General Notes

It has been stated that Abigals grandfather (Thomas 1587) was a "Camlet" Merchant in London and Leyden, Holland, crossed the ocean in the Mayflower, and became one of the signers of the famous compact.  The Rogers family has been traced back to abt 1300 as follows:  Abigail 1642, John 1611, Thomas 1587, Thomas 1565, Bernard 1543, Rev. John Rogers 1507 (burned at the stake on Feb. 4, 1555), John 1485, Thomas 1435 (Sargeant at Law Esq), Thomas Rogers Gent 1408, Sir John Fitz Roger, Knt 1386; John Fitz Roger 1335.

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ANCESTRAL SUMMARY:
The often published descent of Thomas Rogers from John Rogers the Martyr is complete fiction.  Thomas Roger's true English origins were discovered in 1989 by Clifford Stott and published with supporting documentation in The Genealogist 10:138-149.  Thomas Rogers was the son of William and Eleanor Rogers, and grandson of William and Joan Rogers.  Thomas' marriage to Alice Cosford and his children's baptisms are all found in the parish registers of Watford, Northampton, England.

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BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY:
Thomas Rogers became a citizen of Leyden on 25 June 1618 with sponsors William Jepson and Roger Wilson, and is called a Camlet-merchant.  And just two years later, on 1 April 1620, he sold his house in Leyden before coming to America on the Mayflower.

Thomas Rogers brought his son Joseph on the Mayflower.  He died the first winter, but his son Joseph survived. William Bradford in his Of Plymouth Plantation writes of Thomas Rogers:  "the rest of Thomas Rogers' [children] came over and are married and have many children."

In the 1622 poll tax for Leyden are listed his wife Elsgen (Alice), and daughters Lysbeth (Elizabeth) and Grietgen (Margaret), and son John.  John Rogers is known to have come to America and married, but unfortunately the whereabouts of Elizabeth and Margaret remain unknown, though Bradford seems to suggest they came to America and married.
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SOURCES:
Clifford Stott, "The English Ancestry of the Pilgrim Thomas Rogers and His Wife Alice (Cosford) Rogers", The Genealogist, 10:138-149.

Robert S. Wakefield, "Mayflower Passengers Turner and Rogers: Probable Identification of Additional Children," The American Genealogist 52:110-113.


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  Recorded Events in His Life

• He had a residence in Watertown, Middlesex County, Massachusetts.

• He has conflicting death information of Abt 1621 and Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts.