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from Past and Present of Mahaska County, Iowa by Manoah Hedge The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. 1906
Daniel T. Rogers, who is living on section 29, Union township, is a native of Lenawee county, Michigan, born October 13, 1840, his parents being Ansel and Louisa (Raymond) Rogers, the father born in Massachusetts in 1811 and the mother in New York in the same year. The father became one of the early settlers of Michigan, making his way to that state when it was largely covered with unbroken forests. His wife died in Lenawee county when thirty-nine years of age. He continued his residence in Michigan until about 1853, when he came to Iowa, settling near Decorah in Winneshiek county. He there bought one hundred and sixty acres of land and for several years lived upon and improved this farm. Later he engaged in the manufacture of lumber, owning and operating a sawmill and at one time his holdings embraced nine hundred acres of land. Subsequently he spent three years in Kansas, where he also conducted a sawmill and on leaving that state be returned to Ohio and afterward went to Michigan and to Indiana. He was not very successful in his farming operations but always made money when he engaged in the sawmill business. He was a good mechanic and was employed as foreman of the construction of the Raisin Valley Railroad in Michigan, subsequent to his return to that state, after living in Iowa and Kansas. His last years were spent in Indiana and he was just getting started in a good mill when his life's labors were ended in death. For his second wife he chose Mrs. Grizell, a widow, whose name in her maidenhood was Benedict and who died in Michigan. His third wife was Priscilla Grizell, a sister-in-law of his second wife. By the first marriage there were five children: Silas, who died in Oskaloosa in 1905; Nathan, who is living in Portland, Oregon; Daniel T.; Alonzo, who died in the state of Washington about three years ago; and Sarah T., the wife of Frank Farnum, of Ohio. Daniel T. Rogers: was educated in the common schools of Michigan, Iowa and Kansas. A teacher by the name of Holloway came with the family to Iowa and held a school in his own home. Schools at that time in this state and in Kansas were held on the subscriptian plan, for it was the early pioneer period, when the work of development along material and intellectual lines had scarcely been begun. Mr. Rogers was married in 1863 to Miss Lucy Jane Cobb, who was born November 26, 1841, and is a daughter of Ansalom and Ann (Copic) Cobb, both of whom were natives of Ohio, the former born in 1799. The mother died in the Buckeye state, at the age of forty years, and the father died in New Sharon, Iowa, at the age of seventy-eight years. He was married four, times. Mr. and Mrs. Rogers lived in Crawford county, Iowa, for one year with his father and afterward retired to Columbiana county, Ohio, living with Mrs. Rogers' parents for six months. In 1864 they came to Mahaska county Iowa, together with the Cobb family, and Mr. Rogers purchased forty acres of land, where he still resides. Of this farm, about fourteen acres had been broken and upon the place was a little frame dwelling and a prairie stable. The town of New Sharon contained but six frame houses and there was not a single house between the village and Mr. Rogers' farm. The postoffice in New Sharon was in the home of Porter Stanton and the mail was kept in an old shoe box in which pigeon holes had been made. Mr. Rogers began his farm work in an energetic manner and is now the owner of one hundred and twenty acres of land, having purchased forty acres adjoining the original tract and another forty acres just across the road. He has upon the place a good frame residence and substantial barn and other buildings and all of the trees upon the farm were planted by him. Unto. Mr. and Mrs. Rogers have been born seven children: Grace Ella, the wife of Robert Walthall, who is now living near Iowa Falls; Dora L, the wife of Addison Ball, who is living in Whittier, California; Mary, the wife of Sever Knudson, whose home is in Waterloo, Iowa; Ansalom C., of Holland, Minnesota; Willie, who died at the age of five years; Milo A., who is living in North Dakota; and Lydia, at home. Mr. Rogers was a republican and is now a prohibitionist. He and his family are birthright members of the Society of Friends and are active in the work of the church, last year giving twenty per cent of their income to the cause of Christianity. Both Mr. and Mrs. Rogers are yet enjoying good health. They have prospered in their undertakings and have a comfortable competence for their remaining days. Mr. Rogers is assisted in his work by an adopted son, Trager, who is now seventeen years of age and who has been with them for several years. He is a youth of very excellent habits, never using tobacco nor liquor, and his upright life is undoubtedly largely due to the example of his foster parents.
Past and Present of Mahaska County, Iowa
Mahaska County, Iowa Genealogy