Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 2.djvu/273

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

government census bureau. While most capably discharging his official duties, he accomplished other painstaking tasks, among them the compiling and editing of the code of Virginia of i860, and afterwards in publishing the code of 1873 — works which will be a witness to his ability and informa- tion. He was one of the most active mem- bers of the Southern Historical Society, of which he became secretary at its reorganiza- tion in 1873, ^^^ which position he filled with marked ability until the winter of 1874, when other pressing duties compelled him to resign. He was author of "The Two Parsons" and "Jewels of X'irginia" (Rich- mond. 1884), and numerous monographs. He died suddenly at his residence in Rich- mond, January 9. 1882.

Rogers, William Barton, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, December 7, 1804, son of Patrick Kerr and Hannah (Ely the) Rogers. His father having pub- lished articles in the Dublin newspapers during the Irish rebellion hostile to the gov- ernment, sailed for America to escape ar- rest, and arrived in Philadelphia in August, 1798. He graduated from the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania, 1802; piacticed in Philadelphia and Baltimore, and was professor of natural philosophy and chemistry in William and Mary College, 1819-28. William Barton Rogers removed with his parents to Baltimore, Maryland, in 1812, where he attended the common schools and was temporarily employed in a mercan- tile house ; was graduated from William and Mary, 1822, delivering an oration at the third **Virginiad,*' Jamestown, in May, 1822; continued at the college as acting professor of mathematics and as a post-graduate stu-

dent of the classics until October, I825, and in the fall of 1826 opened a school at Wind- sor, Maryland, with his brother James. He delivered two courses of lectures before the Maryland Institute at Baltimore, 1827, and in October, 1828. succeeded to his father's professorship at William and Mary. He made a study of the geolog}- of eastern \'ir- ginia. and taught the value of green marl as a fertilizer. He was made state geologist in 1835. and in the same year was made pro- fessor of natural philosophy in the Univer- sity of \'irginia, and also chairman of the faculty in 1844. In the latter capacity he prepared a memorial to the legislature in defence of the university and its annual ap- propriation, and also the "Report of the committee of the house of delegates on .- of American educa- tion. His administration included the ardu- ous period of *'rioting ' among the students, which was suppressed by civil authority. He served as state geologist, 1835-42. He was married. June 20. 1849, to Emma, daughter of James Savage and Elizabeth (Stillman-Lincoln) Savage, of Boston, Mas- sachusetts; visited England and Scotland, Ji'ne-October, 1849; delivered a course of lectures on "phases of the atmosphere be- fore the Smithsonian Institution, 1852; re- signed from the University of Virginia in 1853, and removed to his wife's* former home, ''Sunny Hill," Lunenburg, Mas.sachu- setts. He delivered lectures on the ele- mentary laws of physics before the Lowell Institute. 1856-57, and devoted much time to geological investigations. As early as 1846 he had conceived a definite idea for a polytechnic school in Boston, and in Sep- tember, i860, he submitted the plan which

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