WYLY (WYLEY AND WYLIE) ROGERS
The following bio
was taken from page 372 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
Wiley Rogers was born in Georgia in 1773 but moved
to Alabama where he lived for several years and where his children were born.
He then moved to Clark County, Alabama, where he was given a large tract
of land by President James Buchanan. He
died at his son’s home in Rusk County, Texas, in 1868.
He composed the following poem which was originally published in an
Alabama paper, the name and date of which are not known.
It was found by an old lady in her mother’s scrapbook and presented to
Mrs. W.W. Agricola of Arkedelphia, great-granddaughter of the author.
“The following stanza was composed by a
citizen of Loundes County, Alabama, on a journey through Louisiana into the
territory of Arkansas, who is well acquainted with all the cotton lands in the
United States, and those of Texas, and has made his selection at the head
of navigation on the Washita, at the beautiful bluff Archadelphia, where
many a stranger may find the best of land for a home.”
I“Come all my young friends and attention
lend to me Whilst I relate my travels to the Western country.
From South Alabama as you will understand Through troubles and through
dangers I’ve reached this foreign land. Home,
home sweet home, Will strangers ere pitty the traveler from home.
IIAt Mobile I entered the Gulf it lay before.
At Orleans I landed, the waters they did roar; On the proud Mississippi
the “Romeo” did wait; On her I took passage and on my journey went.
IIIIn Arkansas I landed the wilderness to
take; Believe me my friends it caused my heart to ache, For the bayous they were
swimming, but duty bid me go, The Lord was my protector my journey to pursue.
IVMy horse and my compass my companions were,
Until my lands I selected, and homewards I did steer.
In a canoe I embarked, the river to survey, Until I met the “Romeo”,
‘twas the seventh day.
VIt was on a Sunday morning at half past ten
o’clock, I went on board the “Romeo”, back up the Washita, I went They
raised the stesm – the boat it briskly moved, The Captain then determined this
river further for to prove.
VIBut when we got to Echore Fabre they swore no
further we could go; But manning he commanded; and up went the “Romeo”, To
the mouth of Missouri, and then we did return Captains Richard Tate and Rogers
each fired off a gun.
VIICome all my old friends and example take by me,
Sell out your land and cattle, and move to the Western country; Where land it is
plenty, and cotton it will grow, Orleans will be your market - by water you must
go.
Home, home, sweet, sweet home, I have a friend
there who will pity the travellers from home.”
Wyly Rogers
George W. Rogers (1812-1889) lived in Alabama.
After Wylie Rogers moved to Arkadelphia, Arkansas, George W. decided to
move there also. While living there he was ordained a Baptist minister in
1840, as is recorded on Page III of the marriage records of Clark County,
Arkansas. George W. then moved to
Panola County, Texas in 1849. In
1856 he married Mary Lois Vinson and moved to Rusk County.
Mary Lois’ birthdate is not known, but the date of her death was
February 25, 1906. This couple had
three children: Virgil Eugene, Ollie, and Davis.
Virgil Eugene, born November 15, 1858 married
Sarah. They had seven sons and four
daughters. The sons in order of
birth and their families are listed here. (1)
Jim Rogers, born August 30, 1883, married Werda Lloyd on December 28, 1905.
She was born March 12, 1884. To
this union seven children were born: (a) Lloyd Rogers, September 23, 1906, whose
wife was Ara Barber and whose two children were Anna and Morgan.
(b)James Virgil Rogers, born June, 1908, whose wife, Sammie Weatherby,
bore him two sons, Samuel and William; (c) Murray Rogers (1910-1956), who never
married; (d) Finis Edwin, born in 1913, who by his first wife, Kathern Welch,
had one daughter, Morline, and through his second marriage to Lois Anderson in
1945, he acquired a step-son, Neal; (e) Douglas C. Rogers, born in 1915, who
married Dorothy Ferguson, by whom he had seven children: Chris, Kenneth, Janice,
Nell, Earl, Carolyn, and Cecilia Adelene; (f) Mack Rogers, born in 1918, who
married Jessie Laverna Taylor, born February 8, 1926, who bore three children
– Virginia Loyce, Mack Graham, and Zachry Steven; (g) Mary Lois Rogers, born
in 1920, who first married Fred Miller and had five children: Freddie Graham,
Roger Larry, Patricia, Joanna, Carol Jean, and Jimmy Dale, and later married
Claude Morris and had one son, Willard Clyde.
(2) The second son of Virgil and Sarah was
George Rogers, born August 24, 1889, who married Gertrude King (born June 8,
1893) on October 22, 1911. They had
five boys born to them: (a) Curtis C. Rogers, born August 23, 1913, who married
Larene McGehee, July 15, 1946; (b) Preston, born March 22, 1914, who married
Lois Anderson in 1938, and had one son, Billie Neal, born January 21, 1939, died
October 4, 1940; (c) Charles, born July 25, 1918, who married Mary Murphy on
August 4, 1946, has one girl, Brenda Sue, born November 30, 1948; (d) Wayne T.
born September 2, 1924, married Mary Nell Gibson, October 15, 1947, and has one
girl, Marie, born on October 3,
1950; (e) Bobbie Rogers, who was born February 23, 1926 and died March 19, 1945.
(3)Fred
Rogers, the third son of Virgil and Sarah, was born on April 19, 1893, and
married Adeline Tipps on August 4, 1917. Three
children were the result of this marriage: (a) Thomas Edwin, who was born March
14, 1919, graduated from Texas Tech in May, 1941, joined the Navy in July 1941,
became a Navy dive bomber pilot in World War II, and was killed on November 20,
1942; (b) Dorothy Jane Rogers, born September 27, 1922, who married John Paul
Watt, Jr. (born in Greenfield, Ohio, August 7, 1916) on October 10, 1942, had
three children - James Thomas, April 2, 1944; Kerry Michael, August 30, 1946 -
October 21, 1946; and Stephen Paul, born July 15, 1949; (c) Fred T. Rogers, Jr.
who was born April 10, 1927, graduated from Texas Tech.
Fred Rogers, Sr.’s second marriage on
August 27, 1947 was to Mary McKee Andrus, born June 9, 1898.
Fred Rogers, Sr. died in 1979. Mary
still lives in Fred’s home at the corner of Highway 64 and the old Taylor
Highway.
(4)The fourth son of Virgil and Sarah was
Chouncey Edwin, known as “Shot,” born September 27, 1894.
Shot married Donnie Wallace, August 17,1919. She was born April 30, 1898.
They have two children: (a) Edna Doris, born August 8, 1921, who married
J.W. “Dub” Walters on June 2, 1942, and had two sons, Jerry David, born
October 21, 1949, and Dana Edwin, born December 1, 1952. David married Teresa Trent, and they have one daughter,
Leslie Leigh. Dana married Judy
Thomas, and they have two children, Andrew Glen and Mary Martha. This family including (b) Glen Wallace, who is unmarried,
live at Oak Hill where the family run C.E. Rogers and Son Grocery.
Glen was born January 6, 1927. Shot
was a veteran of World War I, and Glen, his son, was in World War II.
(5)Paul Rogers was the fifth son of Virgil
and Sarah Rogers and was born June 30, 1898.
He married Mary Lucy Craig, February 1, 1925.
She was born March 4, 1904. They
have two daughters: (a) Mary Evelyn, who married James H. Sheppard, Jr. and has
one son, Jimmy; and (b) Martha Paul, who was born October 22, 1933.
(6)J.E. Rogers, born January 12, 1901, was the
sixth child of Virgil and Sarah. He
married Fairry Lathan, born October 14, 1908, on April 10, 1925. They adopted a son, Joe E. Rogers, who was born April 28,
1938.
(7)Horace Rogers, the seventh son of Virgil and
Sarah Rogers, was born March 31, 1909. He
married Ruby Florence Green, March 17, 1930.
Ruby was born June 14, 1914. They
have one daughter, Salley Ann, born July 21, 1933.
Virgil and Sarah had four daughters. (1) Annie
Laurie, born October 21, 1884, married Charles Thomas Ratliff on April 12, 1910.
Charles was born in Mississippi on July 16, 1872.
Annie and Charles had six children: (a) Ernest R. Ratliff, born February
28, 1911, who married Ethel Garner October 20, 1940; (b) Ralph R. Ratliff, born
November 7, 1912, who married Viona Kathriene Tourner, October 16, 1937, and has
two sons - Thomas, born October 16, 1948, and Doniee Edwan, born October 20,
1949; (c) Annie Mae Ratliff, born March 27,
1914, who married Garland Anderson, October 12, 1937; (d) Paul Hawthorne
Ratliff, born May 10, 1921, who married Sarah Elizabeth Mimms, December 19,
1945; (e) Sarah Elizabeth Ratliff, born November 23, 1923, who married Charles
Caylor, May 10, 1947; (f) and Mary Louise Ratliff, born August 28, 1925, who
died April 15, 1926.
(2) Lois Rogers, the second daughter of
Virgil and Sarah, was born October 7, 1887.
She married Orvin Howard Irwin, October 21, 1911. He was born June 1,
1885 and died March 26, 1925 at Cushing, Texas.
Lois and Orvin Irwin had seven children: (a) Betty Lois, born August 4,
1912, who married C.A. David, September, 1931; (b) Howard Rogers Irwin, born
January 5, 1914, who married Jimmy Sue Ackers, June 1947; (c) Kathryne Jane,
born April 2, 1916, who married Joseph
Stevens on July 23, 1938; (d) Mary Estelle, born September 17, 1918, who married
Jack G. Dunaway, January 1, 1940; (e) Helen Elizabeth, born January 29, 1920,
who married Bernard Graham in 1947 (f) James W. Irwin, born October 24, 1923,
who married Majorie Maquirk, December 27, 1950; and
(g) Frederick Orvin Irwin, born August 22, 1925, who died April 11, 1933.
(3) Lucy Eleanor, the third daughter of
Virgil and Sarah Rogers, was born August 12, 1897 and married Joe Johnson,
February 25, 1922. Joe was born
September 9, 1897. The Joe Johnsons
had three children: (a) Joe Emmett, born October 3, 1923, who married Frances
Daw, June 15, 1944 and has one son, Emmett Lynn, born July 15, 1951; (b) Gene
Ted, born June 1, 1926, who married Millie Jenkins, June 19, 1951; (c) Roger
William Johnson, born June 14, 1931, who married Dorothy Hubbard, February 9,
1952.
(4) The fourth daughter of Virgil and Sarah
Rogers was Vivian Rogers, who was born in 1904 and married Bennie Wright in
1931. Mr. Wright was born in 1897.
They had no children.
OBITUARY
“Died, Rev. G.W. Rogers, on the evening of
the 20th instant, at three o’clock P.M., in his 78th
year. The deceased was born in
Barrow County, Georgia, June 16, 1811. He
lived in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana. He
came to Texas about 1850 and has resided in Rusk County ever since. He lived a faithful and consistent member of the Baptist
church for more than forty years. He
had a number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Probably no one ever suffered greater afflictions than he did.
He was an invalid for sixteen years from kidney trouble and at times
suffered intense misery which seemed almost unbearable; and for nine years was
afflicted with total blindness. Yet
in the midst of all these afflictions, he never for one moment forgot his duty
to his Creator. Like Old Job
he would often say, “I know that my Redeemer liveth,” and continued to warn
sinners and counsel them in their waywardness and point to them to “Him that
taketh away the sins of the
world,” About the last words he spoke were, “I know that Jesus is able and
will take care of me,” and without a murmur or any sign of uneasiness or even
a move of a muscle, he passed away in the full triumph of a Christian’s faithe
and his spirit was wafted into the heavenly portals where with all the redeemed
hosts of Israel he will join in singing happy anthems to Him that liveth in that
City of the Skies.
“Father, have you yet seen Jesus? Tell us then what did he say?
Did he take you by the hand And bid you welcome, welcome stay?
Me thinks I heard Him say to you As he drew
you to His breast, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant, Enter now and
be at rest.”
Then as I linger at the thought, Enchanted by
the heavenly sight, The crown is placed upon thy heard and thou are seated at
His right.
Then angels press around about, A smile
lights up thy face; A kinsman graps thee by thy hand For they are in the place.
Oh, Would I could but speak to you, And so do
all the rest, To tell you how we miss you, Father, But thou art with the blest.
In Heaven now loud anthems ring,
Congratulations are extended, And in the very self-same spirit, these lines,
they are appended.” ----Ollie
Poem obtained from Ollie’s son, Emil Rogers
Submitted by James V. Rogers