Where Spencer lived, and with whom...

"Five tombstones were found for the Rogers family and recorded in the Cemetary records. There are five tombstones in a row all the same size from left to right. (1) Spencer Rogers Jr. 1854-1873 (2) John C. Rogers 1837-1873 (3) Emma G. Rogers 1849-1934 (wife of Arthur Rogers) (4) Arthur C. Rogers 1841-1921 (husband of Emma Rogers) (5) Spencer C. Rogers 1817-1886 (father of Arthur Rogers)."  

Written in conjunction with posting a photo of a headstone, by another Rogers descendant on Ancestry, HughRobertMcVeigh, posted with the title:

Spencer C Rogers Sr 1817-1886, 

dated January 6, 2011 

 I must admit, the "P." as his middle initial looks as if it was added later, since it barely fits. But it's a big question since we've been chasing Spencer Clack Rogers.  

I jut found out where these headstones are located. I looked on Ancestry at Arthur Rogers death certificate, which says he was buried in Elmwood Cemetery, Shelby County, TN. 

Spencer Rogers..one more bit of important information from the Rogers Family Bible, which was talked about on my last post.

"The Rogers Family Bible: entry in hand writing in Bible, as typed in 1954 by George Elmore Rogers, Sr. and copied to his 4 sons and their descendants. SPENCER C. ROGERS Son of Rev. Elijah and Catharine Rogers, was married to Miss. Mary A. Simmons, all of Nashville, by Elder J. R. Graves, in Nashville, Tennessee, on the 14th _____ 1859."

This is substantiated by a Tennessee Marriage record for Davidson County, 1859 near bottom of the page.

  Spencer C. Rogers married Mary A. Simmons, July 14,1859 in Nashville TN.

 
The 1860 census for Nashville Ward 4, Davidson County, Tennessee taken on Aug 30 of that year.

Spencer C. Rogers is 43 years old and is a Publisher, living in household number 804 or 911. He's doing quite well, with real estate valued $8000.00 and a personal estate of $20,000.00. His household of 9 people has Mary A, age 27  and various younger persons that might or might not be his children. So John C. at 23 is a bookkeeper.  The rest of the family all have "ditto" as their last names, under Spencer  C. Rogers.


Children's names are Arthur C. 18
Jane C. 15
Cornelia A. 13
Emma 10
William S 6
George M 6 months

My guess is that George at 6 months is the son of Spencer and Mary. The others may well be his children of an earlier marriage, as they are too old to be Mary's, which I'll talk about later.

The other interesting thing is to look at his neighbors. Most of the women within a few doors are sharing homes and are prostitutes as their occupation. Then the household of Watson Freeman number 805 or 912 has his occupation as a Glass Framer Guilder, who also has a pretty hefty income.

Nashville's red light district perhaps? I don't know the actually addresses. A publisher and a glass framer and gold guilder are interesting businesses to be in the same neighborhood.

But remember this was 1860. The south was about to go to war, and Nashville was going to be changing.

My cousin who worked on the Rogers Family tree and is a member of the DAR and a few other genealogy associations, Patricia Rogers Seliger, posted this to Ancestry on Jan 17, 2015.

MC Rogers Letter to SC Rogers

Feb. 1866

Huntsville, Texas

"This is a letter Micajah Clack Rogers wrote to his brother Spencer Clack Rogers. He asked about his only living child, William L. Rogers. He tries to remember genealogy, only that Clacks came from Loudon County VA, Rogers came from Farquier Cty VA, meeting in Sevier Cty, TN, and MC is living with Thos Gibbs and his 2nd wife. Spencer is a publisher of Sunday School books."

I've struggled through reading this, (and will transcribe it soon) not finding any information about Spencer, besides that he is thought to still be publishing some materials for a Sunday School. But since it's a primary source of another ancestor trying to figure out his own ancestors, I've saved it onto another post in larger format so I can spend a few hours transcribing it. Then I'll publish that back onto the Ancestry site.

The next information on paper is the 1870 census from Memphis Ward 5, Shelby Tennessee.

So there had been a war, and in 1870 Spencer was 53, a Publisher, but living in a household with a 32 year old Printer, and his wife and daughter. Also living in that household were 6 other men, ages differing, some clerks, one a Wholesale Coffee Dealer, and one a Com. Merchant. Neighbors were a shirtmaker and a shoemaker. And Memphis is quite a distance from Nashville Tennessee.

Here's the 1880 census, again in Nashville, sixth ward, Davidson County, TN.

Now a street name is given at the far left at top of the page, but I'm not at all sure what it is...Linewiter or Lunmter, or something along those lines. Spencer is a boarder in the household of William Driver, a 77 year old retired sea captain.  Spencer is 63 himself, and lists his occupation as an editor. The other occupants of the household include William's daughter, Ruth Driver, age 22, and a black 19 year old woman, Mary Lishey as a servant.

And if Spencer had had those older children, living with him and his new wife Mary Simmons Rogers in 1860, why wasn't he living with any of them in Nashville when he was 63, rather than boarding with the Drivers? Many possibilities exist for family dynamics.

I'll look into the earlier family which had a different wife soon.