Thomas Rogers


BORN:  before 1572; of Watford, Northampton, England, son of William Rogers and Eleanor (---)
DIED:  the first winter, between January and March 1621, Plymouth
MARRIED:  Alice Cosford (Elsgen = Alice in Dutch), 24 October 1597, Watford, Northampton, England, daughter of George Cosford.

CHILDREN:
NAME BAPTISM DEATH MARRIAGE
Thomas 24 March 1598/9, Watford, Northampton, England bur. 27 May 1599, Watford, Northampton, England unmarried
Richard 12 March 1599/1600, Watford, Northampton, England bur. 4 April 1600, Watford, Northampton, England unmarried
Joseph 23 January 1602/3, Watford, Northampton, England between 2 and 15 January 1677/8, Eastham, MA Hannah (---)
John 6 April 1606, Watford, Northampton, England between 26 August 1691 and 20 September 1692, Duxbury, MA Anna Churchman, 16 April 1639, Plymouth
Elizabeth 26 December 1608, Watford, Northampton, England living in Leyden in 1622, no further record. unknown
Margaret 30 May 1613, Watford, Northampton, England living in Leyden in 1622; no further record. unknown



ANCESTRAL SUMMARY:

The often published descent of Thomas Rogers from John Rogers the Martyr is complete fiction.  Thomas Roger's true English origins were discovered in 1989 by Clifford Stott and published with supporting documentation in The Genealogist 10:138-149.  Thomas Rogers was the son of William and Eleanor Rogers, and grandson of William and Joan Rogers.  Thomas' marriage to Alice Cosford and his children's baptisms are all found in the parish registers of Watford, Northampton, England.


BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY:

Thomas Rogers became a citizen of Leyden on 25 June 1618 with sponsors William Jepson and Roger Wilson, and is called a Camlet-merchant.  And just two years later, on 1 April 1620, he sold his house in Leyden before coming to America on the Mayflower.

Thomas Rogers brought his son Joseph on the Mayflower.  He died the first winter, but his son Joseph survived. William Bradford in his Of Plymouth Plantation writes of Thomas Rogers:  "the rest of Thomas Rogers' [children] came over and are married and have many children."  

In the 1622 poll tax for Leyden are listed his wife Elsgen (Alice), and daughters Lysbeth (Elizabeth) and Grietgen (Margaret), and son John.  John Rogers is known to have come to America and married, but unfortunately the whereabouts of Elizabeth and Margaret remain unknown, though Bradford seems to suggest they came to America and married.


SOURCES:

Clifford Stott, "The English Ancestry of the Pilgrim Thomas Rogers and His Wife Alice (Cosford) Rogers", The Genealogist, 10:138-149.

Robert S. Wakefield, "Mayflower Passengers Turner and Rogers: Probable Identification of Additional Children," The American Genealogist 52:110-113.


Mayflower Web Pages.  Caleb Johnson © 1998