Henry Rogers and Elijah Rogers, petitioners

A few weeks ago I shared to a Facebook group, my thrill at seeing Henry Rogers' signature, along with Elijah's on a petition in 1788.  (The Facebook closed group is Sevier County Tennessee Genealogy Active Sharing.)

That was in the area that was then part of North Carolina, before Tennessee became a state.  The area was only identified as South of the French Broad River.  But other information states it was in Franklin, a proposed state that never became a reality, which was proposed because North Carolina didn't offer any protection to the settlers from the Indians...which was the purpose of the petition to the legislature of the young state of North Carolina.  It also asked the NC legislature to consider making a new county in this large area.  The several petitions apparently said much the same thing over 1788-1789.

Far right hand column, Henry Rogers is listed, with Elijah Rogers 6 below.  But the corker for me was seeing the microfilm of the actual signatures.

Henry and Elijah Rogers signed (or had scribe sign) petition 1788 Franklin NC

Someone mentioned in a comment that the photocopy indicated some of the signatures had probably been signed by the scribe who wrote the rest of the petition.  But interestingly enough, Henry Rogers and Elijah look to be signed in another hand.

FYI, Franklin wanted to be a separate state, in case you don't remember that part of history following the first 13 which became states after the American Revolution.  It had a constitution and governor, and lasted about 4-1/2 years, not being acknowledged by the Congress of the United States after many petitions for statehood.  see:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Franklin

Background: basically North Carolina decided first in April 1784 to give the lands west of the Appalachian mountains (as far as the Mississippi) to the new United States to pay their share of the war debt.  Then a few months later, they changed their minds and it was still North Carolina territory, and supposedly receiving soldiers and judges in the frontier where new communities formed.

In the meantime, the settlers in that area (probably including the Rogers) were having Indian difficulties, based on all the different tribes making different treaties at different times.  

By August 1784 the new state of Franklin was formed.  But the constitution it originally offered to the inhabitants excluded lawyers, doctors, and preachers as candidates for election to the legislature.  It wasn't approved, so the laws of North Carolina continued until a new Franklin government and constitution came about in 1785, while the state of North Carolina had a rival county government in the same area.  Come tax season this must have been a quandary for the inhabitants.  Apparently Franklin government was willing to accept barter for payments due, and gave its citizens a 2 year reprieve of paying property taxes.

Native Americans (called Indians in almost all historic documents) had claim still to much of the land that whites were settling on, and the governments (new United States) and North Carolina, were making different treaties with different tribes.  Confusion and discord reigned with violence erupting frequently.  

The last meeting of the state of Franklin legislature was in September 1787.  The state of NC was threatening the state of Franklin governor (John Sevier) and insisted he pay his back taxes, and in Feb 1788 seized some of his property, including a slave.  There was an attempt by Franklin citizens to obtain him back, but the militia of NC fought them off, and several men died.  By Feb. 1789 Seivier gave his allegiance to the state of North Carolina, and the state of Franklin was no more.

"After the dissolution of the State of Franklin in February 1789, continued support of the separate state movement was confined largely to Sevier County, specifically in the country south of the French Broad River. The people there realized that the only entity recognizing title to their land holdings had been Franklin.  Both North Carolina and the Federal (Confederation) government supported the Cherokee claims as set forth in the Treaty of Hopewell, and considered settlers in the area "squatters". This led to the formation of a "Lesser Franklin" government, with an Articles of Association similar to the earlier Watauga Constitution. In 1789 these Articles were adopted at Newell's Station, which served as the seat of government for the wider area of Lesser Franklin, including all the settled country south of the French Broad.^[9]

"The Lesser Franklin government finally ended in 1791, when Governor William Blount, of the newly formed Southwest Territory, met the Cherokee chieftains on the site of the future Knoxville, and they made the Treaty of Holston. The Overhill Cherokee now acknowledged the authority of the United States government, and ceded to the Federal government all of their lands south of the French Broad, almost as far as the Little Tennessee River.^[9] 

Source of quotes from Wikipedia above: Sevier County Settlers vs. the Cherokee Indians; Tennessee Genealogy web online; accessed March 2014. 

The Henry Rogers and Elijah Rogers families were living in future Sevier County.  They were asking North Carolina for assistance, though also probably hoping the Lesser Franklin government would also help them.  If they were considered citizens of North Carolina, they wanted its protection from Indians.

The State of Franklin (in red) superimposed on a map of modern Tennessee

Note: Sevier County is east of Knoxville.  

Severe County, Tennessee

I'm adding this to Sepia Saturday this week...who had a prompt like this (and I haven't anything along those lines at all!)

Sorry about that, fellow Sepians... the ancestors signed on to have me feature them this week.  After all, Halloween is noted as the time when the veils between the living and those who have gone before (ancestors etc.) are thinest.  I also appologize for all the strange colors of type.  Computers seem to be haunting me also.

Today's quote:

The same pain that can blemish our personality can act as a creative force, burnishing it into an object of delight.

PIR VILAYAT INAYAT KHAN

Honoring my ancestors John and son Henry Rogers

I've been tracking some ancestry which has many confusing dates attached. Poor John Rogers.  There either were about 10 of them living at the same time in Virginia (1700-1750) or many documents have different birth and death dates for maybe (logically?) 3-5 of them.

One John Rogers married Catherine or Caty Rogers (she is only known by a land sale and I don't know of any of her ancestors.)  

Remember spelling was pretty optional in the early 18th century, when many people only made a "X" mark when asked to sign their names.  Did illiteracy make them any less intelligent than their descendants with graduate college degrees?  Most assuredly not.  Their knowledge was that of dealing with land, politics, travel, food, raising a family, building a house out of available materials, neighbors, belief in their religion of choice, raising or killing their own food, animal husbandry, herbal knowledge for illnesses, having babies at home, and staying healthy when a doctor had little to offer except setting broken bones.

Documents did exist when land was sold, or wills were written and probates were administered to survivors.  Though a lot of court houses ended up having fires which destroyed many documents of my ancestors, there have been a few found.

And enough of these findings have led me to question my family tree's different branches.

My Rogers Family Bible said Henry Rogers was the father of Rev. Elijah Rogers.  The genealogist which my grandfather's cousin used said Henry had been the son of George Rogers.  But the wills and land documents question this.  There was also a Henry, brother of Steven, whose father was John.  So I just spent hours and hours checking through these documents.

In his will (dated Aug 8, 1794) John Rogers states he's giving his son, Henry, the rights to his land in Leeds Manor, Fauquier County, VA, and to Henry's wife, Sarah, as well as a cow and calf to his grandson John.  

All my records say that Henry (who I know is an ancestor from the family Bible) died in Tennessee in 1794, which was before John Rogers of Fauquier County VA probably died, close to the probate date of Dec. 1794.  These court records in Feb. 1795, (above and below) named that other Henry the executor of John's estate following his death.  He was there to carry out that will as executor in 1795.  A definite red flag that this isn't my ancestor.

And I just found a note on the Find a Grave site for our Tennessee Henry Rogers saying :

The Henry Rogers who was a brother of Stephen and son of John was born about 1761 and died 1835 in Fauquier Co., VA. Henry married Sarah "Sally" Jett. Added: Sep. 21, 2013

So here's to John Rogers who wasn't the ancestor of my line, though he's probably an uncle several times removed.  

I'll share a bit more about my family's Henry Rogers the next time I honor my ancestors.


Today's Quote:

When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.

MAYA ANGELOU