Rogers/Rodgers England and Newfoundland

[C&LR]

Three brothers from Devon (or possibly Dorset) went to Newfoundland for the fishing. The story goes that after a dispute, the brothers fished out of different regions in Newfoundland. My interest is in James Rogers (1826 - 1886) who lived in Heart's Content, Newfoundland. I don't know who he married, but they had five children:

Robert 1858 - ?
Zachariah John 1860 - 1930
Zebedee 1861 - 1944
William 1870 - 1937
Caroline 1876 - 1954

Was James one of the three brothers, or possibly the son of one?
Does anybody have these people in their tree?
Any information would be appreciated.

[lacc]

Hello:

I just found your posting from late 2007 regarding "James Rogers who lived in Heart's Content, Nfld."

I have found several references to James Rogers and would like to know if he is connected to my great-grandfather was William Thomas Rogers, born in Heart's Content around 1862.

I hope you are still checking this site!

[C&LR]

Hi there, thanks for your posting. We don't know of a William Thomas Rogers in our tree but think he could be a descendant of one of the three original Rogers brothers.
We are visiting St. John's in the summer and will be looking at the archives in The Rooms while there.
If you have any more information about your side of the tree, we would be willing to do look ups for you while there.
Bye for now.

[lacc]

Hello:

My apologies for taking so long to respond.

Thanks for your response, and your kind offer to assist in my search at the Rooms. Have you been to St. John's before? I visited in 2006 (I live in Vancouver) to re-discover some branches of the family tree. I had done almost no research then; however a cousin there has since checked a few things at the Rooms but it was mostly fairly recent information, ie 20th century and not that helpful to me.

Some questions for you: Where did you obtain your information on the three brothers and on James Rogers? How do you know about his children and their dates? Are there any other Rogers that you are looking for? What internet sites have you been using? Do you know about the fire at the Anglican Church in Heart's Content in the mid-19th century? That has put a huge obstacle in my searches.

I found "James Rogers" in a couple of old Nfld. directories and wondered if he could have been the father of William Thomas Rogers, my great-grandfather. Your findings have disproved that so it's good to have learned something definite.

Hope to hear from you.

[C&LR]

Thanks for your reply. To answer your questions.
I made contact with relatives in St. John's and visited them in August 2007.
We plan to return to St. John's this July.
A relative, Kevin Rodgers, sent us the link to his tree which www.ktr01.tribalpages.com
While in St. John's last year we visited The Rooms and did some research in the archives located there.
We have also used www.ngb.chebucto.org for vital statistics, census returns and parish records.
We have also used Stonepics database.
The family had a property in Heart's Content until fairly recently and told us of the fire there that destroyed all the early records.
We are not sure if James Rogers was the father of your great grandfather William Thomas Rogers.
We have found in our research that the "D" in Ro(D)gers tends to come and go which can be misleading.
If you have any further questions, please let us know.
Bye for now.

[C&LR]

Hi,
I was just wondering whether you had seen a transcript of a will for William Thomas Rogers who died in 1914 on the NL Genweb site. Could this be your William?

[lacc]

Hello C&LR
Yes, I did know about the will and "William Thomas Rogers" is definitely my g'gfather. The "Alfreda" mentioned is my grandmother--she had been in Vancouver for several years by the time her father died, the only one of five sisters to leave N'land. (The Rogers name--I always see it without a "d"-- was given to my oldest uncle as his middle name.)

The will, plus headstone in Catalina and entries in the family bible (held by family in Gander), confirm this William's existence and dates of 1862 - 1914. The will refers to property in both Catalina and Heart's Content so I should start checking land registries. A vague family story also mentions a sister to William--Johannah (sp?)--who reportedly wound up in Montana. I am also working on that front, with little to show so far.

Thank you so much for the link to the Kevin Rodgers website--what an enormous project! One satisfying discovery has resulted: my St. John's cousin knew that her Mom (2nd youngest of my g'ma's sisters) used to visit with a Harry and Jessie Rogers who were "family connections" but she didn't know how. I was delighted to find Harry clearly descended from Zacharia Rogers. So somehow, my Rogers branch is connected to this one, but the "missing link" remains determinedly missing!

It was interesting to see so many Rogers in Heart's Content over the years. I don't think my cousin realizes that. Is anyone still there? Do you know where the "family property" was? I visited HC in 2006 and was disappointed to find that the old Anglican cemetery was almost completely overgrown--no luck in finding any Rogers headstones, though not through lack of trying!

The Chebucto website is excellent, and my file folder collection is growing nicely. I recently found an 1860 marriage between "William Rogers" and "Tamar Legge", both from Hts Content; it was listed under "Hant's Harbour." The minister who married them was Methodist, though it was clear that the couple were C of E. There was another reference to a baby Elizabeth born to a William and Jane Rogers in 1856, again resident in Ht. Content, and again recorded as "Hant's Harbour." Same William in each case? second marriage due to death of first wife perhaps in childbirth? I am in e-mail contact with a very nice minister at the Hts. Content Anglican Church and have asked if she could check re any records in a Hant's Harbour Church.

A couple of questions, after this rather long ramble:

Did you find any useful cemetery pics from Stone Pic?
Where did the story of the "three brothers" come from?
Are you working on the "English" connection?
Do you have any idea who the other brothers were?

Thanks again for all the helpful information!