User:Ke4isw

I've been researching the Rogers family in Western NC since the early 1970's. My 4th gg-grandfather Robert Rogers (1741 Lancaster Co PA - 1813 Buncombe Co NC) seemed to be the end of the road. Then Internet searching found the missing pieces needed for 3 more generations to get documented information on his great grandfather Robert Rodgers (Abt 1650 Scotland later migrating to Northern Ireland and died about 1700 in Limavady Parish, Londonderry, Northern Ireland.

The first very important discovery was a letter written in 1865 by Zeno Campbell (Dec 1787 Rocky River Cabarrus Co NC - 25 MAY 1867 • Lerna Coles IL). Zeno's letter was to his youngest daughter giving her his memories of their family genealogy. His mother was Martha Rogers the oldest sister of Robert of Buncombe Co. She married John White Rodgers, her first cousin, a son of Joseph Rodgers. Zeno's letter gave information on the family's living places before coming to North Carolina, in particular Hanover Township Lancaster Co PA. Zeno's letter also discusses the tight bond the family had to it's Northern Irish Presbyterian beliefs.

This documented story of Robert of Buncombe Co NC ancestors is contrary to the well accepted undocumented legend provided to W. C. Allen and written into his 1935 book "The Annals of Haywood County" (NC). The blessings of Internet search capabilities provided information that allowed a later correction.

An old Mennonite Church membership record was found stating the family settled in Hanover Township in 1733 and migrated from Ireland. The bottom of and index card provided a link to Egles "Notes and Queries, Historical, Biographical, and Genealogical, Chiefly Relating to Interior Pennsylvania" in which are records discovered in court records by William Henry Egle was a physician, author and historian who served as the State Librarian of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from 1887 to 1889.