This Ancestor Stayed Home

 My  ancestry post for 52 Weeks 52 Ancestors about 'an ancestor who stayed home' means looking back at some of the women, who were expected to stay home for most of those years.

I choose one of the women who lived in Sevier County Tennessee, when it was first forming.

The family of Catharine Clack Rogers originated in Virginia, Loudon County was her mother's birthplace. Mother was named Mary de Beauvillers/Beaver born in 1745. Catharine's father Lt. Spencer Sterling Clack also was born in Loudon County (at the time it was in Fairfax County) in 1746.

Mary Beavers married Spencer Clack in 1766 in Loudon County VA. They had at least 8 children. I'm using some genealogical research from people living in Sevierville which look for evidence in original documents, as well as some "folk tales" passed along. Some of today's Ancestry Trees assume Mary Beavers Clack had 16 or more children. There is only evidence of these 8 however.

Many records have been lost, and there are several possibilities of Spencer Clack's parents.

But let's focus on Catharine (spelled the way my grandfather transcribed the Rogers Family Bible).

She was born in 1778 in Loudon County VA.  Her little brother Micajah Clack was born about a year later, and when he was just a toddler was struck and killed by lightening. This is a family story that has been handed down through the years. Incidentally, Catharine named her first son after him.

Though Catharine was part of the family which moved to Tennessee in 1787, (age 9) she didn't move much after that. She married Rev. Elijah Rogers in 1794. He was a Baptist preacher, known to travel to different churches in the area, as well as having a farm on the Little Pigeon River in Sevierville TN.

Catherine stayed home. Rev. Elijah lived until 1841 and she lived until 1850. 

The cemetery and church were located where these graves still are, and a park, by the Little Pigeon River in Sevierville. Catharine was probably buried there.

Catharine Rogers had 12 children, with one who died young, and two who have no known death dates. So at least 9 lived to adulthood. There are some documents verifying these children, but many ancestry trees have added many more!

Their oldest, Micajah Clack Rogers, my 3rd great grandfather moved to Texas when he was 50, with some of his children. His wife, Cyntha Cannon Rogers, stayed in Tennessee with the younger children and then moved to Texas before her death. There had been a personal note to Cyntha (which is now lost) which said he (Micajah) was sending the younger children back to Tennessee as there were no schools yet in Texas (in 1840).

I don't know if her father, Spencer Clack, was considered a hero when she was living, but since then there are various plaques in Sevierville honoring him.

Plaque on big stone near Sevierville TN court house.

Great (x4) Aunt Amanda M. L. Rogers Henderson (1812-1876)

The next chronological birth of Rev. Elijah and Catharine Clack Rogers was Amanda M. L. Rogers.
She was born May 30, 1812 in Sevier County, TN (the Rogers homestead is described as "at the fork of the French Broad and Little Pigeon Rivers," by the Rogers Family Bible.

Amanda had older brothers who went to fight in the War of 1812, including my great times 3 grandfather Micajah Clack Rogers (1795-1873).

Amanda grew up on the farm, while her father preached at times. (I haven't found that he had his own church.) She had 3 younger siblings as well as at least 6 older ones. Two additional brothers had probably died before she was born, but there's no evidence as to when they died.  One of her younger brothers, Henry, died within his first year.

She married William Taylor Henderson (1807-1859) when she was 18, in 1830. OR she married him in 1836 when she was 25, according to some other Ancestry trees.  I would go with the later date, because her first child wasn't born until 1838. But this son, Samuel L. Henderson didn't have clear information as to where he went after the census of 1850. On that census for Monroe County TN, William T. Henderson his wife Amanda had these children as well as Samuel: Henry, Matilda, Amanda, William Jr, and Katherine Reagan and Mary H. Reagan.

Matilda also is known as Caroline or Cate.  The two Reagan children ages 15 and 17 may have been relatives.

By the census of 1860 for Sweetwater, Monroe County TN, Amanda (40 years old) was a head of household, with the occupation of seamstress. Her husband, William had died the previous year. She lived with her Henderson children, Henry, Caroline, John, Mariah, William, but not Samuel who would have been 22. And there was now a younger daughter, Catherine just age 8. The Reagan children no longer were part of her household.

But here's the fun of looking at the original census documents. Guess who was living right next door (or across the road perhaps) to the Amanda Hendersons? Samuel and Nancy Henderson, ages 74 and 72. Yes, they were her in-laws, parents of her husband, William T. as well as his siblings on the census (I think) Martha, Lawrence and Hugh Henderson, ages 40, 33, and 23.

Another connection is that Amanda's father-in-law Samuel Henderson (1786-1867) was brother to Catherine Henderson Cannon (1777-1827) the mother of Cyntha O. Cannon Rogers (1800-1855) my great times 3 grandmother, and wife of my GGG Grandfather Micajah Clack Rogers (1795-1873). So I guess that makes Samuel Henderson a Great times 5 uncle of mine.

Amanda lived till 30 July 1876, dying in Madisonville, Monroe County, TN and she was buried in Henderson Cemetery, Monroe County, TN. Her son William T. Henderson Jr., a postman, was appointed administrator of her estate when probated in Feb. 1877.

GGGF Micajah Clack Rogers' next younger sibling

Siblings of Micajah Clack Rogers, (1795-1873) children of Rev. Elijah Rogers (1774-1841) and wife Catharine Clack Rogers (1778-1850)  Please note (maybe you did, maybe you didn't) that I'm spelling Mrs. Catharine Clack Rogers' name the way my grandfather spelled it from the Rogers Family Bible, when he transcribed it for his 4 sons onto typed pages with carbon copies. Not an electric typewriter either. There were correspondences with other descendants of Rev. Elijah and Catharine Rogers who still lived in Tennessee, in which their family trees called her Beulah Fairfax, and lovingly Aunt Katy. That was the first we out in Texas heard of the other names, as well as 2 daughters, Diatha and Elizabeth Rogers.

The next child Catharine Clack Rogers gave birth to was Matilda Langford Rogers, born on 14 October 1807.  There isn't much known (on Ancestry) about little Matilda, who grew up in Sevierville, Tennessee. She married Jan 10, 1828 to Jonothon or Ignatius Riggins.  The Riggins children were: James Howard, John Calhoun, Henry, Katherine, and Mary (Molly) Howard.

And the last note which I usually can add here, doesn't have any information. We don't know when Matilda died, or where. Probabaly in 1841. Her youngest child had been born in 1837. There is an interesting story about her youngest daughter, Mary (Molly) Howard Riggins, (born 1837) who married John McClure Biggs in 1857 and "removed with him to Texas."

Their daughter, Lily (1868-1948) married William J. Sims of Houston Texas. Lily Biggs Sims relayed the story that when her mother (Mary Howard Riggins Biggs) was orphaned as a baby, she had been raised (in Sevier County TN) by her grandmother Catharine Clack Rogers till the age of 15, when Mrs. Rogers died.  Lily Biggs Sims also related how the Rogers family were descended from John Rogers, the martyr who had been burned at the stake back in England. This is still part of the history of our Rogers family.

Catharine (Mrs. Elijah) Rogers died in 1850, and could easily have fostered her granddaughter, Molly Riggins before she married Mr. Biggs and moved to Texas. There's certainly joy of the first hand story (well, as transcribed in an unknown "Family Chronicle" on pg. 662) about the Riggins, Biggs, Sims line from Matilda Langford Rogers Riggins.

And I'm pleased to find a print from a photo of Mary (Molly) Howard Riggins Biggs. She lived until 1920. It's a bit amazing that this granddaughter of Rev. Elijah and Katharine Clack Rogers was raised in their household and lived till the 20th century.

The answer to my quest

Who was the McCroskey who married a Rogers?  Or maybe someone who was a descendant of a Rogers?

I just looked at the names of 37 McCrosekeys on my Ancestry tree...none married to Rogers. I do add the married name for women as well as their maiden names, whenever I can.  That way at least I know where they went in their lives.  It doesn't work that way for men, so I can look to see if any of these men married a Rogers descendant.  That won't take too long.  (You've heard that before, haven't you?)

OK, my first task was including the 5 people whose names were spelled wrong, with a space between the "Mc" and the "Croskey".  While doing that I added about 20 more people.  I have no idea why these people were added several (maybe 5 times) because most of them were siblings with the same parents.  I just was focused on the Rogers connection.

And the fifth Mc (space) Croskey was Elizabeth Clack.  That's a great clue, because Spencer Clack was a Rogers ancestor.  So I went over the the Rogers list, and sure enough Elizabeth Clack Rogers married David McCroskey.  Yay me.

A portrait found attached to Elizabeth Clack Rodgers on Ancestry (many people's names were spelled several ways at that time)

Time frame?
Elizabeth Clack Rogers (1805-1860) b. in Sevier County, TN
m. 1828
to David McCroskey (1805-1885)

And who were Elizabeth Rogers McCroskey's parents?

Same ones as Micajah Clack Rogers...namely,
Rev. Elijah Rogers (1774-1841)
m. 1794
to Catharine Clack Rogers (1778-1850)

The McCroskey family called her Beulah "Aunt Katy" Rogers...how that came from Catharine Clack Rogers, I don't really understand, but that's what they've put on the markers about her.  The Rogers Family Bible doesn't have Beulah Aunt Katy as part of her name.

But now I know why I knew of that name!  And my next project will be to reduce the numbers of McCroskeys on my tree by merging the duplicates.  It's a good thing its a rainy night in North Carolina while I do this.  I also have a lot of photos to scan, so I don't want to take too long doing this!