Love is in the air

52 Ancestors
Week 7 (February 11-17): Love

I'm reposting from an old blog, both because it was his birthday a few days ago, and because W. Sam was the son of George Washington Rogers, who I posted about in my last entry, and Lucinda Gibbs Rogers.

William Sandford Rogers - Ancestor

Born February 9, 1850, in Huntsville, Texas, he was the son of George Washington Rogers and Lucinda Benson Gibbs Rogers.  Let me honor this Great-grandfather on the Rogers side of my tree.  He is listed in the 1850 census of Walker County, Texas...being 4 months old.  There his father is identified as a merchant.

My grandfather said he was known as W. Sam, though my grandfather didn't remember him at all, having been almost 2 when he died. 

In the 1870 census, W. Sam at 20, is living in Mount Lebanon, Bienville Parish, LA.  This is where a lot of his mother's family (the Gibbs) had settled, as well as Rogers.   He is part of a household of his mother "Luci" at age 30. (*note the date is probably a bit wrong, since he wasn't born when she was 10 years old.)  His siblings Laura (18) Alice (16) and George (12) live with them.  

Bayou Dorcheat hardwoods from Nature Conservancy

Since his father's death in 1864, it is likely that his mother moved to be close to her family.  The end of the Civil War probably had something to do with that as well.  In 1866 she apparently had his father's remains reburied in the Mount Lebanon cemetery, after he'd been buried originally in Texas.

Mount Lebanon has an interesting history which must coincide with my family's settlement there.  Wikipedia says thus:

Mount Lebanon was probably the first permanent settlement in what is now Bienville Parish. Its pioneers were Baptists from South Carolina who quickly established a church and school. The school became Mount Lebanon University in 1853, but closed during the Civil War to serve as a high school and a Confederate hospital. After the war the school reopened. After years of struggling, it was consolidated in 1906 through the Louisiana Baptist Convention into Louisiana College in Pineville in Rapides Parish in central Louisiana.

The Mount Lebanon Baptist Church was organized in 1837, and the Louisiana Baptist Convention was established there in 1848. One of the Baptist organizers in Mount Lebanon was pastor George Washington Baines, maternal great-grandfather of future U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson. The church building is still in use. The sanctuary is separated down the middle; men would sit on one side of the divide, women on the other. There is a balcony where the slaves were seated.

There are eight houses in the town that are on the National Register of Historic Places, including a building once used as a stagecoach stop and hotel.

After the railroad was built through Gibsland, 3 miles north, Mount Lebanon began to decline in population and economic opportunity. The post office was decommissioned in the 1950s."

 I was interested to learn a bit of the topography of the area...one comment said there are hills around Gibbsland.  There's not much of a town either of Mount Lebanon or Gibbsland at this point.

"On December 14, 1876, a Thursday evening, W. Sam married Elizabeth (Bettie) Bass in Willis, Texas, officiated by Rev. D. S. Snodgrass."  I know nothing about the Rev. but think it interesting that he is part of the record on Ancestry. (Their marriage license was obtained on Dec. 11, 1876 in Willis, Montgomery County, Texas.)  Bettie was just 16 and had lost her mother when she was 11.  W. Sam was 26, living with his widowed mother and identified as a farmer in the 1870 census of Bienville Parish, Louisiana.  I wonder how these 2 met! I posted about Bettie Bass Rogers and their wedding HERE.

They had two children, George Elmore Rogers, born August 28, 1877 (my grandfather) and Annie Lou Gibbs Rogers, born March 10, 1879, both in Willis, Texas.

William Sanford Rogers died May 29, 1879, and is buried in Huntsville, Texas.

This almost illegible marker (thanks to size of photo shortcomings) says Sam Houston is also buried in this cemetery.

What a short married life they had! The family of Rogers sisters of W. Sam took in the 2 children, and even had a guardianship for them.  But by the time George (my grandfather) was able to work, he was in Galveston, where his mother was living. She came from a household of many brothers and sisters, but as of now I don't know that she went to any of them when she was widowed at just age 19.  Perhaps the Rogers/Ross family were economically better prepared to care for the 2 children.  For a long time I thought they had been orphaned, but then I saw Bettie on several documents in Galveston.

I'm sharing this with 52 Ancestors, 52 Weeks.