Genealogy Story – Wolcott Library Early Contributors

As the readers of my blog know, I was born and raised in Wolcott, CT and am related to many of the original settlers of the town. Recently Flo Goodman, the president of the Wolcott Historical Society, gave a presentation on the history of the Wolcott Library. You can read it here - http://www.tapr.org/~wa1lou/whs/news201505.html. In this article the names of several of the early donors to the library are mentioned. Three in particular are noted as donating books:

-          William Andrus Alcott “made a gift of twenty books”

-          Stephen Rogers “donated 133 volumes to the church library”

-          Amos Bronson Alcott “donated books as part of this celebration”

You also know from earlier blog postings that one of the earliest settlers of the town of Wolcott (then called Farmingbury) was John Alcox, and that John was my great*6 grandfather. Since he was also the great-grandfather to both William Andrus Alcott and Amos Bronson Alcott, that means that two of the three book donors to the library are my 2^nd cousins (5 times removed). But I wondered if I was also related to the only remaining individual on the above list of book donors. There are many Rogers in my family tree and I have traced them back to the 1500’s in England, so I embarked on a new bit of genealogy research.

Using the facts given in the library story, I quickly found that the Rev. Stephen Rogers died in 1863 in Woodbury, CT. I also found a reference to this in Olcott’s History of Wolcott. He was born in 1799. But apart from those facts, and the 1860 census when he was in Wolcott and was noted as being born in Vermont, there was no information on him to be found in ancestry.com – no one had ever done any research on him. So I began my hunt on the Internet.

In a series of published annual minutes titled “Report of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions” published by the Congregational Church in 1845-1848, I found references to him as then serving as a pastor in Westmoreland, NH. There was also a later reference in their minutes of 1863, noting his passing away in Woodbury, so I knew it was the same “Rev. Stephen Rogers”. Then in a book, “The Congregational Churches of Vermont and Their Ministry, 1762-1914” I found reference to him as being from Fair Haven, VT and having been a product of that state who served in the ministry (the dates of his birth and death confirming that I had the same individual). Finally, in “A History of the Town of Fair Haven, Vermont” I found him listed with his father, also Stephen Rogers, and the note that he “became a Congregational Minister”. Earlier in that book it noted that Stephen (the father) had moved to Vermont from Branford, CT.

Since genealogical records from early Connecticut are fairly well documented, I was then able to begin research in ancestry.com to trace Stephen’s family. As I had suspected, our paths did cross, but our common ancestor was all the way back to John Rogers in England (1507-1555), making the Rev. Stephen my 8^th cousin, 5 times removed. A distant relative to be sure, but completing my links to all the above book donors.

However, as I traced Stephen back, I noticed a few last names on the female side of his family tree that looked familiar, one of them being Frisbie. Since Frisbie is also a name from Wolcott/Farmingbury history and there are many individuals in the early history who came from the town of Branford, I thought I’d check out that line as well. Sure enough, I found that the Rev. Stephen Rogers had connections to other settlers of Wolcott. His great-great-grandfather was John Frisbie of Branford. John is also the great-grandfather of Judah Frisbie after whom Frisbie School is named. Thus the Rev. Stephen Rogers is the 2^nd cousin (once removed) of Judah Frisbie and it may be the reason that they knew about him in Wolcott and invited him to be their minister.

But of course, with my various Wolcott connections, John Frisbie is also my great*8 grandfather, so that also gives me a less distant connection to Stephen as he is my 3^rd cousin (6 times removed). I am continually amazed by the genealogical connections that I have to the town, as I can now proudly say that all three of the early donors of books to the Wolcott library are my ancestors, the most distant only being a 3^rd cousin!