Rodgers Family Papers

Correspondence and other writings from the first generation of Rodger(s) in the United States: Rev. John Rodger and his first and second wives (Elizabeth Blackwood, 1746-1778; and Isabel Ireland, d. 1822, respectively), and correspondence and other writings from his ten children. Until the 1830s, the Rodgers family was living in Rockbridge County, Virginia, then many of them moved to Missouri, and then on to Warren County, Illinois. Much of the correspondence and writing is from Andrew Rodgers, Sr. (1789-1849) who wrote essays and letters on various topics, such as roles of women, church financing, infant baptism, reformed churches, slavery, suffrage, capital punishment, and free trade.

Very notable in this series are letters to Jemima Hall from Washington and L.F. Hall, and from Venus McCormick. Jemima Hall was born a slave around 1810 in Virginia. She was owned by the Davidson family and given to Aleri and Mary Davidson Rodgers when they moved to Missouri in 1822. The Rodgers subsequently moved to Warren County, Illinois, in 1836, and took Jemima Hall (then freed) with them. The letters to Jemima are from another slave, Venus McCormick (who was owned by Robert McCormick in Virginia but purchased by Aniel Rodgers and given her freedom in 1833 in Missouri), and from Jemima's husband Washington Hall, who at the time of his writing was still owned by L.F. Hall. In the letters Washington and L.F. both try to persuade Jemima to move back to Missouri to be with Washington, her husband (although L.F. was unwilling to free Washington.)

This largest series includes correspondence, wills, biographical information, genealogical information, and some financial and legal documents created by the descendants of John Rodger, the Rodgers family, and the families this group married into, such as the Davidsons, Grahams, Irelands, and Letchers. The most prominent correspondents are three of Aleri and Mary Davidson Rodgers' eleven children: Andrew Rodgers Jr. (1818-1847), Isabel Ireland Rodgers (1830-1912), and Calvin Melancthon (C.M.) Rodgers (1835-1906).

Andrew Rodgers, Jr. kept an overland journal while travelling on the Oregon Trail. He also wrote to many of his family about his experiences living with the Whitmans in Walla Walla. He was killed in the Whitman Massacre in 1847. Isabel Ireland Rodgers, who was named after her grandmother, was the genealogist of the family and wrote many distant relatives inquiring about family history. She also collected clippings on the Whitman massacre and wrote to various people about it, including author Myron Eells. Her notes and recollections are important documents of family history and anecdotal information. Isabel Ireland Rodgers graduated from the "Female Collegiate Department" of Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois in 1857, and her diploma is in the collection. C.M. Rodgers was a farmer and politician, who held several public offices, most importantly in the Illinois State Legislature. His correspondence to and from his wife during the years he was away is an interesting collection of letters detailing daily life on the farm and in Congress. C.M.'s business papers deal mostly with land claims, loans, and cattle and crops.

Correspondence, primarily from the children of C.M. and Eliza Paine Rodgers. The Rodgers' oldest child and daughter, Romaine Rodgers, went to school in Davenport, Iowa, and started a farm there and in Tribune, Kansas. Other children also traveled and resettled, and the correspondence back and forth talks about farming conditions, rural life, births, illnesses, and deaths. A couple of cousins (children of C.M.'s brother Samuel) settled in New Mexico and California in the 1880s.

Various letters and fragments of letters with unknown authorship or addressee, clippings, photographs, printed items, and sketches of family members which are unidentified. The Series also includes a handwritten list of remedies for Asiatic Cholera, undated.