Rogers, Eugene died 1871

ROGERS, OREILLY

Posted By: Audrey Haught, volunteer
Date: 4/11/2016 at 12:01:40

Eugene Rogers, an old settler, was found dead in his house on Monday afternoon. His ___ James Rodgers, found him laying near the stove with an incision on his left temple. The house was all fastened up, assuming that his death could not have been indeed but by an accident. The deceased was a widower and lived in the house all alone. For these particulars we are indebted to Dr. Hanna.

Clayton County Journal: January 3, 1872

---

The Lately Deceased Eugene Rogers

It is sad indeed, to contemplate an instance of this kind, where disconsolate genius, languishing in obscurity, departs without a single human being, present, to administer consolation at the close of a checkered and eventful life.

As I presume that the unhappy fate of the above named person is already known to the public, I shall only mention in that respect, that after many years spent in the solitude of the woods, he was found dead a few days ago, in his log cabin in Boardman Grove.

This brief biographical outline of his checkered career, may afford some general interest, but sympathetic emotions are generally more apt to follow those who make some arrogant parade of themselves in public, while the memory of some bright genius in the humble paths of life, sink themselves into the silent portals of the grave.

Eugene Rogers was born in Ireland, and being intended in his youth for an ecclesiastical life, he required a classic education. After finishing an Academic course, he went to France, where he graduated, and afterwards studied theology. He returned to Ireland, where he spent some time as a teacher of languages, physics and metaphysics, in Allhollows College near Dublin.

But owing to a mishap that befell him, he was obliged to abandon the hope of Ecclesiastical promotion, and consequently immigrated to the United States, where he was employed soon after his arrival, by Robinson & Co., as a shipping agent, in which position he served for some time, moving about the gay and polished society of New York city, until some wild fight of youth prompted him to become a soldier of the United States Army, where he served t-- years, partly in Florida, and partly in Fort Snelling and Fort Atkinson, and ultimately settled upon a little farm in Clayton county, where he lived upwards of twenty years, and died in solitude and sorrow.

Thus ended the earthly career of an extraordinary man. Having a profound knowledge of the Latin and Greek languages, he could readily recite from memory whole pages of Virgil, Horace and Homer. He could speak French as fluent and accurate as a learned Frenchman. The old Celtic or Irish language, be spoke with fluency and care, and was as proficient in most of the branches that constituted the encyclopedia of science and literature. Though he wrapt himself up during many years, almost in his own individuality, in the manner of a recluse, or almost as a misanthrope in his intercourse with the world, yet he had many social traits that were occasionally predominant. In company with a particular friend he was betimes agreeable, fascinating and instructive in his discourses about philology, giving betimes some glowing descriptions of the early scenes of his life, and like new coin issuing from the mint, every word was properly struck by the organs of speech, which gave, even his ordinary topics, an air of admirable importance.

But, alas! How futile and abortive are talents and acquirements, when they have little or no tendency to better the moral and social positions of man, which is visibly verified in this instance. Eugene Rogers possessed talents, and spent many long years in different countries, acquiring languages and learning, that, if properly applied, justly entitled him to a high rank in the literary world. But passing away, many of his years in obscurity, without the stimulating influence of genial society, to brighten his paths in the coming of life, he passed away, with all his learning, without leaving any mementos of himself, as a public benefactor.

However, whatever may have been his natural frailties and oddities, with an irritable temperament; they were no doubt, augmented through the means of blighted hopes and disappointments in life.

His little home, made desolate by the death of his wife, his last days were clouded with affliction and sorrow. When I visited him a few weeks ago, whenever his conversation turned to the gay and happier stories of former years, his pallid cheeks became drenched in tears, while he remarked that everything in life seemed in conspiracy to make him sad, among the aspect of the majestic woods around him, and in his last days, the world, to him, was in reality a vale of tears.
-Cosmopolitan O’Reilly

Clayton County Journal: January 17, 1872

Spouse: Margaret died May 2, 1871, her tombstone says wife of Eugene, but I do not find him buried there.
Her Burial: St. Joseph’s Catholic Cemetery, Garnavillo