Samuel Rodgers : Short Biography

Samuel Rodgers was born in Ireland and immigrated to Pennsylvania, USA, around 1780 at the age of 18.  He married Mary Henry, worked as a weaver and raised a large family as a pioneer in Western Pennsylvania.

Samuel Rodgers is my 4th Great Grandfather.  His daughter, Nancy, married Charles Love, born in Ireland.  Unfortunately, I don't have much information about the parents of Samuel Rodgers or Charles Love.

The following is an excerpt from The History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania It's Past and Present published in 1888 that includes a short profile of Samuel and Mary's son, William Rodgers, along with a description of their Samuel and Mary's life in Pennsylvania.

Page 985:

"William Rodgers, farmer, post-office Otter Creek, was born February 11, 1807, in Mercer County. His father, Samuel, was born in Ireland, and came to Delaware County, Penn., about 1780, and later to Fayette County, where he married Mary Henry, and in 1798 with her settled in Greene Township, this county, where they bought a tract of 400 acres. Here he died in 1839, and his widow September 20, 1865.

They had nine children; Betsey, married John Brooks and afterward Joseph Mathers, and she died November 26, 1887, at the home of our subject; Nancy, married Charles Love; Sarah, died July 22, 1879; Wiliam, Mary, Jane, Margaret, Robert and James. Mrs. Samuel Rodgers rode to Mercer County on horseback, while her husband walked and drove a cow. They packed their household goods and hired two men to bring them in a boat down the Monongahela and Ohio, up the Beaver to New Castle, and then up the Shenango to near their cabin, in what is now Greene Township.

Robert and Samuel Henry, brothers of Mrs. Rodgffis, had previously come to Crawford County, and on the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Rodgers they walked six miles, and in one day, with the assistance of Mr. Rodgers, they built a cabin 16x16 feet. Here Mr. Rodgers did a large amount of weaving. William Rodgers was educated in a log cabin school-house, which became so cold at times that the ink froze on the goose-quill pen which he used. He settled in Cool Spring Township in 1833, and was married March 27, 1834, to Nancy Bowman, daughter of Robert Bowman, which resulted in fiye children; Mary J. , Robert, Margaret E., Samuel R. and Nancy B.

Mrs. Rodgers is dead, while he resides on the old place. He was baptized in the Reformed Presbyterian, or Covenanter. Church when a child, and made a public confession when twenty years old. His wife was a consistent member of the same church. Their oldest son, Robert, was born October 12, 1839, in Cool Spring Township, and was married October 14, 1869, to Eunice Alexander, daughter of Samuel and Ruth (Dodd) Alexander, the parents of the following children; Samuel, Elizabeth, Joseph and Jennie.

The children of Robert and Eunice are; William A., Minnie E., Nancy R., Albert W., Samuel B., Robert, Myrtle and Norris L. Samuel R. Rodgers married Mary Godfrey, and has six children; Edward J., MaryE., Nancy E., Jennie R., Clara A. and Alice B. P. Nancy Rodgers became the second wife of John B. Maxwell, of Findley Township, and is the mother of seven children."