John Rogers

  Events

• Christened: 6 Apr 1606, Watford, Northamptonshire, England.

• John came to Plymouth, abt 1630 with the last group from the Leiden Pilgrim community in the Netherlands. His identity is verified by Gov Wm Bradford writings. He said that Thomas Rogers and son Joseph came over on the Mayflower, and the rest of Thomas Roger's children have come over and are married and have many children. In 1640, a grant to him and Joseph Rogers, calling them brothers and giving them each 50 acres at the North River.

• John was a weaver by profession.

• He signed a will on 26 Aug 1691.

• He had an estate probated on 20 Sep 1692.

John married Anna Churchman, daughter of Thomas Churchman and Anne, on 16 Apr 1639 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. (Anna Churchman was born on 25 Mar 1615 in Dallinghoo, Suffolk, England and died about 23 Aug 1670 in Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts.)

John grew up in Leiden, where his parents had moved to escape religious persecution in England. They lived there with an expatriate group of Englishmen who later emigrated to America aboard the Mayflower.  John's father Thomas and his elder brother Joseph sailed on the Mayflower in 1620, intending to send for the rest of the family once they were established. Unfortunately, his father was one of the many that died during that first winter.

After the Death of his mother in Leiden, John sailed for the new Plymouth Colony with the last of the Leiden Pilgrim community. According to Savage, he took the oath of allegiance on 22 June 1632 in England required of all those who sought to emigrate, and sailed aboard the Lion which landed on September 16. He was well established there by 25 March 1633, when his name appears on the colony's tax list as having paid nine shillings.