The Quaker (Dis)Connection - 52 Ancestors: Favorite Discovery

Birth record of Amos Rogers, May 5, 1794, Burlington Monthly Meeting Minutes, New Jersey

No one ever told me I had Quakers in my family history. But one day, I clicked on the little leaf icon at the top of my Ancestry.com screen, and there it was. The first hint on the screen was for Amos Rogers, my 4th great grandfather (father of Mercy Rogers, who married the John Gardner I wrote about in a previous post. The source of the record was the U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935. Huh. 

So I opened up the record. It was a register of births and deaths, from the Monthly Meeting Minutes of the Burlington and Rancocas Monthly Meetings in Burlington County, New Jersey. Amos was listed second from the top: “Amos Rogers son of John Staples Rogers was born the 3rd of 5 month 1794.” It matched, in every particular. I have Quaker ancestors!

However, the discovery that I have Quaker ancestors, cool as that is (Quakers keep excellent records – lucky me!), isn’t the discovery I’m writing about today. No, I found much more interesting tidbits than the mere fact of Quaker ancestry. 

List of members, 1805, Burlington Monthly Meeting, New Jersey

It was exciting digging through this new source of records for my family. I found a record of marriage for John Staples Rogers and his wife Mercy Taylor (sometimes recorded as Mary), along with several records of them going before Mercy’s meeting (Mercy’s family belonged to the Chesterfield, New Jersey Meeting) as a couple to state their intention to marry. I found a members list for the Burlington Monthly Meeting, listing John, Mercy, and their children, along with birth dates for the children (except for Clayton Rogers, who is listed without a date, and the youngest child, John, not listed at all), and in the margin, “son of Thomas Rogers” indicating the name of John’s father. This portion of the members list bears the curious marking “Finished” across the family, and a column with the heading “disowned” lists dates for John and all the children, but no date for Mercy. Wait, what? 

More digging was certainly needed, because there had to be a story here. I scoured the records, looking for any mention of this family. My eyes strained as I struggled to read handwriting from long ago, using turns of phrase that are no longer familiar to us in the 21st century. 

But eventually, I was able to piece the story together. In 1795, John Staples Rogers moved his family from Burlington, New Jersey to the recently settled Mount Pleasant township in Wayne County, Pennsylvania. The History of the Township of Mount Pleasant, Wayne County, Pennsylvania by Rev. Samuel Whaley, published in 1856, tells us that “This year [1795] Mr. John S. Rogers, from New Jersey, a Quaker, purchased and settled with his family. He had eight children. He built about one mile east of Mr. Joseph Peck’s residence. Here he passed the remainder of his days.” A later History of Wayne County, by Phineas G. Goodrich, published in 1880, adds the information that John S. Rogers kept a tavern on his property during his life. The members list, mentioned earlier, was compiled in 1805, and lists 7 children. Amos is the 6th child, and the final child with a birthdate – 1794 – listed. From this we can assume that Clayton and John make up the 8 total children, and that they were both born after the move to Pennsylvania. (How do I even know John exists, you ask? I’m getting to that.) 

In the years between 1808 and 1826, the case of the John S. Rogers family appears several times in the minutes of the Burlington Monthly Meeting. Some mentions are brief – merely a note that “The Case of John S. Rogers & family is continued” – but some are significantly more substantial, offering in depth information about the family’s situation. In 1808, perhaps someone was going over the membership list and wondered, “what’s going on with this family?”, because this is the first mention I found, even though the family relocated in 1795. Standard practice for Quakers when moving from one place to another was to request a certificate from their current meeting, to the meeting in their new place of residence. This certificate basically vouched for the person to the new meeting, indicating that they were a member of the Society in good standing. But in 1808, someone noticed that none had been issued for this family, though they had relocated over a decade earlier. 

Over the years, committees were formed, reported, the case would be dropped for a while, and then picked up again. The final story went something like this: 

Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, in Wayne county, was approximately 80 miles from Cornwall, New York, the location of the nearest Quaker Meeting. Certificates of removal were issued in 1808 for Rebecca and Ann, two of the daughters, but were returned in 1810, as neither of the women had ever attended the meeting. In 1810, the committee reported back that three of the four daughters – Rebecca, Mary, and Thomasine, had married men outside the Society of Friends (and the minutes helpfully list the names of their husbands). Ann, although still unmarried, had borne a child out of wedlock. We also learn that John Sr. apparently owed money to the Society at the time they moved, and that prevented a certificate of removal being issued for him. 

The case of John S. Rogers and family - portion of the Burlington Monthly Meeting Minutes, June 4, 1810

In 1823, there is again a substantial committee report. Now, both Samuel and Amos, the older sons, have also married outside the Society, and all the men are accused of exercising with the militia, or at times paying fines for non-attendance of militia exercises – both contrary to Quaker teachings. By this time, John’s wife Mercy has died, as has the youngest son, John. Clayton is still living with his father. John has also not satisfied his debt to the Burlington Meeting. The four daughters, Samuel, and Amos, are officially marked as disowned on the members’ list in 1823. Copies of the testimonies against them appear in the minutes. 

As Clayton had indicated a desire to retain his membership, another committee is formed to look after his case, but in 1825, it is reported that both he and his father have married contrary to the order of the Society. Upon receiving no reply to letters sent to both Clayton and John attempting to communicate with them regarding their lapses against Quaker teachings, the last two members of the family are finally recorded as disowned in 1826. 

It took a really long time and much discussion to finally disown my Rogers family from the Society of Friends, but I’m so grateful because it gave me so much information, and is probably one of the more interesting stories I’ve found in my genealogy research so far.

Family Snapshot

Children of John Staples Rogers (Abt. 1754 – Aft. 1830) and Mercy Taylor Rogers (1758 – Bef. 1823):

• Rebecca Rogers Witcraft (1781-?)
• Ann Rogers (?-?)
• Mary Rogers Parkinson (1786-?)
• Samuel Rogers (1788-?)
• Thomasin Rogers Mumford (1792-?)
• Amos Rogers (1794 – Aft. 1870)
• Clayton Rogers (Abt. 1802 – 1869)
• John Rogers (Aft. 1802 – Bef. 1823)

John Gardner (1812-1896) - 52 Ancestors: Fresh Start

John Gardner and Mercy (Rogers) Gardner

The first of our Gardner line to come to America (so far as I know) was John Gardner.  John was born in England May 9, 1812.  According to his obituary, published in the Story County Watchman, he came to America from England as a young man of 21.  While I have no information regarding his circumstances in England, it seems likely that he came here seeking a fresh start, hoping to avail himself of the opportunities in a new land.  

The first actual records I have are of his marriage to Mercy Rogers in Ohio in 1838.  An application for marriage by John for himself and Mercy Rogers filed January 6, 1838, in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, asserts that he is at least 21 years of age and she is at least 18, that neither have living spouses, and that they are not more closely related than first cousins.  John signed this application with his “mark” (census records indicate that John was illiterate, to which this “signature” lends further credence).  Fun fact: Mercy was born in 1821, meaning she was NOT in fact 18 years of age at the time of marriage – yes, our ancestors do stretch the truth on legal documents from time to time!  The second record is a statement from Justice of the Peace John Fuller, who states that on January 7, 1838, John Gardner and “Mary” Rogers were legally bound in marriage by him, by virtue of a license issued by the Clerk of Court of Cuyahoga County.  Although this record refers to Mercy as “Mary”, I still believe it to be the record of our ancestors’ marriage – Mercy is also recorded as “Mary” on the 1850 census, and research in some Quaker records has shown that “Mercy” and “Mary” were used somewhat interchangeably at times.  Also, this record was clearly transcribed from the original, as there are several records on the page in the same handwriting, but from different officiants, so it is possible an error was introduced in the transcription.  In addition, the J.P. dates his affidavit March 20 of 1838, indicating he didn’t record the marriage until 3 months after the fact, so he may have introduced the error himself.

I don’t yet know where in Ohio John and Mercy lived.  It would be reasonable to assume they lived in Cuyahoga county, given their marriage there, but I have been unable to place them there in the 1840 Census (the 1840 Census unfortunately only lists heads of household by name, and tick marks for the other members of the household categorized under gender and age range, and by free or slave, making it somewhat difficult to identify ancestors – especially those with a common name! – with certainty).  I did find both a John Gardner and an Amos Rogers (Mercy’s father was named Amos) living in Brunswick, Ohio, in Medina County, but the numbers don’t quite match (John and Mercy would have had at least one child, possibly two in 1840, leading me to expect a household of 3 or 4 – the John Gardner in Brunswick has a household of 1).  I will need more clues in order to pinpoint their location.

From later censuses, I do know that their first four children (Helen, Adaline, Clayton, and Sarah) were born in Ohio.  Some time between 1845 (Sarah’s birth year) and 1849, the Gardners moved to Dane County, Wisconsin.  They first appear here in the 1850 Census in Windsor, Dane County, Wisconsin.  They lived in Wisconsin for nearly 2 decades.  By 1860, they had relocated to Vienna, Wisconsin, also in Dane county.  Their next three children (Rachel, Robert, and Dayton) were all born in Wisconsin.  Helen, though married with her own family by 1860, continued to live close to her parents.  Adaline had moved to Minnesota in 1860, but rejoined her family later in Iowa.  Mercy’s parents, Amos and Thankful Rogers, also lived close by (in Dane county, but different towns) for most of the time the Gardners remained in Wisconsin.  

Between 1863 and 1867, the Gardners finally relocated to Iowa, living first in Clear Creek Township, Jasper County, where their last daughter, Ella, was born, and finally to Indian Creek Township in Story County, where we find them living in 1880.  Most of their adult children continued to live nearby, including Adaline and her family, who rejoined the Gardners in Clear Creek by 1870.  According to John’s obituary, the Gardners’ home was about a mile outside the town of Maxwell, Iowa.  When John died at home on July 16, 1896, he was one of Maxwell’s highly respected citizens, and his obituary notes that his funeral, held in the C. P. Church was one of the largest funerals ever held in Maxwell.  John and Mercy, as well as their son Dayton and his wife Cora, are buried in the city cemetery in Maxwell, Iowa.

Family Snapshot

Children of John Gardner (1812-1896) and Mercy Rogers Gardner (1821-1905):

• Helen Gardner Eatwell (1838-1923)
• Adaline Gardner Harter (1840-1919)
• Clayton Gardner (1843-1870)
• Sarah Gardner (1845-?)
• Rachel Gardner Cutsinger (1849-1936)
• Robert Gardner (1856-1940)
• Dayton Gardner (1863-1932)
• Ella Gardner Jarvill (1868-1946)