continued to the last and manifesting his peace with God, and perfect assurance of a better life." John Rogers, senior, died from small pox on 17 Oct 1721. Other family members who died were John Rogers, III, at age twenty years and six days on 6 Nov 1721, and Bathsheba Smith Rogers on 13 Nov 1721.

John Rogers senior was buried directly upon the bank of the Thames, within the bounds of his Mamacock farm. The inventory of his estate was 410 pounds. He had been a prolific writer, and among his inventory there were several chests and packages of his own books.

~History of New London, Connecticut : from the first survey of the coast in 1612 to 1852, pp. 202-221

• Web Reference: The Rogerenes, Book 2: History of the Rogerenes. The Rogerenes: Part II, History of the Rogerenes. Boston by Anna B. Williams & Published by Stanhope Press, 1904, gives an account of the life of John Rogers from the point of view of a follower of the Rogerenes which is more sympathetic version of the life of John Rogers Senior & John Rogers Junior than those given by the Griswold's or The History of New London, Connecticut.

John married Elizabeth Griswold, daughter of Matthew Griswold and Anna Wolcott, 17 Oct 1670(1) in Blackhall, Lyme, New London, Connecticut, British American Colonies ^525,548,618 (Elizabeth Griswold was born in 1652 in Saybrook, Middlesex, Connecticut, British American Colonies,⁵³⁹ died on 27 Jul 1727 in Lyme, New London, Conneticut, British American Colonies ⁵³⁹ and was buried in East Lyme, New London, Connecticut.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• On-line Marriage Record: New London Vital Records.

  Marriage Notes:

~James Rogers of New London, Ct. and his Descendants, James Swift Rogers, p. 41
~History of New London, Connecticut : from the first survey of the coast in 1612 to 1852, p. 203
~Signers of the Mayflower Compact, p. 64