Jonathan ROGERS

Other Events and Attributes:

• Birth: 31 Dec 1655, "James Rogers and His Descendants" lists two different birth dates

Notes:

Name:
"James Rogers and His Descendants": He was drowned near Gull Island* He married Mar 2, 1678, Naomi, daughter of Robert and Ruth (Hubbard) Burdick of Newport, RI. He was baptized in New London, Mar 2, 1674-5, by Elder William Hiscox of Newport, and immediately following the baptism, Jonathan and his brothers, James and John, were received as members of the Newport church, having been baptized some time previous by Mr. John Crandall of Westerly, RI.

His widow married (2) Mar. 11, 1703, John, son of William and Agnes Keeney, as his second wife.

Jonathan Rogers lived upon a farm on the Great Neck, given him by his father, which was also owned by his son Jonathan. The stone house occupied by the latter is still standing near the site of the house built by his father**....

*The accepted tradition of his accidental death is as follows: He had shot a seal and went for it on a log. He attached one end of a rope to the seal and the other end to his own body, in order to have free use of his hands. The seal revived in the struggle, and Mr. Rogers was drawn under water and held there. It is further stated that his son Jonathan, twelve years of age, was with his father and saw him go down According to the record, the son could have been but seven years old, unless, as some of the descendants claim, he was born in 1683 or '84.

**"Jonathan Rogers now stood alone among the brothers, adhering steadfastly to the Sabbatarian principles,from which he never swerved. His family became the nucleus of a small denomination on the Great Neck, which has ever since existed. From generation to generation, they connected themselves with churches of their own faith in Rhode Island, at first with that of Newport, and afterwards with that of Hopkinton and Westerly, until in the year 1784, 109 years after the baptism of their founder, Jonathan Rogers, they were organized into a distinct church and society" (Calkins, History of New London)

Jonathan married Naomi BURDICK on 2 Mar 1678. Naomi (daughter of Robert BURDICK and Ruth HUBBARD) was born in 1658. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Content ROGERS was born in 1688 in New London, New London Co., Connecticut; died in Jul 1768.
2. Jonathan ROGERS was born in 1690 in New London, New London, Connecticut, USA; died in 1777.

Notes:

Name:
"James Rogers and His Descendants": the parentage of James Rogers has not been ascertained and the place and date of his birth are unknown. Many of his descendants firmly believe the tradition that he himself said he was the great-grandsonof John Rogers the martyr. He was probably a native of England is supposed to have been born about 1615. He died --, 1687, in New London. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel Rowland, in Stratford, CT. No record of her birth has been found. She died about 1709 and was said by her grandson James, who was her executor, to have been very aged.

The births of the children are recorded in Milford, CT., but this is not proof that they were all born there, as it was not unusual to record the names and birth-dates of children in the town to which the family removed, regardless of the place of birth, and it is probably that some of the children of James Rogers were born in Stratford, CT.

James married Elizabeth ROWLAND. Elizabeth died about 1709. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield: Elizabeth is said to be the daughter of Samuel Rowland, an early settler of Stratford, possibly brother of Henry of Fairfield; d. early leaving a will, of which the only mention is found in Statford Deeds.