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JAMES RODGERS. For over half a century has this honored old Scotchman
been a resident of Waukesha County. A native of Perthshire, Scotland, he
was born in 1811, and was the eleventh in a family of twelve children,
including seven boys and five girls, whose parents were Alexander and
Janet (McLagan) Rodgers. Of this family but two are now living, Mr.
Rodgers, who is the eldest, and Margaret, widow of Richard Craven, of
the town of Lisbon, who is about eighty years old. The father and mother
were also natives of Perthshire, their births occurring respectively in
1765 and 1767. The former, who was a linen weaver by trade, received but
a very limited education; his father dying when he was eleven years of
age, he was forced to begin life on his own responsibility early. A
devout member of the Presbyterian Church, he died as he had lived,
passing away in his native land in 1837. The mother’s death occurred in
America, whither she had come with her children after her husband’s
death, in 1848. Mr. Rodgers of this biography has been twice married.
Previous to his emigration to this country he was united in marriage,
July 12, 1838. with Miss Margaret Imrie, also a native of Perthshire,
Scotland. who died in 1857. There are no children living of this union.
On the 17th of December, 1857, Mr. Rodgers wedded Mrs. Rhoda B. (Look)
Botsford, who was born March 26, 1821, in Smithfield, Madison County, N.
Y. Mrs. Rodgers was a daughter of Joseph and Silence (Bond) Look, and
was one of a family comprising four sons and four daughters, of whom but
three are living at the present time, the other two being Rudolphus, who
is an agriculturist of Onondaga County, N. Y., and Miranda, the wife of
Thomas O’Brien. a retired farmer of Pierce County, Wis. Father Look, who
was born in Ashfield. Mass., in 1785, died in 1874. He was a farmer by
occupation, that being his life work. About 1845 he emigrated to the
west, locating in Walworth County; from there he went to Jefferson
County, thence to Waukesha County, where he lived until his death.
Mrs. Rodgers was reared in her native state, where she acquired a good
education, largely through her own efforts, as she early formed the
habit of devoting her spare moments to self-improvement. On the 15th of
June, 1843, she became the wife of Sherman Botsford, and by this union
became the mother of five children, all of whom are living as follows:
James. S., who has adopted the legal profession as his life work, is a
resident of Kansas City, Mo. He is a talented orator, and is considered
one of the able attorneys of the southwest. His education is largely the
result of his own efforts. In politics he is a thorough Republican. For
a companion he chose Mrs. Sallie (Warner) Nutter, a Kentucky lady. The
second is Clarissa, who is the wife of Amos Allen, who superintends a
ranch in North Dakota. She was a student in the Normal University, at
Normal, Ill., after which she taught successfully in the public schools
for a number of terms. She is the mother of four children, a son and
three daughters. Martha, the third, wedded David Muir, an extensive
farmer and stock-raiser of Franklin County, Iowa. She was also educated
in the university at Normal, Ill. Mrs. and Mrs. Muir have three sons and
one daughter. Charles L. is the fourth in order of birth. He is an
attorney-at-law, located at Norman, Okla. His professional education was
obtained in the Michigan University at Ann Arbor, being a graduate of
the Law Department of that institution. He is also married and has four
children. Phoebe J., the youngest, became the wife of J. B. Wilcox, who
is engaged in mercantile business in Sedalia, Mo. Mrs. Wilcox has been a
teacher in the graded schools of Sedalia for many years. She was a
student at Waukesha, at Normal University, and at Newark, Ill. They have
two sons.
Mr. Botsford was a native of Madison County, N. Y., born in November,
1815, and died in the town of Lisbon, Waukesha County, Wis., on the 30th
of October, 1851. He was by occupation a farmer. In 1833 he emigrated to
Wisconsin, and located with his mother in Lisbon Township, though
Waukesha County was but little more than a wilderness at that early day
and Lisbon Township had no name. His first home was a log cabin which
his brother Lucius had constructed; it was covered with bark, had a
puncheon floor, and a mud and stick chimney. The country was inhabited
by many Indians at that time. Mr. Botsford was a resident of Wisconsin
ten years prior to its admission into the Union, and was closely
identified with the early growth and history of his town. Politically he
was a Republican when that party was organized, but at first he was a
strong Abolitionist, and was ever ready to lend a hand to the oppressed
and down trodden slave. In religious faith he was a member of the
Congregational Church.
After the death of Mr. Botsford, Mrs. Rodgers continued her residence in
the old home until her marriage with our subject, she having resided
continuously in Waukesha County for the period of fifty-one years. Mr.
and Mrs. Rodgers are the parents of two children, Anna and John A. The
former married John Rankin, a merchant of the village of Waukesha. She
was educated in the common schools, in Carroll College, and in White
Water Normal School, and was a successful teacher in the schools of this
county, also in the state of Iowa.
On the 12th of May, 1841, Mr. Rodgers sailed from Dundee, Scotland, on
the good ship “Peruvian,” and after a voyage of seven weeks’ duration,
landed in New York, July 4, 1841. In November of the same year he came
to Wisconsin, which was then under a territorial form of government. The
trip to the west was made by the lakes to Milwaukee, but as the vessel
could not make a landing he was carried on to Chicago, at that time but
a small and uninviting place, the greater part of the present populous
city being prairie and marsh land. He came on to Burlington, Racine
County, by wagon with another man, and from that point to the town of
Libson, Waukesha County, he walked. Upon his arrival here Mr. Rodgers
had only money enough to buy an ax. He at once commenced work in order
to earn enough with which to purchase the necessities of life. He made a
claim of fifty acres of wild land on section 27, in the town of Lisbon,
which was without a vestige of improvement. The first home he owned in
the county was a balloon frame structure filled in with poles, while he
himself built the chimney of stones, sticks and mud. If his house was
primitive it was not out of harmony with its surroundings and the houses
of his neighbors. Indians would pass his doorway, while the woods
abounded with deer and other wild game. His first grain was cut with the
cradle and threshed with a flail, implements with which the early
settlers were very familiar. After the threshing was over the ox team
was hitched to the wagon, the grain loaded and hauled to the market at
Milwaukee. Mrs. Rodgers remarked that she made her first two trips to
Milwaukee by riding on a load of potatoes drawn by an ox team.
At that time the beautiful Cream City was almost an entire tamarack
swamp, especially the western part where now stand the most substantial
business blocks. They have witnessed the wonderful development of
Waukesha County into one of the most beautiful and prosperous counties
to be found in the state, or in many states.
In politics our subject was a strong Abolitionist, but when the
Republican party came into being he espoused its principles, and has to
the present time been a stanch adherent to its men and measures. His
first Presidential vote was cast for the Abolition candidate, John P.
Hale. Mr. and Mrs. Rodgers are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church
in the town of Lisbon. They are living a retired life in their country
home, situated within a few rods of that of their son, John A., and are
passing their declining years in peace and contentment. This record of
their lives with be cherished by their children, when they who have
given them so worthy an example of right living have passed to that
bourne from whence no traveler returns.
Source: Portrait and Biographical Record of Waukesha County,
Wisconsin, Volume 2. Chicago: Excelsior Publishing Co., 1894, pp.
620-621.
Source: History of Jackson County, Michigan. Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co., 1881, p.
811.
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