Thomas Rogers ¹

  General Notes:

Thomas Rogers (Mayflower Pilgrim) was born circa 1571 at Watford, Co. Northamptonshire, England. He was the son of William Rogers and Eleanor. Thomas Rogers (Mayflower Pilgrim) married Alice Cosford, daughter of George Dosford and Margaret (Willis?), on 24 October 1597 at Watford, Co. Northamptonshire, England. Our earliest known encounter with Pilgrim Thomas Rogers was on 25 June 1618 when he became a citizen of Leiden, Holland, vouched for by William Jepson, formerly of Worksop, Notts., and by Roger Wilson, formerly of Sandwich, Kent Co. Engalnd.

On 1 April 1620 Thomas sold his Leiden house on the Barbarasteeg for 300 guilders, in preparation for the journey to New England.

Governor Bradford says in his history of the Plymouth settlement that on board the Mayflower were "Thomas Rogers and Joseph his son; his other children came afterwards......Thomas Rogers died in the first sickness but his son Joseph is still living (1650) and is married and hath six children. The rest of Thomas Rogers' (children) came over and are married and have many children." Therefore we know that Thomas and his son Joseph arrived at Cape Cod aboard the ship Mayflower and on 11 November 1620 according to their calendar, or 21 November on ours, Thomas was one of forty-one signers of the Mayflower Compact. Thomas did not live through the rigorous winter which carried off half the group but young Joseph, like so many of the children, did survive.

Recent discoveries show that Thomas had a family living in Leiden, Holland, when the 1622 Poll Tax was taken. In the Over "t Hoff Quarter, in a house with other Pilgrim
families in St. Peter's Churchyard west-side, were Jan Thomas, orphan from England without means; Elsgen Rogiers, widow of Thonis Rogiers, an Englishwoman; and Lysbeth and
Grietgen her children, poor people. Translated this could read John, son of Thomas; Elizabeth Rogers, widow of Thomas; and Elizabeth and Margaret, her children. At that
period the word orphan meant that either or both parents were dead.

In the 1623 Plymouth Colony land division, Joseph Rogers was allotted two acres-one for himself and one on behalf of his late father. He may have been living in the household of
Governor Bradford with who he was grouped on 22 May 1627, in the division of cattle. Joseph and twelve other inhabitants of Plymouth received "an heyfer of the last year which was of the Great white-back cow that was brought over in the Ann and two shee goats."

Governor Bradford's statement that the rest of Thomas Rogers' children came over and married and had children, seems clearly to indicate that more than one of his children came to New England after 1620. We know that his son John came to Plymouth about 1630. Although many other male Rogers immigrants have been claimed as sons of Thomas the Pilgrim, none of the claims has been proved and some have been disproved. Therefore it seems likely that at least one of the Rogers daughters who were living in Holland in 1622 came over. John and Joseph Rogers each named a daughter Elizabeth, perhaps thereby indicating that their sister Elizabeth lived in New England. Unfortunately extensive research has failed to uncover any further evidence.

John Rogers came to Plymouth about 1630, when the last of the Leiden contingent arrived and was in Plymouth Colony on 25 March 1633 when he was taxed 9 shillings. The proof of
his identity lies in a grant made 6 April 1640 to "Joseph Rogers and John Rogers his brother...fifty acres apeece of upland....at the North River." Both then had growing
families to carry forward the Rogers heritage, although only Joseph's descendants would carry forward the Rogers name beyond the fourth generation."

He,(Thomas) died in Plymouth Colony in the winter of 1620/21 "in the first sickness."

Children of Thomas Rogers (Mayflower Pilgrim)and Alice Cosford:
* Thomas Rogers (b. 24 Mar 1598/99)
* poss Richard Rogers (b. 12 Mar 1599)
* Joseph Rogers ( b. 23 Jan 1602/3, d. between 2 and 15 Jan 1677/78)
* John Rogers (b. 6 Apr 1606, d. bt 26 Aug 1691 - 20 Sep 1692)
* Elizabeth Rogers (b. 26 Dec 1609)
* Margaret Rogers (b. 30 May 1613)

Citations:
[Ann T. [Revised by], (Originally compiled by Alice W. A. Westgate) Reeves, Mayflower Families Through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth, Mass. December 1620: Family of Thomas Rogers (Plymouth, MA: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2000). Hereinafter cited as Rogers-Silver.
Clifford L. Stott, "English Ancestry of the Pilgrim Thomas Rogers and His Wife Alice (Cosford) Rogers", Genealogist, The 10 no.2 (1989). Hereinafter cited as "English Ancestry of Thomas Rogers."Ann T. [Revised by], (Originally compiled by Alice W. A. Westgate) Reeves, Mayflower Families Through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth, Mass. December 1620: Family of Thomas Rogers (Plymouth, MA: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2000), 1:1. Hereinafter cited as Rogers-Silver.
Ann T. [Revised by], (Originally compiled by Alice W. A. Westgate) Reeves, Mayflower Families Through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth, Mass. December 1620: Family of Thomas Rogers (Plymouth, MA: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2000), 1:2. Hereinafter cited as Rogers-Silver.


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CHRISTENING: 11 Jul 1587
DEATH DATE IS: BET 11 Jan AND 10 Apr 1621.
His remains are in a sarcophagus on a hill over looking Plymouth Rock.

Thomas married Alice Cosford on 24 Oct 1597 in Watford, Daventry District, Northamptonshire, England.