Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/331

Rh ROGER, Juan. Spanish missionary, b. in Pam- plona, Spain, about 1540; d. in Vera Cruz, Mexico, in H>18. He was a Jesuit, and sailed from San Lucar for this country in 15l!(>. The vessel on which he had embarked was driven on the coast of Florida and several of his companions were killed by the natives, but he escaped and went to Havana, where he spent several months in studying the language of the part of Florida near Cape Cana- veral. With the aid of natives that were then in Havana, whom he converted, he drew up vocabu- laries and then returned to the province. The In- dians among whom he labored were a branch of the Creeks and of a very degraded type, and, not meeting with much success, lie went to Havana, where he established an Indian school. In 1569 he sailed again for Florida, landing at the post of Santa Helena, on Port Royal harbor, and he was the first resident priest in South Carolina. Here he attended to the religious wants of the garrison for sometime, and then advanced about forty miles into the interior, finding a race of Indians that were superior to any he had previously encountered, probably the Cherokees. He entered their town of Orista and was well received ; but, although he per- suaded the natives to plant corn, which he dis- tributed among them, and to build houses, he did not make many converts. His visits to other tribes were equally fruitless, and he returned to Santa Helena in 1570. He then went to Havana to ob- tain relief for the colony, which was suffering from hunger, taking with him Indian boys from the various tribes to educate. He was again in Florida in 1572, and his last missionary act in the country was to convert eight Indians that had been con- demned to death for murder. He then returned with the other missionaries of his order to Havana, and afterward went to Mexico, where he labored for many years with great success.

ROWERS, Ebenezer Platt, clergyman, b. in New York city, 18 Dec., 1817; d. in Montclair, N. J., 23 Oct., 1881. He was graduated at Yale in 1837, and, after spending a year at Princeton theo- logical seminary, finished his studies in Hartford, Conn. In June, 1840, he was licensed to preach in Litchfield county, Conn., and he was ordained in November. He held Congregational pastorates in Cnicopee Falls, Mass., in 1840-'3, in Northampton in 1843-'6, and had charge of Presbyterian churches in Augusta, Ga., till 1854, and Philadelphia till 1856. He then became pastor of the 1st Reformed Dutch church of Albany, and in 1862 accepted the charge of the South Reformed church in New York city, where he continued until a few months before his death. He received the degree of D. D. from Oglethorpe college in 1853. Besides various minor publications, he was the author of " Earnest Words to Young Men in a Series of Discourses " (Charles- ton, S. C., 1837), and " Historical Discourse on the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of Albany" (New York, 1858).

ROGERS, Ezekiel, clergyman, b. in Wethers- field, Essex, England, in 1590 ; d. in Rowley, Mass., 23 Jan., 1661. He was graduated at Cambridge, England, in 1604, and became chaplain to Sir Francis Harrington, who bestowed on him the benefice of Rowley in Yorkshire. He exercised his ministry there for about twenty years, when he was silenced for non-conformity, and in 1638 came with many of his Yorkshire friends to this country. He .-is urged to settle in New Haven, but preferred to begin a new plantation, which he named Rowley. He was ordained in December, 1630, and attained great reputation as a preacher. In 1643 he deliv- ered a sermon on election that, according to Cotton Mather, made him " famous through the country." It advocated that the same man should not be chosen chief magistrate for two successive years ; but. in spite of his efforts, Gov. John Winthrop was re-elected. The demands upon his time were so great that he soon received an assistant. He be- queathed his library to Harvard college, and his house and lands to the town of Rowley.

ROGERS, Fairman, civil engineer, b. in Phila- delphia, Pa., 15 Nov., 1833. He was graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1853, and two years later became professor of civil engineering, which chair he held until 1870. also lecturing on mechanics in the Franklin institute from 1853 till 1865. Prof. Rogers served as a volunteer in the National cavalry in 1861. and then became a volunteer officer in the U. S. engineers. Under the auspices of the U. S. coast survey in 1862 he com- pleted the survey of Potomac river northward from Blakiston island. In 1871 he was elected a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania, and he is a member of the American society of civil engineers and of the American philosophical society. He was one of the original members of the National academy of sciences, and has served on its com- mittees and its council. Among his more impor- tant scientific papers are " Combinations of Mech- anism representing Mental Processes" (1874); "Notes on Grant's Difference Engine" (1874); and " Terrestrial Magnetism and the Magnetism of Iron Ships" (New York, 1883).

ROGERS, Franklin Whiting, artist, b. in Cambridge, Mass., 27 Aug., 1854. He became a pupil of J. Foxcroft Cole in 1874, and later studied also with Wm. M. Hunt and Thomas Robinson. lie has devoted himself especially to the painting of dogs. Among his works are " The Two Friends," " Steady," " Resignation." " Loo," and " Mischief."

ROGERS, George Clarke, soldier, b. in Pier- rnont. Grafton co., N. H., 22 Nov., 1838. He was educated in Vermont and Illinois, whither he re- moved in early life, began the study of the law while teaching, and was admitted to the bar in 1860. He earnestly supported Stephen A. Douglas during the presidential canvass of 1860, in which he made a reputation as an extemporaneous speaker. He was the first to raise a company in Lake county, 111., at the opening of the civil war, became 1st lieutenant, 25 April, 1861, and soon afterward cap- tain. At the battle of Shiloh he received four wounds, but refused to leave the field, and led his regiment in the final charge. He was at once pro- moted to lieutenant-colonel for his gallant conduct, and soon afterward was commissioned colonel for gallantry at the battle of the Hatchie. At Cham- pion Hills he received three wounds, from one of which he has never fully recovered. To the engi- neering skill of Col. Rogers were due the works at Allatoona, Ga., where Gen. John M. Corse (q. v.) checked Gen. Hood in his flank movement after the capture of Atlanta. He commanded a brigade nearly two years, including the Atlanta campaign, and on 13 March, 1865, was brevetted brigadier- general of volunteers. He has practised law in Illinois and Kansas since the war, and was three times a delegate to National Democratic conven- tions. He was made chairman of the board of pension appeals on 15 June. 1885.

ROGERS, Henry J., inventor, b. in Baltimore, Md., in 1811 ; d. there, 20 Aug., 1879. He devised the code of signals by means of flags that is known by his name, which was adopted by the United States navy in 1846 and modified in 1861. Mr. Rogers also devised a code of signals by means of colored lights, which was the first pyrotechnic sys-