- BENJAMIN C. ROGERS, one of the early and respected citizens
of this county, who for twenty
- years was a prominent merchant of Beloit, is a native of
Portage County, Ohio, born Sept. 2, 1824. His father, William
Rogers, was a native of Connecticut, and served as a soldier
in the war of 1812, and was subsequently a pensioner of the same.
In 1808, when Ohio was a dense wilderness, he shouldered his
rifle and ax and started for that new Territory, to make a home
and fortune. He located in Portage County, where he formed the
acquaintance of Miss Minerva GOSS, and about 1812 they were united
in marriage. She was born on the banks of the Susquehanna River
in Pennsylvania, and was a daughter of John GOSS, one of Ohio's
pioneer settlers. They began their domestic life on a farm in
Portage County, where eight children were born to them, four
sons and four daughters, all of whom lived to mature years.
William K., who served as a soldier in the late war, married
Ellen HOLLENBECK, and settled in Portage County, where his death
occurred; Benjamin C., of this sketch, was the second in order
of birth; Calista is now the wife of Richard CROSS, a resident
of La Porte County, Ind.; Volney, who was also one of the boys
in blue, wedded Miss Ellen PERKINS, and is now residing in Portage
County; Mary A. is the wife of Capt. Simon PERKINS, who served
with distinction in the late war, and is now residing in Randolph
Township, Portage Co., Ohio. Of the other members of the family
but little is known at this writing. Mr. and Mrs. ROGERS were
numbered among the pioneers of Portage County, Ohio, and in common
with all who settled on the frontier, endured many trials and
hardships. The country was full of wild animals; wolves made
the night hideous with their howling, and much trouble was occasioned
by bears stealing the pigs from the barnyard. The food of the
family was largely furnished by the natives of the forest; deer
abounded and their table was almost daily supplied with venison;
plenty of wild honey could be secured, and the maple trees furnished
the sugar. The markets were far distant. Our subject can remember
when his father had to ride the long distance of about fifty
miles to Cleveland for salt, being guided by Indian trails and
a pocket compass. Money was almost an unknown article, furs
being one of the principal articles of exchange and almost the
only thing for which cash was paid. The first gristmill built
in the section of the State where the Rogers family resided was
twenty miles away from their home, and the journey had to be
made on horseback, following a path marked by the blazing of
trees, as the roads had not then been cut. When the canal was
made, it was used as a means of transportation to convey the
farm products to market, but was only available in the summer
time, as it was frozen over during the winter. However, as time
passed the profits of the farm increased, and Mr. ROGERS at length
became one of!
the well-to-do citizens of Portage County.
- The subject of our sketch received his primary education
in the common schools, and being of a
- studious nature, by the time he was twenty years of age,
he was well fitted to teach, and therefore secured a school.
With the compensation received from his labors in that direction,
he paid his tuition in the Liman Academy at Atwater, Portage
County, but after one term spent as a student, he was employed
as a teacher, receiving a half interest in the school, and remained
with the principal of the same for the period of seven years.
In 1847 he started on a tour and traveled extensively through
the Northwest, until at last, in 1851, he settled permanently
in Beloit. For a year he followed the profession of teaching,
when he engaged as traveling salesman for the firm of W. D. SMITH
& Co., remaining in that employ for three years. At the
end of that time, he embarked in the mercantile business in Beloit,
prosecuting his trade for about twenty years, when he retired
from active business.
- In 1847 Mr. ROGERS was united in marriage to Miss Marietta
PELTON, a native of Chautauqua
- County, N.Y. Her death occurred Oct. 9, 1870. He was again
married Oct. 15, 1871, at Madison, Wis., becoming the husband
of Mrs. Mary CHEENEY, a native of New York.
- Since locating in Beloit, Mr. ROGERS has been honored with
several local offices, including that
- of mayor of the city, and police justice, serving in the
latter position for several years. Politically he was a Republican
until the second administration of President Grant, and since
that time he has been and still is an enthusiastic supporter
of the Prohibition party. His long experience as police justice
thoroughly satisfied him that at least nine-tenths of the crimes
committed in the community are cause by strong drink, and that
the highest duty the nation has to perform today is to effectually
free itself form the curse of intemperance. He is a man well
informed on all the leading topics of the day,and gives to every
subject careful consideration before making a decision, but when
his mind is finally made up his views are unalterable. Mr. ROGERS
can converse in five different languages, is a good conversationalist,
and has won many friends throughout the county, who hold him
in the highest regard He is numbered among the prominent business
men of Beloit, and though he has now retired to private life,
he takes a warm interest in the welfare of the city. He is the
owner of four good business blocks, in connection with which
he has 490 acres of land valued at $100 per acre, together with
200 acres of heavily timbered land in Williamson County, Ill.,
and 163 acres of fruit land in Indiana.
-
- Taken from "The Portrait and Biographical Album of
Rock County, Wis." (c)1889, pp. 214-215.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
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