The Rogers Family
In 1700, James and Margaret Rogers lived in the farmhouse at Rosemorder Farm, Manaccan. They had seven children, three sons, John, James, and Sampson, and four daughters, Mary, Elizabeth, Margaret and Frances. I don't know what happened to six of them, but Sampson married Ann Richards and founded our branch of the family.
Young Sampson married Ann Richards on 5-June-1756 at Sithney, Helston. Sampson took over the farm on the death of his father. Sampson and Ann had two sons, Sampson (again) and James, and two daughters,Ann and Penelope. Sampson's brother, James, married Mary Trezize (or Trerice) on 27-August-1763. Sampson married Mary Pearce in March 1812 and had eight children, five of whom, including another Sampson, don't come into our story.
If all the spreading families are included this story will be endless. Two of Sampson and Mary's children were twin boys, John and Thomas Pearce Rogers. John married Sarah Jane Henry and emigrated to Australia from Plymouth in 1838. They had four children, Mary Carswell, John Churchill and Charles Henry. The other twin Thomas Pearce married Mary Tresidder at Manaccan in 1847 and they emigrated to the USA in 1866 with their six children.
This large family proliferated in the fresh colonial air, too much for me to give details, but through the generations came another Sampson,who married Clara Hoover and they had a daughter, Myrtelle who married Frank Swett. Then a daughter,one of nine, Margery who married Alan Walker in 1948 and had five children. Margery visited us at Rosenithon in 1996.
In Australia, John Churchill married Alice Gamble and sired Keith Churchill, Lionel Churchill, John Clyde and Cecil Edward who died an infant. Keith Churchill Rogers married Janet Beryl Hodge and had three children.
We must now go back to Rosemorder and the children of Sampson and Ann Richards, my great great great grandparents. Their other son, James, was married to Mary Trezize. They moved to a little farm at Roskorwell near Porthallow and then in 1753 they came here to Rosenithon. They had nine children, five boys and four girls. The oldest son was James. He married Elizabeth James and they had three boys and a girl. Another son was another Sampson who married Elizabeth Gilbert at St Keverne in August 1818. They had seven children of whom one was Edward. Edward emigrated to Australia on the ship "Warspirit". He married Ellen Shaw at Goornong, Victoria. Edward and Ellen had four children, the third one being Edward Frederick Roy, who married Ethel Harris at Malvern, Victoria in 1915. They had three children, Amy Linda, Edward Leslie and Reta Victoria. Edward Leslie, Les, married Rita Jasprizza on 11-July-1940 and had six children. Les and I correspond regularly.
To go back to the four children of Sampson and Ann of 1756, their eldest son Sampson (again), he married Ursula, they were the parents of Sampson who married Mary Pearce and made such a difference to the later population of Australia and America. They also had twins, girls, Ursula and Penelope.Young Ursula, too, emigrated to Australia and some where met up with and married a Mr Whitford. Their descendents descended on us at Rosenithon claiming kinship. They were most welcome, claiming to be twin sisters, again, Paula and Margaret, grand daughters of Ursula, daughter of Sampson(again) and Ursula. Paula is Mrs Hughes and Margaret is Mrs Bowden. They both have offspring.
Back again to my g.g.grand parents, James and Mary Trezize. Their eldest son, James married Elizabeth James and had four children. Thomas married Alice and had ten children, James, my g.grandfather married Ann, Mary married a Williams from Chyreen and John married Ellen Williams.
In the next generation, Thomas and Alice had numerous children including for the continuity of this epistle only, Richard Lory, who I knew personally as "Cap'n Dick", John who we all knew as "Old Son" and Alice who married Richard Lory (surname).
In my direct line, James and Ann, my g.grandparents had four children, William, my grand sire, Elizabeth, Mary and Ann. Ann died in 1865 at the age of 37.James died in 1897 at 66 yrs. William married Margaret Ann Mathews of Cadgwith at St Keverne and continued to live at Rosenithon, where they had eight children including my father, James. My mother was Beatrice Gay from Carnkie, Wendron. She was fully Cornish, in spite of having been born and brought up to the age of fourteen in Victoria, Australia. Her father emigrated at a young age,and sent back to England for his sweetheart to join him. She did so, but he died after they had raised four children. His widow, my maternal grandmother, brought them back to Cornwall where she rejoined her family in Wendron.
My grandfather, William Rogers, died in 1927, two years after I was born, but I don`t remember him. Margaret Ann had died some years before.
Cap'n Dick farmed various farms in the Manaccan and St Keverne area before buying a farm beside the family farm at Rosenithon, where he died in about 1930. His widow Elizabeth, nee James, survived him for many years.
"Old Son" married Annie Lory, but they were childless.
Thomas and Alice's son, James Henry, married Alice James and their son John married Ethel Williams and farmed nearby at Treglohan. Their two sons, James Henry and Thomas George married Dorothy Herbert, and Edith Pryor respectively. James Hemry farmed Treglohan after his father, and Thomas George bought part of Cap'n Dick's farm at Rosenithon after Cap'n Dick's son, Lory, died and his part of the farm was sold. Thomas George`s only son Geoffrey, still farms their holding in Rosenithon, part time.
My grandfather, William, left his farm at Rosenithon jointly between two of his sons, James(my father) and Herbert John (Uncle Bert). My father died in 1960 leaving the farm to me. When Uncle bert died, because my grandfather had made a will with an entailment clause, half of his farm came to me. His widow and I came to an agreement that she should have the house and I should have the agricultural land. The house was a fairly modern one, circa 1900, and therefore not part of family history.
I live in what was the farm cottage which dates from the seventeenth century. I married Colleen Upton, a shopkeeper's daughter from Kent and London, bringing in new blood, but no fortune. We had two sons and two daughters. William Keith, our oldest died in a fishing accident when engaged in commercial fishing in his own boat when he was 32 years old.
Keith married Ann Treloar of St Keverne and had two children, Joanne and Luke William. Joanne now has a son, Oliver, thus making me a great grandfather.
Keith would probably have been the farmer after me, but with modern machinery and farming methods, there isn't work to employ more than one person.
Ian John, our second son was and is very sport orientated, became head boy at his school and went for teacher training before becoming sports teacher, and ultimately head of sport at Helston school.
Ian married Margaret Cobb also from Kent. They have two children, Matthew and Rebecca.
Janice Colleen, our firstborn daughter lives in her own house in Rosenithon with her two daughters, Mariette and Christina. Janice was married to Benjamin Vleminckx from Antwerp, Belgium, a member of a family I met and got friendly with in the war. Janice and Benny have been divorced for a number of years.
Second daughter Sally Marion, also lives in Rosenithon with her husband Keith Pascoe of Helston. Keith and Sally run the farm since my 90% retirement. They have two boys, Daniel, the young farmer and Andrew (at 7 months of age he`s too young to tell us his plans.) Sally and Keith have built themselves a new house on ex farm land.
This little story has shown me what a complicated thing a family is. I have been poring over documents trying to decide which Sampson and which Ursula I was reading about. I know now why kings are first, second , third etc.
My family history may not be accurate in your case, I am open to correction, but it has kept me amused for a few days.
Bernard Rogers
Rosenithon Family H.Q.
1997.
