NOAH EDWIN RODGERS

 The following bio was taken from page 369 of the book entitled “Rusk County History” compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission. 

Transcribed by Claudia Schuster

 Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Cemeteries of Tx

 Noah Edwin Rodgers was born at Poteau, Oklahoma on March 14, 1894.  He was one of five children born to the William Thomas Rodgers family.  As a young lad Noah grew up on a farm in Oklahoma and Arkansas.  He attended school in Pullman and Lockesburg, Arkansas.  After completion of school he worked as a bank teller.  On two different occasions Noah was robbed, once while employed, and the second time while visiting in t the bank.  He also taught school between Gillham and DeQueen, Arkansas for a while.  Prior to this he met and married Blanche Hulsey on April 14, 1915.  From this marriage a daughter, Alma Jewel Rodgers, was born, on March 2, 1916.  On April 22, 1917 Blanche died of pneumonia.

 Noah then met Beulah Maye Laster, who was born May 30, 1901 at Gillham, Arkansas, daughter of John Calhoun Laster and Martha White Laster.  Noah and Beulah Maye married on December 24, 1917.  Beulah had been one of Noah’s students during the time he taught school.  She was sixteen years of age and he was twenty-three when they married.  Noah and Beulah had a total of eleven children.  The first two died as infants.  Their third child, Carl Edward, was born January 12, 1922, at Minco, Oklahoma and later married Ruth Ann Lane.  A fourth child, Doris Laverne Rodgers, was born June 25, 1925, at Ninco, Oklahoma.  During this time Noah worked as a timekeeper for the Gulf Pipeline before he was employed as a roustabout by the Ohio Oil Company at Haynesville, Louisiana from 1926 to 1929.  Their fifth child, Frances Bonita Rodgers, was born August 4, 1928 at Haynesville, Louisiana.

 For a period of time the family lived at Marlow, Oklahoma, where their sixth child, Mary Jo Rodgers, was born on January 4, 1930 (married Nathan Shubert).  Noah tried to return to the farm, but this was not the best time for making a crop.  So back to Gillham, Arkansas the family went, where their seventh child, Billy Wayne Rodgers, was born on June 23, 1932

 The family decided to move to Texas in 1933.  Noah was employed by Ohio Oil at Price (Carlisle) in October, 1933 as a clerk in the office.  Their eighth child, the first to be born in Texas, was Donald Jay Rodgers, November 6, 1934 at Price (Carlisle), Texas.  He married Charlotte Riley.  In 1936 Noah started pumping on the J.F. Mason Lease and was there until retirement.

 On November 13, 1940 the ninth Rodgers child, Charles Ray was born at Jacksonville, Texas.  This son married Brenda Norris.  The tenth child, Dorothy Jean Rodgers was born January 6, 1942 at Henderson, Texas.  She married Vernon Brown.  Their eleventh child, Shirley Mae Rodgers, was also born in Henderson, on July 14, 1944.

 Beulah and Noah Rodgers sold Watkins products after his retirement from the Ohio Oil Company.  After Noah’s death on April 22, 1971, Beulah continued selling until 1975.  At the present time Beulah is living in Longview, Texas and doling fine.

 Submitted by Donald J. Rogers