Rev. John Rogers, President of Harvard College

John Rogers was an English academic in early Colonial America. Eldest son of minister Nathaniel Rogers, he was born in Coggeshall, a small town in Essex, and immigrated to New England with his family in 1636. In 1649, at age 19, in the recent settlement of Cambridge (known as Newe Towne until 1638), he earned a B.A. from Harvard College which, only seven years earlier, in 1642, had graduated its first class of students. In 1652, following an additional three years of study, he received an M.A. and, in 1660, married Elizabeth Denison of Ipswich.

Residing in Ipswich and, despite neither having been ordained as a minister or trained as a physician, Rogers practiced medicine and assisted in the ministry of his brother-in-law, local historian William Hubbard, whose service as Ipswich pastor ultimately extended for more than 50 years. In 1682, Rogers was appointed President of Harvard, but having held the position for only two years, died suddenly at the age of 54.

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• Rev John Rogers
• Birth: Jan. 21, 1630 Coggeshall, Braintree District, Essex, England
• Death: Jul. 12, 1684 Ipswich, Essex County, Massachusetts, USA
• John Rogers, the eldest son Rev. Nathaniel and Margaret (Crane) Rogers, was baptized at Coggeshall, Essex, England on Jan. 23, 1630 and at the age of six, had crossed the Atlantic with his parents to settle in New England.
• He graduated at Harvard University in 1649 in theology and medicine, and commenced to practice the latter at Ipswich. But he afterwards became assistant to his father in the church of the same place, and abandoned medicine.
• He was chosen president of Harvard in April 1682, to succeed Urian Oaks, and was inaugurated in 1683. After his death, he was succeeded by Increase Mather.
• On Nov. 14, 1660, he married Elizabeth Denison in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Elizabeth outlived her husband by 39 years, passing away at the age of 82, in the year of 1723. She is buried in Highland Cemetery, Ipswich Massachusetts.
• Elizabeth and John are known to have had the following children.
  • 1. Elizabeth Rogers (1661-1754), m. Col. John Appleton (1652-1739) on Nov. 23, 1681.
  • 2. Margaret Rogers (1663-1720), m. John N. Leverett (Harvard President).
  • 3. Rev. John Rogers (1666-1745), m. Martha Whittingham (1670-1759) on Mar. 4, 1690.
  • 4. Daniel Rogers (1667-1722), m. Sarah Appleton (1671-1755) in 1694.
  • 5. Rev. Nathaniel Rogers (1670-1723), m. Sarah Purkiss (1680-1747) on Oct. 26, 1698.
  • 6. Patience Rogers (1676-1731), m. Benjamin Marston (1650-1719) on Apr. 14, 1696.
• Cotton Mather remembered Rogers as a sweet-tempered, genuinely pious, and accomplished gentleman given to long-windedness at daily prayers. With such personal charm and character, Rogers "might well have made a successful president," in the estimation of Harvard historian Samuel Eliot Morison.
• Whatever his presidential gifts, Rogers had little time to display them... two years after his election, he died at the age of 54, on July 12, 1684, the day after Commencement, during a total solar eclipse. (Note: the day after Commencement was July 2 in the Julian calendar then used by English colonists).
• Family links:
• Parents:
• Nathaniel Rogers (1598 - 1655)
• Spouse:
• Elizabeth Denison Rogers (1642 - 1723)
• Children:
  • Elizabeth Rogers Appleton (1663 - 1754)*
  • Margaret Rogers Leverett (1664 - 1720)*
  • John Rogers (1666 - 1745)*
  • Daniel Rogers (1667 - 1722)*
  • Patience Rogers Marston (1676 - 1731)*
• Sibling:
• Margaret Rogers Hubbard (1628 - 1690)*
• John Rogers (1630 - 1684)
• Inscription:
• The following Epitaph upon his tombstone, in the burial ground at Cambridge, (of which at this day no traces are visible) is supposed to have been written by one of the students, Dr. Cotton Mather.
• Mandatur huic Terroae & Tumulo Humanitatis AErarium, Theologiae Horreurm Optimarum Literarurm Bibliotheca, Rei Medicinalis Systema, Integritatis Domicilium, Fidei Repositorium, Christianae Simplicitatis Exemplar, NOOUCOP MY & ETWV Inoavgos. Se. Domini Reverendissimi D. JOANNIS ROGERSII 'ROGERSII DOCTISSIMI IPSUIENSIS IN Nov -ANGLICA, FILII DEDHAMENSIS, in veteri Anglia per Orbem. Terrarum. clarissimi, nepotis Collegii Harvardani Lectissimi, ac merito dilectissimi PRESIDIS Pars Terrestior Caelestior, a novis erepta fuit Julii 2d A.D. M.DC.LXXX. IV, AEtatis suae, LIV, Clara est pars restans nobis & quando cadaver.
• Burial: Old Burying Ground, Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA
• Find A Grave Memorial# 102314999
• From: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=102314999 ______________________

Rev John Rogers, grandson of the Martyr (see correction of this farther on) He was the nephew of Rev Richard Rogers of Weathersfield, who educated him at Cambridge University He was the Minister at Haverhill Suffolk, whence he removed to Dedham Essex, and was a popular and powerful preacher there for many years. He was called by the Rev Mr. Hooker of Connecticut, " The prince of all preachers in England ". He was thrice married and died in 1636. His monument, one of the most striking in the village burying ground of Dedham is yet to be seen there.

Rev John Rogers was born in Hemingham County Norfolk, England. He was the nephew of the Rev Richard Rogers of Weathersfield England, who in his youth had charge of him, his parents having died early. It has been said that they were descended from the Martyr John Rogers, but recent researchers have proved that such a descent is very improbable. In his youth, he was very fond of pleasure and disinclined to a studious life, and he twice left the University of Cambridge and sold his books, but his Uncle Richard sent him back the third time and a great change made him, " an illustrious ornament to the College and a man of exemplary piety". He became the vicar of Hemingham County Norfolk in 1592, and afterwards Minister of Haverhill County Suffolk, whence he removed to Dedham County Essex where he preached for many years and died there Oct 8, and 636. His manner of preaching was original and very striking so that the church was always crowded with people from all the country around. Bishop Brownrig said of him, "He did more good with his wild notes than we Bishops with our set music". Being a through Puritan, through most of his quiet and peaceful behavior, his lectures were suppressed by Bishop Laud. He then said, " If I come into trouble for non conformity, I resolve with Gods assistance to come away with a clear conscience, for through the liberty of my ministry be dear to me, I dare not buy it at such a price. Rev. Hooker of Conn. was accustomed to speak of him as " the Prince of all Preachers in England.

Mr. Rogers was thrice married. The name of his first wife is unknown. Nathaniel was the first son, some say the second; he was born at Haverhill about 1598. was born in Jan 1632 at Cogshill, Essex, England. He married Elizabeth Dennison, daughter of Major Gen. Daniel Dennison and Patience Dudley, on 14 Nov 1660. He died on 2 Jul 1684 at Cambridge, Mass, at age 52.

He was in 1676 at Pres. of Harvard College.

Children of John3 Rogers and Elizabeth Dennison were as follows:

+ 12 i. Elizabeth4 Rogers, born 26 Feb 1661; married Hon John Appleton.

13 ii. Margaret Rogers was born on 18 Feb 1664. She married Thomas Berry on 28 Dec 1686. She married Rev.-Hon John Leverett, son of Thomas Leverett and Anne Fisher, on 25 Nov 1697 at by Dr Cotton Mather, Boston, Mass. She died on 7 Jun 1720 at Boston, Mass, at age 56.

+ 14 iii. Rev. John Rogers, born 7 Jul 1666 at Ipswich, Mass; married Martha Whittingham.

+ 15 iv. Daniel Rogers, married Sarah Appleton; born 25 Sep 1666 at Ipswich, Mass.

+ 16 v. Nathaniel Rogers, married Sarah Purkiss; born 22 Feb 1670.

+ 17 vi. Patience Rogers, married Benjamin Marston; born 13 May 1676.

source: http://www.jacksonsweb.org/rogers.html

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• Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 49
• Rogers, Nathaniel by Charlotte Fell Smith Rogers, Nehemiah→
• ROGERS, NATHANIEL (1598–1655), divine, second son of the puritan John Rogers (1572?–1636) [q. v.], by his first wife, was born at Haverhill, Essex, in 1598. He was educated at Dedham grammar school and Emmanuel College, Cambridge, which he entered as a sizar on 9 May 1614, graduating B.A. in 1617 and M.A. in 1621. For two years he was domestic chaplain to some person of rank, and then went as curate to Dr. John Barkham at Bocking, Essex. There Rogers, whose chief friends were Thomas Hooker [q. v.], the lecturer of Chelmsford, and other Essex puritans, adopted decidedly puritan views. His rector finally dismissed him for performing the burial office over 'an eminent person' without a surplice. Giles Firmin [q. v.], who calls Rogers 'a man so able and judicious in soul-work that I would have trusted my own soul with him,' describes his preaching in his 'reverend old father's' pulpit at Dedham against his father’s interpretation of faith, while the latter, 'who dearly loved him,' stood by.
• On leaving Bocking he was for five years rector of Assington, Suffolk. On 1 June 1636 he sailed with his wife and family for New England, where they arrived in November. Rogers was ordained pastor of Ipswich, Massachusetts, on 20 Feb. 1638, when he succeeded Nathaniel Ward as co-pastor with John Norton (1606–1663) [q. v.] On 6 Sept. he took the oath of freedom at Ipswich, and was soon appointed a member of the synod, and one of a body deputed to reconcile a difference between the legalists and the antinomians. He died at Ipswich on 3 July 1655, aged 57.
• By his wife Margaret (d. 23 Jan. 1656), daughter of Robert Crane of Coggeshall, Essex, whom he married in 1626, Rogers had issue Mary, baptized at Coggeshall on 8 Feb. 1628, married to William Hubbard [q. v.]; John (see below); and four sons (Nathaniel, Samuel, Timothy, and Ezekiel) born in Ipswich, Massachusetts. The youngest was left heir by his uncle Ezekiel Rogers [q .v.] Rogers's descendants in America at the present time are more numerous than those of any other early emigrant family. Among them was the genealogist, Colonel Joseph Lemuel Chester [q. v.]
• Rogers published nothing but a letter in Latin to the House of Commons, dated 17 Dec. 1643, urging church reform; it was printed at Oxford in 1644. It contained a few lines of censure on the aspersions of the king in a number of 'Mercurius Britannicus,' to which that newspaper replied abusively on 12 Aug. 1644. He also left in manuscript a treatise in Latin in favour of congregational church government, a portion of which is printed by Mather in the 'Magnalia.'
• John Rogers (1630–1684), the eldest son, baptised at Coggeshall, Essex, on 23 Jan. 1630, emigrated with his father to New England in 1636. He graduated at Harvard University in 1649 in theology and medicine, and commenced to practice the latter at Ipswich. But he afterwards became assistant to his father in the church of the same place, and abandoned medicine. He was chosen president of Harvard in April 1682, to succeed Urian Oaks [q. v.], was inaugurated in 1683, but died on 2 July 1684, aged 53, and was succeeded by Increase Mather [q. v.]. By his wife Elizabeth, daughter of General Denison, he left a numerous family in America, three sons being ministers, the youngest, John Rogers of Ipswich, himself leaving three sons, all ministers.
• [Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit, i. 87; Chester's John Rogers, 1861, p. 246; preface to Firmin's Real Christian; Davids's Hist. of Evangel. Nonconform. in Essex, p. 148; Mather's Magnalia, ed. 1853, i. 414–23; Neal's Hist. of Puritans, ii. 252; McClintock and Strong's Encycl. of Bibl. and Eccles. Lit. ix. 64; Felt's Hist. of Ipswich, Mass. p. 219; Beaumont's Hist. of Coggeshall, p. 217; Dale's Annals of Coggeshall, p. 155; Essex. Archaeol. Trans. iv. 193; Mercurius Britannicus, August 1644; Winthrop's Hist. of New England, 1853, i. 244; Gage's Hist. of Rowley, Mass. p. 15; Mass. Hist. Collections, iv. 2, 3, v. 240, 274, vi. 554; Harl. MS. 6071, ff. 467, 482; Registers of Emmanuel College, per the master. For the son see McClintock and Strong's Encycl. of Bibl. and Eccles. Lit. ix. 63; Sprague's Annals of Amer. Pulpit, i. 147; Savage's Geneal. Dict. of First Settlers, iii. 564, where the question of Rogers of Dedham's descent from John Rogers the martyr is discussed; Harl. MS. 6071, f. 482; Allen's American Biogr. Dict.]
• From: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Rogers,_Nathaniel_(DNB00) ________________
• The descendants of William and Elizabeth Tuttle, who came from old to New England in 1635, and settled in New Haven in 1639, with numerous biographical notes and sketches : also, some account of the descendants of John Tuttle, of Ipswich; and Henry Tuthill, of Hingham, Mass. (1883)
• http://www.archive.org/stream/descendantsofwil01tutt#page/n93/mode/2up
• Simon Tuttle & Sarah Cogswell
• Simon Tuttle, b. Sept. 17, 1657; m. June 16, 1696, Mary, dau. of Samuel Rogers, b. Sept. 10, 1672, She was gr. dau. of Rev. Nathaniel Rogers, the first pastor of the chh. at Ipswich. 1639; author of "The Simple Cobler of Agawam." a politico-religious satire. His son JOHN ROGERS, b. Coggeshall, England., 1631; Harv. Col. 1649; was Pres. of Harv. 1682, till d. July 2, 1684. Blake's Biog. Dict. says that "Rev. Nathaniel Rogers was educated at Cambridge, Eng., and was a gr. son of John Rogers, the Martyr: His wife was a dau. of Robert Crane of Great Cogshall, Eng. Simon Tuttle rem. to Littleton, Mass., 1720, where his desc. are very numerous and the name continued. ___________________

will of Nathaniel Rogers, 1655

The will of the Rev. Nathaniel Rogers, Pastor of the Church at Ipswich, taken from his own mouth, July 3, Anno Domini 1655, was proved in court at Ipswich, 25-7-1655. He reckons his estate in Old and New England at about twelve hundred pounds, four hundred pounds of which 'is expected from my father Mr. Robert Crane in England.' He makes the portion of John, though his eldest son, equal only with the others, viz. Nathaniel, Samuel and Timothy, and gives to each one hundred pounds out of his estate in Old England and one hundred pounds out of his estate in New England. «b»«i»To his son Ezekiel he gives twenty pounds, which he may take in books if he pleases«/b»«/i». To his daughter he has already given two hundred pounds. To his three grandchildren, John, Nathaniel and Margaret Hubbard, he gives forty shillings each. To his cousin, John Rogers, five pounds, in the hands of Ensign Howlett. To Elizabeth, Nathaniel, John and Mary, children of his cousin John Harris, of Rowley, he gives twenty shillings each. To Harvard College, five pounds. The remainder he leaves to his wife Margaret, whom he appoints executrix."

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John Rogers, the eldest son of Rev. Nathaniel and Margaret (Crane) Rogers, was baptized at Coggeshall, Essex, England on Jan. 23, 1630 and at the age of six, had crossed the Atlantic with his parents to settle in New England.

He graduated at Harvard University in 1649 in theology and medicine, and commenced to practice the latter at Ipswich. But he afterwards became assistant to his father in the church of the same place, and abandoned medicine.

He was chosen the 6th President of Harvard in April 1682, to succeed Urian Oaks, and was inaugurated in 1683. After his death, he was succeeded by Increase Mather.

On Nov. 14, 1660, he married Elizabeth Denison in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Elizabeth outlived her husband by 39 years, passing away at the age of 82, in the year of 1723. She is buried in the Old North Burial Ground in Ipswich.

Burial: Old Burying Ground Ipswich Essex County Massachusetts, USA Plot: Section C, Site 103