WILLIAM RODGERS, a prominent dairyman and leading agriculturist of Fallowfield township, is a native of the North of Ireland, born in 1828, in County Donegal. In 1833 his parents, Samuel and Margaret (Cook) Rodgers, also natives of County Donegal, embarked with their family for America, and after a voyage of seven weeks landed in the New World. Proceeding at once to Pennsylvania, they made a permanent home in Clarion county, where the father followed agricultural pursuits during the remainder of his busy life. He died in 1852, his widow in 1860. Their children were as follows: Elizabeth (wife of Matthew Banks, of Butler county, Penn.), deceased in 1889; Susanna (widow of George Harwood, who died in 1891), living in Pittsburgh, Penn.; Jane (widow of Robert Banks), living in Butler county, Penn; Sally (wife of William McElhaney, of Armstrong, Penn,), deceased in 1891; Margaret, married to Mr. Robert Gailey, of West Belle Vernon, Penn.; Rebecca, widow of Samuel Rodgers, of Armstrong county, Penn.; Mary (wife of George M. McKinney), deceased in 1886, and William, subject of sketch. William Rodgers, as will be seen, was five years old when he came with his parents to the United States, and to Pennsylvania. He received his education at the common school, and in the academies of Clarion and Butler counties, after which he commenced farming in Clarion county. In 1863 he removed from there to Fallowfield township, Washington county, where he has since resided. In 1859 William Rodgers was united in marriage with Miss S. E. Sphar, daughter of John and Lucy Ann (Scott) Sphar, of Allen township, this county and ten children have been born to them, as follows: Myron K., a graduate of Washington and Jefferson College, civil engineer-in- chief of the "Mountain Consolidated Company," in Butte City, Mont., where he has lived since 1886 (in 1892 he married Lucy Joiner); Anna M., a graduate of Washington Female Seminary married to Dwight Furness, U. S. consular agent for the State of Guanajuato, Mexico, and dealer in high-grade ores, living in the city of Guanajuato; John, a law student, at present residing in Chicago; Samuel Clark, a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University, now secretary and treasurer of "The Furness & Lewis Co.," in Guanajuato, Mexico; William G., attending Washington and Jefferson College; Lillie Gertrude, who attended Ohio Wesleyan University, and is married to Don E. King, a lawyer in Washington C. H., West Va., and Wesley P., Rosetta B., Joseph Henry and Adeline Patti, all four yet under the parental roof. The parents, sensible of the weighty responsibility involved in rearing a large family, and justly appreciating the benefits resulting from a thorough education to the end of educing and cultivating what is best and noblest in the young mind have given their elder children more than an average academical and collegiate training, while the younger members have before them similar advantages and blessings. Mr. Rodgers has all his life taken an active interest in educational matters, and is an especial enthusiast in the common-school system of the present day. When a young man he was the promoter of an academy in Franklin, Penn., and he taught school for some three years with marked success. Politically he votes the Republican ticket, and he and his wife and all their children are members and liberal supporters of the M. E. Church.

Text taken from page 525 of: Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893). Transcribed June 1997 by Neil and Marilyn Morton of Oswego, IL as part of the Beers Project. Published June 1997 on the Washington County, PA USGenWeb pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.

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