Lot Rogers

Draft September 2, 2003
© Terence W. Thompson

According to a Bethea family historian, “Erasmus” Lot Rogers was born on September 12, 1755.[1]  The basis for associating the name “Erasmus” with Lot Rogers is not known at the present time.  In any event, his given name was variously spelled as Lot or Lott.

Lot’s wife was named Ann (sometimes referred to as Anne, Anna, Annie or Nannie).[2]  Several sources indicate that her maiden name was Bethea.[3]  In his history of Marion County, South Carolina, Sellers included an article regarding individuals bearing the Rogers surname who resided in the county and stated that Lot Rogers married “Nannie” Bethea, who was “a sister of old Buck Swamp John Bethea.”[4]  Consistent with Sellers’ account, a Bethea family historian has indicated that Lot married Anna Bethea (daughter of “Virginia” John Bethea and sister of William Bethea, “Buck Swamp” John Bethea, and Mary Bethea).[5]  Perhaps solely on the basis of Sellers’ history of Marion County, another researcher has mentioned that Lott Rogers was married to “Nannie” Bethea.[6]

Ann was born in about 1754.[7]  A Bethea family historian has given Ann’s birthdate as September 6, 1755.[8]  She was apparently unable to read or write, given that she signed her name with a mark.[9]  General William Evans stated that she was “a lady of the most irreproachable character.”[10]  Levi Odom said that she was “a woman of strict truth.”[11]

Lot and Ann were married on April 11, 1773.[12]  The wedding was in Virginia.[13]  Christopher Reddick, a justice of the peace, officiated at the wedding, and Levi Odom “partook of the wedding dinner at the house of the father of the said Lott Rogers.”[14]  (Levi was born in Gates County, North Carolina, near the Virginia line.)  In compiling his history of Marion County, Sellers apparently did not have access to information regarding the details of the marriage; he mentioned the marriage, but stated that the place and date of the marriage, “whether before his arrival in South Carolina or after, is not now known.”[15]  A Bethea family historian has indicated that the wedding occurred in Suffolk, Nansemond County, Virginia.[16]

Lot and Ann continued to live in Virginia after their wedding and at least through late 1777, well after the Revolutionary War had begun.[17]  During the Revolution, Ann and Lot had two children.[18]

The National Archives contain no military service record for Lot Rogers, whether under that spelling or any variations.[19]  However, in 1840, his widow Ann did apply for a pension based on Lot’s Revolutionary War service.[20]  In her application, Ann stated:

Lott Rogers, who was a private in the army of the Revolutionary war . . . entered the service some considerable time after the commencement of the struggle, that her husband was draughted for three months, and served out the same time, and one month over.  – That her husband marched as she understood to attend his services at the Battle of the Brandywine – that her husband & self resided in the State of Virginia at the time he entered the service . . . .[21]

Although Ann said that they lived in Virginia when he entered military service, and the National Archives accordingly filed her application as pertaining to service in Virginia, Lot may well have served in the North Carolina Brigade (either in the 5^th or 2^nd North Carolina Battalion), which was present at the Battle of Brandywine.  The reference to marching to and serving in the Battle of Brandywine, which occurred on September 11, 1777, indicates that Lot served for four months during the late summer and early fall of that year.

The first four North Carolina regiments had served the previous year in the ill-fated defense of Charleston and, having returned to North Carolina, were combined with other regiments into the North Carolina Brigade.  In the summer of 1777, as they marched north to join the troops of General Washington, the Brigade passed through Williamsburg and Richmond, Virginia, and stopped at Alexandria to be inoculated for smallpox:

In July and August the troops were marched northward into New Jersey and then again south to Wilmington, DE to help counter a British thrust toward Philadelphia from the south.

The NC Brigade was at the battle of Brandywine, PA on September 11, 1777 but saw little action as it had been assigned to the reserves under General Greene. However, men from the NC Brigade serving in the recently organized Corps of Light Infantry did see heavy action during the battle as they defended Chad's Ford.

On October 3, 1777 the NC Brigade was in the battle of Germantown, PA where it again formed the reserve along with the Corps of Light Infantry. When called up, the Brigade saw intense fighting in which its commander, General Francis Nash, had his leg nearly shot off by a British cannon ball. Nash died on October 9th and was buried with full military honors along with several other NC officers killed in the battle.[22]

If it is correct that Lot enlisted in August, 1777, then he likely also served at the Battle of Germantown in October.  Shortly thereafter, the army entered winter quarters at Valley Forge.   As mentioned above, there is no military record for Lot Rogers in the National Archives, which indicates that he was not present for the roll conducted at Valley Forge in January, 1778.  Since Lot served for four months, he may have spent some time at Valley Forge but returned home – perhaps in December, 1777 -- before conditions turned harsh:

The actions at Brandywine and Germantown left the NC Regiments in need of a commanding general as well as other field officer positions. Disagreements as to who should receive promotions caused many officers to resign their commissions and return to North Carolina. Eventually a system of promotions within regiments and the NC Brigade was established, however the command of the NC Brigade was given to General Lachlan McIntoch of Georgia as it went into winter quarters with the army at Valley Forge.

Troop returns for the NC Brigade at Valley Forge for January 1778 give an idea of the suffering they endured. Out of 1188 men, 323 were listed as sick and 249 as unfit for duty for want of clothing. General Washington declared the NC Brigade was sicklier, for want of clothing and provisions, than any other unit at Valley Forge. The nine NC Regiments were so under strength they were consolidated into four regiments with the men of the 4th [and 5^th] Regiment[s] being reassigned to the 2nd Regiment. [23]

The desertion rate for the North Carolina Brigade was only 10%, the lowest in the Continental Army, which averaged an 18% desertion rate.[24]  Lot may have been among those who were sick or otherwise unfit due to lack of clothing or provisions.  In any event, it appears that he returned home before the end of 1777.

In his affidavit in support of Ann Rogers’ pension application, lifelong friend Levi Odom provided additional information – perhaps because the pension statute based eligibility on six months’ service and Ann would only swear to four months of service by Lot.  On January 8, 1841, Levi Odom stated:

Lott Rogers was drafted as a private in the service of the United States and served a part of his term with the deponent [Odom] who was march’d to join the forces under Gen’l Gates at Camden, but did not reach there until the Battle was over – that their Captain was named Jethro Sumner – who commanded both this deponent and the said Lott Rogers in our Revolutionary struggle for Independence.[25]

The Battle of Camden – depicted in the 2000 movie “The Patriot” starring Mel Gibson -- occurred on August 16, 1780.  Militiamen from Virginia and the Carolinas had rushed to join General Gates.  A few hundred men from North Carolina under the command of General Jethro Sumner arrived in time to participate in the battle, but apparently the contingent in which Lot Rogers and Levi Odom served arrived too late for the battle.[26]

Sometime in the 1780s, Lot and his family moved to what is now Marion County, South Carolina.  In his history of Marion County, South Carolina, Sellers stated:

Of the Dothan family, one Lot Rogers, from Virginia, came to South Carolina about the close of the Revolutionary War; . . . he settled and lived and died just above Dothan Church, on the road leading from Dothan to Little Rock, formerly called Harlleesville . . . .[27]

Along with Shadrach Rogers and Elisha Rogers, Lot Rogers is shown as residing in Prince George Parish, Georgetown District, South Carolina, in the 1790 U. S. census.[28]

The 1790 census for Prince George Parish, Georgetown District, South Carolina, listed Lot Rogers along with Elisha Rogers and Shadrach Rogers.

On November 11, 1791, Lot Rogers caused 227 acres on Big Reedy Creek in Liberty County, Georgetown District, South Carolina, to be surveyed.  On April 2, 1792, the State of South Carolina granted this land to Lot.  The adjoining landowners were William Brown (on the north), John Townsend (on the southeast), Goodman Bethea and John Bethea (on the south), and Darby Swinney (on the northwest).[29]  On March 27, 1792, the survey of the 227 acres was certified by the surveyor.[30]  The plat map shows that the land was located on the north side of Reedy Creek Swamp.

On April 27, 1792, a survey for Isaac Highot of 944 acres on the Great Branch waters of the Little Pee Dee River showed that the acreage was adjacent to land belonging to Lot Rogers, Robert McKensy, Widow Green, Moses Manen, John Bethea, and Valentine Rowell.[31]

On March 21, 1798, in a Liberty (Marion) County record regarding the administration of an estate by Jesse Bethea, reference is made to Shadrach Rogers as well as Elisha Rogers, Lot Rogers, John Bethea, and others:

Account currant with Jesse Bethea, Exor 1797-1799.  Recorded in Return Book #1, page 56.  Certified by C Dupre Ordy G T D  8 Mar 1802.  Paid: Neal Thompson, Joel Lewis, Lot Rogers, . . . John Bethea, . . . Shadrach Rogers, . . . and Elisha Rogers. 21 Mar 1798.  Jesse Bethea, Exor.[32]

On April 16, 1798, Shadrach Rogers sold 200 acres that had been granted to him in June, 1789.  The land was located on the south side of “Big Grassey Bay” and adjacent to land of Stephen Gibson and Rice Henderson, both of whom had acquired their titles after Shadrach had had the 200 acres surveyed.  Lot Rogers and William Stackhouse were witnesses to the 1798 deed.  Shadrach is described as still being a resident of Liberty (Marion) County.  The buyer was Rice Henderson, and Shadrach’s wife Hopey acknowledged her consent to the transfer.[33]  Lot continued to reside in the area as of 1800, when the 1800 U. S. census shows him in Liberty (Marion) County, South Carolina.[34]

Lot Rogers' entry in the 1800 census for Marion District, South Carolina

Lot Rogers' entry in the 1810 census for Marion District, South Carolina

The 1810 census showed that Lot continued to reside in Marion District, South Carolina.  On June 10, 1813, Lot Rogers and John Bethea witnessed a deed from Timothy Rogers to William Bethea for 150 acres in Marion District, South Carolina.  For reasons unknown, the deed was not recorded until almost two decades after it was signed.[35]

On December 30, 1819, Timothy Rogers caused a survey to be made for him of 654 acres on Reedy Creek of the Little Pee Dee River.  This land was bounded by land owned by Lot Rogers (on the south), George Clark (on the east), John Bethea (on the north), and unknown land (on the west).  The plat map shows that Reedy Creek ran through the western portion of the tracts owned by Lot Rogers, Timothy Rogers, and John Bethea, with a small branch of the creek marking part of the western end of the boundary line between Lot and Timothy, and another small branch being most of the boundary marker between Timothy and John.  As also shown on the plat, a road to Marion courthouse ran on a north-south alignment through the eastern portions of the properties of Lot, Timothy and John.[36]

Lot Rogers' entry in the 1820 census for Marion District, South Carolina

On March 28, 1829, Lot Rogers signed his last will and testament, which he apparently dictated to the writer.[37]  He resided in Marion District, South Carolina, at the time, but described himself as being “weak in body.”[38]  He died a few days later, on April 2, 1828.[39]

His will refers to his wife as Anne or Annie.  The will mentions that his son Elisha Rogers was dead and had lived on land owned by Lot and adjacent to land on which Lot resided.  His will also contains bequests to his sons David Rogers, Timothy Rogers, Robert Rogers, Noah Rogers, William Rogers, and Phillip Rogers and his daughter Sally Legett, as well as his grandchildren Martha Rogers and David Rogers (said to be then living with him) and grandchildren William Evans, Nathan Evans and Elizabeth Ann Evans.[40]  The Rogers grandchildren may have been the children of his late son Elisha.  The Evans grandchildren were the children of an unnamed daughter who, like Elisha, might have predeceased her father.

Lot appointed his sons Noah and William as his executors.[41]  The will was proven by the witnesses David S. Harllee and John C. Bethea on April 7, 1829.[42]  On that same date, William Bethea, John C. Bethea and Henry Berry were appointed by the court to appraise Lot’s estate.[43]  The inventory of the estate was filed on May 25, 1829.  Valued at a total of $221.50, the estate included 12 head of cattle, a horse, hogs, three sheep, geese, and various other items.[44]

In the accounting of the estate filed on January 15, 1830, two-thirds of the cash was used to pay creditors including Timothy Rogers ($50), Herrod Stackhouse ($1), and Thomas Evans ($.75), with a balance of $31 being paid over to the widow Ann Rogers.[45]

As evidenced by the Revolutionary War pension application of Lot’s widow, Ann was still residing in Marion County, South Carolina, as of December 30, 1840.[46]

In his history of Marion County, Sellers recounted a great deal of information about the descendants of Lot’s sons Timothy and William:[47]

[Lot]  raised a large family - think, mostly sons; of these, only Timothy and Wil­liam were known to the writer; others of them went West; one daughter only known to the writer; she became the wife of Nathan Evans, and the mother of the late General William and Nathan Evans, as hereinbefore mentioned. Timothy Rogers, a most excellent man and worthy citizen, married Sarah Bethea, a daughter of Sweat Swamp John Bethea, and settled where Dr. J. F. Bethea now lives; they raised a large family of sons and daughters; of the sons, John B. Rogers emigrated to the West many years ago-not, however, until after he married a Miss McRee, and had some family.  Tres­tram B. Rogers married a Miss Parnell; had some family when he removed West, and Lot B. Rogers married a Miss Thwing, had some family and removed to Texas, I think.  These three all dead; I know nothing of their posterity.  Two other sons, Jesse and Cade B. Rogers. Jesse married, first, Miss Harriet Bethea, daughter of the late Parker Bethea, by whom he had three children, two sons and one daughter.  Two sons, David S. Rogers, of "Free State," who married a Miss Pipkin, of Marlborough, and who has had twenty children born to him by the same wife, seven of them are, however, dead; D. S. Rogers is quite a good citizen and prosperous man.  Albert S. Rogers, the other son, married a daughter of Captain Stephen F. Berry, has a considerable family, sons and daughters, how many is unknown. Albert Rogers is also doing well.  Their sister, Alice Rogers, married Holden Bethea; they live in the "Free State," and are said to be doing well; have a family of children. Jesse Rogers married, a second time, the Widow Anna Rogers, below Marion; his wife was the widow of his cousin, Evan Rogers, who will be mentioned hereinafterwards; he (Jesse) died, leaving no issue by his second marriage. Cade B. Rogers, the youngest son of old man Timothy Rogers, still survives, and, as far as is known, the only survivor of that large family; he married, first, a Miss George (Nancy); by her he had two daughters and one son; one of the daughters married a Mr. Butler, on north side of Little Pee Dee; can say nothing of their family, if they had any; the other daughter married Herod Gaddy, and lives in Marlborough. The son, Henry G. Rogers, married a Miss Pipkin, settled in Marl­borough, and is dead; I can say nothing of his family.  Cade B. Rogers' first wife died, and he married a second time, a Widow Morris, of Florence County; no children by this latter marriage. Of the many daughters of old man Timothy Rogers, the oldest married Daniel McInnis; both dead and childless; the second, Mary, married the late Rev. Samuel J. Bethea, and is dead; the next, Miranza, married Thomas C. Bethea; the next, Harriet, married Arch'd K. McLellan; the next, Elizabeth, married Daniel A. Platt; the next (name for­gotten) married Levi Gasque; and the next (name forgotten) married William E. Brown, of Marlborough; all dead, and left families except Mrs. McInnis. Mrs. T. C. Bethea, Mrs. Levi Gasque and Mrs. William E. Brown went West many years ago; those remaining here raised large families, and they and their descendants now form a good portion of our population. Old Lot Rogers' youngest son, William, and perhaps his youngest child, born in 1799, inherited the old homestead of his father, and is now owned by his youngest son, our good fellow-citizen, Lot B. Rogers; he married the youngest daughter (Mary) of old Henry Berry, as hereinbe­fore stated; he and wife lived and died on his father's homestead at an old age-not many years ago; the fruits of the marriage were sons, Charles, Evan, Frank, Philip B. and Lot B., and daughters, Elizabeth Ann, Mary Ann, Nancy and Margaret. Of the sons, Charles emigrated West, and, doubt­less, is dead; nothing, however, is known of him by the writer; Evan grew up and married Miss Anna Legette, daughter of Colonel Levi Legette, below Marion, and where Evan Rogers settled.  He was killed on Sunday, 1st of October, 1855, by a man by the name of Harrelson, who was tried the next week after at Court in Marion, and very ably defended by the late Chancellor Inglis and Julius A. Dargan, two very eminent and able lawyers, and was convicted and sentenced to be hanged on a certain day fixed; before the day appointed for his execution he escaped from jail; a large reward, two hundred dollars or more, was offered for his recapture and delivery at the jail in Marion by General Elly Godbold, then Sheriff; great efforts were made to find and recapture him, but all in vain; about eighteen months thereafter he was recaptured in Columbus County, N. C., brought back and lodged in the jail in Marion, and at the succeeding Court, in March, 1857, he was re, sentenced or a new day assigned for his execution, and he was accordingly hanged by the then Sheriff, N. C. McDuffie, on the 5th day of June, 1857.  The third son, Frank, grew up to manhood and went to Louisiana, and died there many years ago. Philip B., the fourth son, now one of our prosperous fellow-citizens, married a Miss Gaddy, daughter of Allen Gaddy, and raised a considerable family, sons and daughters, who are among us now as citizens and wives of our citizens, and are known. Philip B. Rogers' wife died some two or three years ago; he is now a widower-I do not know how long he will remain such.*  [Philip B. Rogers has since married to a lady in North Carolina.]  Lot B. Rogers, the youngest son of William Rogers, is now a leading and successful farmer among us; he married Miss Adaline Townsend, daughter of the late Jacob Townsend, and sister of D. A. Townsend, of Union, one of the Circuit Judges of the State; by that mar­riage a large family resulted, of sons and daughters, and among them are four sets of twins-all the latter are living except one -- some grown and some married, and some of them yet minors.  Having succeeded well in life, Lot B. Rogers has so far educated his children well, and they are promising; he himself has represented his county in the State Legislature, besides holding other public positions in the county by the suffrages of his fellow-citizens, and in every one of them has discharged his duty faithfully and to the satisfaction of his friends.  William Rogers died in 1874, at the age of seventy­five years; his wife survived him a few years and she died.

Based on the foregoing, the children of Lot Rogers and Ann Bethea appear to have been as follows.  The principal source of birthdates and birthplaces is a Bethea family historian, who refers to a record reportedly prepared by Lot’s youngest son William shortly before his death:[48]

            1.  David Rogers, born in 1774, probably in Nansemond County, Virginia.[49]

            2.  Timothy [Erasmus] Rogers.[50]  As his mother’s pension application stated that two of her children were born during the Revolutionary War, and their first child apparently was born before the war began, these two children were likely born sometime between 1775 (when the clash at Lexington and Concord occurred) and 1783 (when the final peace accord was signed almost two years after Yorktown).[51]  Assuming it is correct that his younger brother Robert was born in early 1783, Timothy’s birth was thus likely to have been between late 1775 and early 1782.  Timothy married Sarah Bethea, daughter of “Sweat Swamp” John Bethea.[52]

            3.  Robert Rogers, who was born on January 21, 1783.[53]  A Bethea family researcher has indicated that Robert was born in South Carolina.[54]  It may be, though, that Lot did not migrate to South Carolina until after the Revolutionary War.

            4.  Jonathan Rogers, born in about 1785.[55]  Jonathan is not mentioned in Lot’s will and appears in the listing prepared by a Bethea family researcher.  If Lot had such a child, he may have died before reaching adulthood.

            5.  Elisha Rogers, born September 1, 1791.[56]

            6.  Noah Rogers, born in about 1793.[57]

            7.  Philip Rogers, born on March 8, 1796.[58]

8.  William Rogers, born June 20, 1799, in South Carolina.[59]  He married Mary Berry, who was born on September 3, 1799, and was the daughter of Henry Hays Berry.[60]  William died on October 14, 1874.[61]

            9.  Sally Rogers, married __________ Leggett.[62]

            10.  __________ Rogers, married Nathan Evans.[63]

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