The
Ancestors of Emily Warren Roebling
Emily
Warren Roebling was born 23 September 1843, in Cold Spring, Putnam County, NY.
She was the second youngest of twelve Warren children, her parents Sylvanus and
Phebe Lickley Warren, her grandparents John and Sarah Nelson Warren and her
great grandparents Samuel and Esther Rogers Warren. On January 18, 1865, Emily
married Washington Augustus Roebling. No proof is offered of this part of her
lineage or of the general belief that her’s, not her husband’s, was the real
mind behind the most monumental engineering triumph of her age, the
construction of the Brooklyn Bridge.
But Ms. Roebling dabbled in genealogy and in her book, or probably more precisely, the book written for her by Josiah Granville Leach, “The Journal of the Reverend Silas Constant” (title page), published privately in 1903, the year of her death, she claimed Esther’s father was John Rogers. She claimed to have the Bible of Samuel and Esther Rogers Warren in her possession from which she listed Esther’s children. She also had the will of John Rogers that listed as heirs not only her great grandmother Esther but other children of John as well. So there appears to be sufficient proof that she was descended from a John Rogers.
Ms. Roebling further stated in her book that this John Rogers lived on Canopus Creek at Continental Village (page 438) which was just a few miles southeast of Cold Spring. Several historical publications confirm the existence of a John Rogers at this location including French’s “Gazetteer of New York State”,
“…John Meeks was the first settler at Continental Village, and John Rogers settled a little N. of the same place about 1730...”,
Philip H. Smith’s “General History of Duchess County” (title page),
“…John Rogers made a settlement about 1730, on the old post road north of Continental Village. At that time, however, it was only a path, used by Indians, leading from Westchester through the Highlands to Fishkill…” (page 463)
and Lathrop’s “Early American Inns and Taverns”,
“…In 1730, John Rogers built a large house, two miles north of the site of Continental Village, where he kept a well-patronized tavern…”.
The name Rogers also appears on the 1769 map shown below found facing page 414 in Roebling’s book. The map is a portion of Philipse Patent and the area corresponds with the locations described above. Putnam County, where Cold Spring and Continental Village now lie, was taken from Dutchess County in 1812.
John Rogers’ will dated November 5, 1776 which can be found in “Abstracts of Wills Volume XIV 1786-1796, The New York Historical Society, 1905” listed his children as:
Richard Rogers
John Rogers
Benjamin Rogers
Charity Rogers Hustis
Esther Rogers Nelson
Ann Rogers Warren
To Richard he left “…the part of the improvement he now liveth on…” , to Benjamin “…the improvement which I now live upon…” and to Esther “…the improvement which she now lives on…”.
In the 1790 Phillipstown, Dutchess County, NY census, page 31, there is a Richard Rogers on line 275 and a Benjamin Rogers, line 279. On the same page, line 261, is John Warren, probably Emily’s grandfather and the son of Esther Rogers who when John died had been widowed and remarried Absalom Nelson. The close proximity of these families to each other would suggest that they lived on what was originally John Rogers’ land and the surrounding area.
Philip H. Smith’s “General History of Duchess County” (page 462) also mentioned David Hustis (Husted), a neighbor of John Rogers who also settled in the Highlands about 1730. According to various Husted genealogies, David was a Quaker who with his wife Mary Haight and family had moved from Westchester. His son Caleb married John’s daughter Charity.
John’s daughter Ann died within a year of her father. She had married Peter Warren, brother of Esther’s first husband John.
John Rogers (Jr.) received, “…all my land lying in the nine pardners, which he now liveth on, containing one hundred and ninety-two acres, more or less…”. So apparently John (Sr.) at some point acquired land in the “Nine Partners” upon which his son John took up residence. In the 1790 Clinton (which was part of the “Nine Partners”, see map below), Dutchess County, NY census a John Rogers is listed on page 103, line 106.
From the above evidence then it can be concluded that this John Rogers was very likely Emily’s ancestor. There is no known evidence which identifies John’s wife, however, as she apparently died before him. Ms. Roebling claimed that the wife of John Rogers was Hester Verveelen, daughter of Gideon and Susannah DeGraff Verveelen, but this is highly unlikely.
Hester Verveelen’s great grandfather Johannes Verveelen immigrated to New Amsterdam in 1657, and was one of the five original patentees of Harlem. His descendants, at least to Hester, are well documented in James Riker’s, “Revised History of Harlem, Its Origin and Early Annals”, 1904 (title page, pages 678-680). It is unknown why, in the paragraph after summarizing Gideon Verveelen’s will, Riker wrote that Marritie (Hester’s sister) married William Rogers and Hester married Johannes Rogers when the will lists them as William Rodgers and Johannes Roeger. Some have identified them as brothers but there is evidence to refute this. According to Henry Z Jones, Jr.’s, “The Palatine Families of New York”, 1985 (title page, pages 807,808) Hester married Johannes Ruger, son of Johann Phillipp Ruger, a Palatine German immigrant. Church records list his birthdate as 20 December 1711. It seems unlikely that at age nineteen he would be building a tavern in the Highlands.
Riker said they had five children (unnamed) while Jones listed only one, Susanna baptized 1737. This Susanna may have died young as there was another baptized in 1741. A number of church records give us clues about the family of Johannes and Hester. Their children were:
Child: Susanna
Birth Date: 31 Mar 1737
Bapt. Date: 7 Apr 1737
Parents: Johannis Roeger; Hster Verveelen
Sponsors: Gideon Verveelen and his wife Susanna
Tappan Reformed Church, Town of Orangetown, Rockland County, NY
Child: Johannes
Bapt. Date: 21 Jan 1739
Parents: Johannes Rugert; Hester Verveele
Sponsors: Bartholomeus Hogeboom; Alida Verveele
City of Kingston, Ulster County, NY
Child: Margreetjen
Bapt. Date: 9 May 1740
Parents: Johnannes Ruger; Hester Ver Veelen
Sponsors: Moses Ver Veelen; Marytjen Camber
Poughkeepsie Reformed Church, City of Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County, NY
Child: Susanna
Bapt. Date: 26 May 1741
Parents: Johannes Roeger; Hester Ver Veelen
Sponsors: Daniel Ver Veelen; Susanna Ver Veelen
Poughkeepsie Reformed Church, City of Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County, NY
Child: Moses
Bapt. Date: 31 Aug 1742
Parents: Hannes Roecher; Hester
Ver Veelen
Sponsors: Moses Ver Veelen; Petrus Hester de Graaf
Poughkeepsie Reformed Church, City of Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County, NY
Other possible children:
So with the exception of a son named John (Johannes) none of the known children of Hester Verveelen Ruger are consistent with those of Emily's ancestor John Rogers. Ms. Roebling suggested (page 438) that the Susanna baptized in 1741, "…was probably the "Ann" who married Peter Warren..." This was certainly a large presumption at best. She also failed to account for the other children of Johannes and Hester listed in the same church records.
Johannes was a sponsor at his niece Maria’s baptism 9 November 1729 at Tappan Reformed Church, Tappan, Rockland County, NY. Johannes and Hester were married about 1735 and received into the church at Tappan in June 1737 (Jones) and so probably lived in Tappan then Kingston, Ulster County, NY (where Johannes (Jr.) was born) until about 1740 when after he bought land from his father-in-law he showed up on the tax rolls of Dutchess County. In the same tax rolls a John Rogers was also paying taxes as early as 1737. The will of Gideon Verveelen (Hester’s father) states that he bought land in Rombout in 1740 and sold some to Johannes Ruger and goes on to identify him as the husband of his daughter Hester. The will clearly places Johannes’ land along the southeast side of Wappinger Creek in Rombout (probably in Fishkill) which is about 20 miles to the north of Continental Village.
Gideon Verveelen’s will provides a number of other clues. Gideon purchased 3115 acres in Rombout in 1740, sold parcels to twelve individuals including Johannes Ruger and left the rest in approximately 252 acre parcels to his children including Hester. These parcels were described in the will in great detail and all were on the southeast side of Wappinger Creek. The names of some of the other men to whom Gideon sold land included Masten, Midah, LeRoy, Westervelt and Von Bunschoten. Other children of Gideon's to whom he gave land included his daughters, Alida, wife of Isaac Cole and Marritie (Mary), wife of William Rogers.
The the 1790 Fishkill, Dutchess County, NY census lists a number of Ver Valen’s (a variant spelling of Verveelen) living close together. Also close by were families with the surnames listed above to whom Gideon had sold or given land. In his will Gideon left land to his only son Moses who predeceased him so that the land went to Moses’ son Gideon. Page 81, line 539 lists a Gideon Ver Valen, probably the grandson of the original landowner Gideon, including four slaves; line 537 is William Rogers, possibly Mary’s husband or son; line 536 is Gideon Rogers, possibly William’s son and line 534 is John Ruger, possibly the son or grandson of Johannes and Hester.
While it appears that Ms. Roebling was willing to accept "John Rogers" as an anglicized form of Johannes Ruger, and claim him and the Verveelens as her ancestors (perhaps understandably as they added a rich and colorful -but incorrect- addition to her pedigree), the above evidence demonstrates that her ancestor John Rogers and Johannes Ruger were two separate individuals, with distinctly different families. The former living in the Highlands between Cold Spring and Continental Village and the latter in Fishkill along Wappinger Creek. There is no known connection between the two men except that they lived in the same general area about the same time period. In addition, while no evidence has been found which clearly identifies the wife of John Rogers, a preponderance of evidence shows that Hester Verveelen was the wife of Johannes Ruger.
These revelations may have far reaching ramifications for many who have used Ms. Roebling's book as a reference for their own lineage. If you have any questions, comments, additional evidence, arguments supporting or contradicting the above, we would very much appreciate you sending them to either one or both of us.
Patti Metsch George Rogers
Or