DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about Mrs. Martha Rogers, out of Limestone County. Now, some family stories travel down through the generations like a river — quiet, steady, and deep.
The story of Martha Rogers is one of those. According to family tradition, Martha was the daughter of United States Army General James Wilkinson — born in 1757, died in 1825 — and his wife Ann Biddle of Philadelphia. That is a name with some weight behind it.
General Wilkinson. Philadelphia. The kind of lineage that came with expectations.
And then Martha went and married Benjamin Rogers. Benjamin was born in 1781, and when Martha married him in Perry County, Alabama, in 1809, her family made their feelings plain. She was disinherited.
Cast out of the inheritance, just like that. Now the marker doesn't say why, and we won't go inventing reasons. What the marker does say is what happened next — and what happened next tells you everything you need to know about Martha Rogers.
She and Benjamin had ten children. Ten. She built a family, a life, a world of her own.
Then she was widowed. And a widow with that kind of backbone doesn't sit still. In 1847, Martha Rogers loaded up and moved to Texas — with her sons Allen Jefferson, M.C., who went by Lum, and James Rogers riding alongside her.
She settled in the Lost Prairie community, and the marker calls her, plainly and without a hint of exaggeration, a true Southwestern pioneer. Martha Rogers was born around 1795 and lived until around 1865. Philadelphia.
Perry County, Alabama. Lost Prairie, Texas. The daughter of a general who apparently couldn't imagine what his daughter was made of.
She knew.
What the marker says
(about 1795 to about 1865) According to family tradition, Martha Rogers was the daugther of United States Army General James Wilkinson (1757-1825) and his wife Ann Biddle of Philadelphia. When she married Benjamin Rogers (b. 1781) in Perry County, Ala., in 1809, Martha was disinherited. She and her husband had ten children. As a widow she moved to TX in 1847 with sons Allen Jefferson, M.C. ("Lum"), and James Rogers. A true Southwestern pioneer, she lived in Lost Prairie community. Recorded - 1978