52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – Week 33: Family Legends

I am working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails Into the Past. I’m looking forward to writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.

When I first started researching my family I was told about all kinds of possible relatives
  • We’re related to Will Rogers.
  • We’re related to the Coors family
  • We have Native American roots, possibly Cherokee

It’s funny, that all of these “legends” are on my maternal grandmother’s family. As I worked through the research, one generation at a time, I have disproved these legends.

Rogers Angle. We do have Rodger/Roger ancestors. Eliza A. Rodgers married Ebenezer Loveless on 19 March 1871 in Chattooga County, Georgia. They later moved to Faulkner County, Arkansas. Eliza’s parents might be David Rodgers and Rebecca Waddell. They might have had nine children, all born in South Carolina. I suppose it is still possible that an ancestor of Will Rogers and an ancestor of Eliza Rodgers might be the same. But see below.

Coors Angle. Now the Coors family came from the Rhine area of Germany and arrived in the U.S. in 1868[1] and my Coor family has been in the United States since the early 1700s. There is likely no relationship.

Native American Angle. I haven’t found any reference to Native American roots either. All of my paper research points to our ancestors as being Caucasian. The DNA evidence points to the same. It’s funny how the stories get past down. I’ve had second and third cousins say they heard the same story.

When I look at a biography of Will Rogers, I read he was part Cherokee Indian, born in Oklahoma. It is possible these two stories have merged. If we’re related to Will Rogers, we must also be part Cherokee. But reviewing Will Rogers’ line, his father, Clement Vann Rogers, and grandfather, Robert Rogers, Jr. were living in Georgia and moved to Oklahoma before the removal of Cherokees.[2] Our Rodgers line was living in South Carolina and were not moved to Oklahoma.

My grandmother’s ancestry shows her family has been here a long time, since before the American Revolution. However, they were mostly poor farmers. Perhaps this wishful thinking elevated their standing, at least in their minds and stories.

[1] “Adolph Coors,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolph_Coors.
[2] “Clement V. Rogers,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clement_V._Rogers.

Copyright © 2018 by Lisa Suzanne Gorrell, Mam-ma's Southern Family

Comments

  1. TeresaAugust 16, 2018 at 12:24 PM

    Interesting how you were able to trace back and disprove the legends! Thanks for sharing :)

    ReplyDelete

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