Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1891
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 585
DAVID R. ROGERS

David R. ROGERS, a resident of Dunlap, and one of the earliest pioneers of Harrison County, came in 1852 from West Virginia, and located at Harris Grove, where he took a pre-emption of one hundred and sixty acres of land on section 10, of LaGrange Township. He at once began the erection of a log house 12x14 feet. The logs in this building were hewed, and the roof was made of clapboards, while the floor was made of puncheon, and a sod chimney graced one end of the building. The first few years they were in the country, they endured many hardships. They were far from a market place; Kanesville, twenty-five miles away, being the nearest point. To provide bread for the household, Mr. ROGERS went to BUTLER's mill on the Boyer River, near where Woodbine now stands, twelve miles, where he got wheat crushed and then had to turn a bolt by hand, in order to get flour that was in anyways fit to eat. Wild game was found in great quantities, and their neighbors were few and far between. The ROGERS' lived in the little cabin referred to, through the cold winter of 1856-57, and until 1859, when they erected a more commodious residence, on the same farm. This building was a one story and a half hewed log house, with a shingle roof, while the lumber in it was cotton-wood. In 1854 our subject entered three hundred and forty acres of land on sections 10 and 11, in LaGrange Township, making him three hundred and forty acres in all. One hundred acres of this was timber land. Mr. ROGERS improved this place, and lived in the last named house until 1873, having in the meantime made the purchase of one hundred and sixty acres on section 15, upon which he subsequently built a frame house. The same was a two-story building, now occupied by Mr. FAGEN. Here Mr. ROGERS made his home until 1884, and then came to Harrison Township, purchasing a farm. In January, 1891, he removed to Dunlap, where he has retired from an active life. For long years he was an extensive farmer and raiser of horses, cattle and sheep.

Mr. ROGERS is a son of John and Elizabeth (COX) ROGERS, and was born in Greenbriar County, West Va. His parents were of Irish-German extraction, on the paternal side, and of English-French on the maternal side. His parents also came to Harrison County, the spring of 1852, and remained in the county as long as they lived, the father eying November 20, 1880, and the mother April 20, 1869. The father was a farmer and was interested with our subject for a number of years. The father was a Republican in his political choice, and he and his wife were members of the Presbyterian Church. They reared a family of seven children--James D., a resident of Harris Grove; Michael, (deceased); Catherine, widow of William HOBBS, who died in the Civil War; Elizabeth, (deceased); John M. (deceased, a soldier in the late war; David, our subject; Isabella, wife of William S. BRYANT, a resident of Omaha.

David was reared upon a farm, and educated at the public schools, and also received an academic education. He was married in December, 1855, to Henrietta ABRAMS, who was born in Cayuga County, N. Y., in 1835, and was the daughter of Benijah and Elizabeth (CROSSUTH) ABRAMS, natives of New York and Canada. Her parents both died in Harrison County, Iowa, the father May 27, 1878, aged seventy-six years, three months and twenty-one days, and the mother August 16, 1890, aged eighty-six years, nine months and twenty-three days. They came to the county in 1854. The father was a blacksmith by trade and also followed farming.

Mr. and Mrs. ROGERS are the parents of nine children--Laura S., wife of John KNIGHT, a resident of this county; Ella B., widow of Albert B. ROGERS, who now resides at Dunlap; Adolphus L., a resident of Douglas Township; Frank H., a resident of Dunlap; Eli C., a barber, living in Know County, Neb.; Wilbur L., a resident of Denver, Col., where he follows the occupation of gripman on the cable-line; Millie A., wife of Alvah J. YARRINGTON, a resident of Dunlap; George W., a resident of Cedar County, Neb., and Homer, at home.

Our subject and his wife are consistent members of the Presbyterian Church, and both belong to the Mill Creek Farmers' Club, and are counted among the most worthy citizens of the county.

Mr. ROGERS is a stanch Republican, and has represented his township in nearly all its local offices, and was one of the leading promoters of the educational interest of he county, and has always labored for anything that tended to build up educational, moral, and religious institutions.

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