xt712j683h89 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt712j683h89/data/mets.xml Rogers, Samuel, 1789-ca.1880. 1880  books b92-76-27211618 English Standard Publishing Co., : Cincinnati : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Rogers, Samuel, 1789-ca.1880. Autobiography of Elder Samuel Rogers  / edited by his son, John I. Rogers. text Autobiography of Elder Samuel Rogers  / edited by his son, John I. Rogers. 1880 2002 true xt712j683h89 section xt712j683h89 




      AUTOBIOGRAPHY



               OF




ELDER SAMUEL ROGERS.



         EDITED BY IlIS SON,

    ELDER JOHN I. ROGERS.












           CINCINNATI:
STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY, 180 ELM STREET.



1880.


 

































Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1880, by
                     JOHN I. ROGERS,
 in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.


















   Stereotyped by
CAMPBELL  COMPANY,
    Cincinnati.


 









INTRODUCTION.



BRETHREN of superior wisdom, and on whose judgment
I rely, having urged me to give the world the benefit of
my father's autobiography, I have endeavored to answer
their wishes, though in an imperfect manner; and in the
form of this unpretending volume to give mankind a
part of the experiences of one whose toils and travels
in the cause of his Master began almost with the begin-
ning of the present century, and have continued well-
nigh to the present day. Abundant material has been
at hand, in the form of letters, and articles from our
periodicals, to make a volume twice as large as this;
but we have chosen to give his own account of his
work, and as nearly as possible in his own language,
leaving men to form their own judgment concerning his
eventful life. We regret that the plan of this volume
has made it necessary to cut off so many chapters and
parts of chapters of his autobiography, which might
have been interesting and profitable to the reader.
Doubtless there will be found many errors in the book,
but we think they are not of a nature to impair its use-
fulness. As it is, we commit it to the world, praying
that it may be as good seed sown in good ground, bring-
ing fruit abundantly to the praise of God.
                         Ill.


 





  The concluding years of my beloved father were his
happiest. Being quite deaf, and almost blind, he gave
himself to meditations upon things divine. His hope
grew brighter every day. He conversed as one whose
home is beyond the clouds. He dwelt by faith in
regions so sublime, that he was enabled to see all things,
even the darkest clouds, from the heaven-side. When
anyone inquired of him if he were not lonesome, being
in his room so much alone, he answered promptly, "No,
for God is always with me." He retained his mind and
memory in full vigor to the last moment of life. When
informed that he had but a few moments to live, he was
exceeding joyful; and turning his almost sightless eyes
upwards, he said, "Is it possible that the old pilgrim is
so near his journey's end 0, to think that in a few
minutes I shall meet my Father, who has led me all the
journey through; and Jesus, my blessed Saviour; and
that I shall so soon be with the soldiers of the cross
who have gone before; and then to meet your mother,
and your little children [addressing me] - this is joy too
great to express ! "-and closing his own eyes, he slept
the blessed sleep. May such an end be mine, and yours,
dear reader, is my prayer.
                                  JOHN I. ROGERS.
 CINCINNATI, August 12, 1880.



INTROD'UCTION.



iV


 




















                       CONTENTS.



                              CHAPTER I.                          PAGE
Birth In Virginia.- Emigration to Kentucky.- Settlement near Danville in the
   year 1793.- Removal to Clark county.- Manners and customs of those times. I

                             CHAPTER II.
His father makes a prospecting tour westward.- Passes O'Post, now Vincennes.
   -Crosses the Mississippi at Paincourt, now St. Louis.- Purchases land on
   the Missouri, twenty miles above St. Louis.- Removes with his family to his
   new home, in 1801.- He is pleased with his new home.- Fertile lands.- Wild
   game and fruits.- The first water-mill.-Night overtakes him in the forest.
   -He is pursued by wolves.-Makes a narrow escape.- Fishing and swim-
   ming his delight.                                                 7

                            CHAPTER III.
The cession of the territory to the United States in 1803.-Lewis and Clark.-
  They winter in the vicinity.- Emigration is stimulated.- The dawn of civil-
  ization.- The first preachers.- His father sells out and returns to Kentucky.
  -He settles  Bourbon, now Nicholas county.-Marriage.-A grateful trib-
  ute to his wife and mother-in-law.- Conversion under the preaching of Stone
  and Dooley.                                                       13

                             CHAPTER IV.
Declaration of war.- He enlists under Metcalf.- St. Mary's.- Fort Defiance.-
  3leigs. - Dudley's defeat. - Sickness. - Left to die in a blockhouse. - His
  friends save him.- His arrival at home.- Recruiting service.- End of the
  war.- Demoralization.- Fortunate appearing of Reuben Dooley. - Revival
  at Old Concord.- Habits of the young converts.- All pray.- Most of them
  exhort. -Viewvs in regard to conversion, and the call to the ministry.-
  Strange notions concerning Providence.                            17

                             CHAPTER V.
Trial by the Shakers.-Preaching in Lewis county.-Disgraceful scene.- His
  opinion of those who misbehave on occasions of baptism.-A tour.-The
  preacher and the horse cared for.- The King's Bounty, a cut nine-pence.-
  The wife's parting words. - At Falmouth. - Shaking hands. - In Preble
  county, Ohio.- The Dooleys and others.- Meeting in the woods.- Scores of
  mourners.- Mourners' benches abolished.                           25

                            CHAPTER VI.
Going to William M. Irvin's. - Misdirection. - A strange Providence.- Robert
  Long.- Development of God's purpose.-A great meeting in the woods.- He
  sees the hand of God, and determines to remove with his family.  .  . 31
                                  V.


 






CONTENTS.



                             CHAPTER VII.                           PAGE
Removes to Clinton county, Ohio.- Birth of John I. Rogers, in 1819.- Organiza-
   tion of the congregation now called Antioch.- His ordination.- Sister Wor-
   ley assists.- Return home.-Forty persons immersed at the first meeting.-
   The Macedonian cry.-Night baptisms.- Harvey's dream.- His conversion.
   - Mrs. Hodson 's dream and baptism.                                36

                            CHAPER VIII.
Building a house of worship.-He names it Antioch.-A few do the work.-
   Grateful tribute to the people, and especially to his wife.      43

                             CHAPTER IX.
Call from Missouri.- He and James Hughes start together- They camp out.-
   Cook their own meals on the way.- How they made a fire.- He goes alone to
   Howard county. - Wild beasts. - Glorious sunrising. - A burning prairie.-
   Awful reflections.- The contrast.- Finds Thomas McBride, who was over-
   come with good news.- Return.- Stays all night with a colored man.-Was
   happy. -After severe trials and dangers arrives at home in safety, having
   been three months out.                                             46

                             CHAPTER X.
Wentworth Roberts baptized for remission, in the year 1821.-Stone on baptism
   for remission.- David Jamison baptized for remission.- George Shideler a
   like convert.-Dr. B. F. Hall.-Talbert Fanning.-James E. Matthews.  . 55

                             CHAPTER XI.
Tour with Hughes to Missouri.- Cummins Brown. - Louis Byram.- Conver-
  sion of Elijah Goodwin, then a small boy.- Cast the net for a fish and caught
  a frog.- The frog's revenge.- The home of Kincaid.-Swimming rivers by
  day and camping out by night.- Springfield, Illinois.- Lost in the night.-
  Crossing the Snigh and other bayous. - A severe chill.- Recovered.- Meet-
  ing at Ramsey's Creek, Missouri.- The last fall of the wrestler.- Franklin
  county. - Boone. - Howard, - Taken sick. - A hymn, etc.  .  .   . 61

                            CHAPTER XII.
A tour to Virginia. -Almost without food for two days. - A witch converted.-
  She surprises the superstitious mountaineers by sinking. -A triumph for
  truth.- Home again.                                                68

                            CHAPTER XIIL
Our mode of worship.- No choirs, nor tuning-forks. - Acre.- Shick.- The runt
  calf.- Conference in Ohio.- Our blunders. - Working a miracle. - A disap-
  pointed enthusiast.                                                71

                            CHAPTER XIV.
Call to Virginia.- Counter-call to Missouri.-Doubts and perplexities,-Ham-
  rick, Hughes and Dooley.- At Indianapolis.- Horses escape.- The pursuit.
  - They give up the tour and return home.- Moss saddles.- Backgirths and
  stirrups.- Sad disappointment.- Faith shaken as to the call to the ministry.
  -The visit of the Muse.- The poetical effusion.- The ministering angel-
  wife.                                                              76

                            CHAPTER XV.
Preaches in Highland county.- Baptism of a cripple.- Treatment by a preach-
   er.- Attack by a ruffian.- The ruffian flies.- Does not accept fully the doc-
   trine of lion-resistance.                                          83


 







CONTENTS.



vii



                             CHAPTER XVI.                           PAGE
Still desnondent.-Advice' to young soldiers.-Tour to Missouri with his brother
   John. - Lexington. - Dover. - Mixing things. - The rattlesnake. - Hcward
   county.- Fall irm his horse.-Raccoons.- Safe at home.- Lungs involved.
   - 'o lions in those days. - All praise to God. - Why not   .   . 88

                            CHAPTER XVIL
Starts in company with John Rogers for Virginia. -Churches visited by the
   way.- Need of caring for weak churches.- Visit to their uncle, John Will-
   iamson.- Farson Mitchell's attemnt to immerse.-A Calvinistic argument.
   -Great awakening in Pittsylvania county.-The OKellyites.         . 90

                           CHAPTER XVIII.
Meeting at Charlotte Court-house.-Clonton and Alexander Camobell.-Con-
   flicting viewsi about Alexander Campbell in Virginia. -Meeting at Fred-
   ericksburA.-Brother Fife.-Visit to Washington's tomb.-Baltimore and
   Harford county.-JudgeNorrisand wife.-A model lamily.-Reflectionson
   femals education-The creed question.-Salem and Hanoverton, Ohio.-
   John Secrist and John Whitacre.- Home again.- Reflections on the support
   oi preachers.                                                      102

                            CHAPTER XIX.
A desire to see and hear fot himself.- He hears, Alexander CamDbell for him-
   sell.- His opinion oi him.-Reflections.-Attemlnt at schism.-The church
   has rest.-Waltel Scott.-Aylett Raines.- The Mahoning Association.  . 111

                             CHAPTER XX.
Our worship then and now.- The contrast.- In bondage.- Sighing fox freedom.
   - The bait of the enslavet. - Had the right creed.- Out advantage.- Re-
   baptism.                                                           123

                            CHAPTER XXI.
Brother Campbell misunderstood.- Compelled to seek s new home in the West.
   -Stars falling, description of.--The journey.- The sale arrival.  . 129

                           CHAPTER XXII.
Joseph Franklin's family.-A hanpy union.-How to treat our adversaries.-
   Conversions and the extension o1 the gospel.                      141

                           CHAPTER XXIII.
Confession and baptism of John I. Rogers- Results of the revival.- Benjamin
  Franklin as a preacher.-Valuable counsel to preachess and young converts. 147

                           CHAPTER XXIV.
Removal to Darke county. Ohio.- Visit to Antioch.- Success.- Again settled at
   his old home, among loving friends.                              .152

                            CHAPTER XXV.
Third visit to Missouri.- Elder Lockhart at Belleville.- Terre Haute and the
  Combses.-(Greal meeting in Franklin county, Missouri.-Philip Miller.-
  Urged to make anothex visit.                                      .158

                           CHAPTER XXVI.
Fourth visit tc Missouri. - Conversion of a skeptic.- Sermon on Election.-
  Total Depravity.- Being born in a potato-patch does not make you e potato.
  -Being shapen in the forest does not give yon the nature of a tree.  . 114


 






Viii                         CONTENTS.

                            CHAPTER XXVIL.                           PAGE
Fourth trip to Missouri.- Tricks oi opuosers.- Owens.- Bowman baptizes face
   foremost - Hi converts leave him.- An earnest call tc return to Missouri. 171

                           CHAPTER XXVIII.
Fifth tour to Missouri.-- Bantism oJ s dyine giIl.- Revival in Gasconade Valley.
   -A house built and the cause permanent-Young Honson shaving shingles.
   - He risef, above susnicion.- A traveling comoanior tot two years.- His
   politeness and humility.- One' make, the log-heau. the othes fires it.-The
   teaches sits at the teet ci tue pupil.- Ham'I text; toolish preaching.- Thos.
   Mt. Allen.                                                          179

                            CHAPTER XXIX.
Leaves Missouri andi sojournF awhile In Guernsey county. Indiana.- No rest
   tor him who iF called tc save souls.- SettleE in Carlisle. Kentucky.- Preach-
   es at IndiaD Creek Carlisle. and in Jessamins county.- Elkhorv Mission to
   the mountains.- William Rogers. with one wite and twenty-twc. children.-
   Hovv he talked tc the mountaineerE about guns.- Crying babies. - William
   Jarrott.                                                            18s

                            CHAPTER XXX.
John T. Johnston. -John G. Thomukins. - Great ingathering at Somerset.-
  Spencei.-Owingsville.-J. F. Clark.-Cynthiana.-EHis neighbors. .   . 199

                           CHAPTER XXXI.
Last visit tc Missouri.                                                205


 







             AUTOBIOGRAPHY
                       -OF-

ELDER SAMUEL ROGERS.


                    CHAPTER I.
Birth in Virginia.-Emigration to Kentucky.-Settlement near Dan-
  ville in the year 1793.-Removal to Clark County.-Manners and
  Customs of those times.
  I was born in Charlotte county, Virginia, November
6, 1789, and was the eldest son of Ezekiel Rogers, whose
father emigrated from Smithfield, England, a few years
before the middle of the eighteenth century, and set-
tled in Bedford county, Virginia. The family had no
means of tracing any direct relationship to the distin-
guished martyr, John Rogers, who was burned at Smith-
field in the year 1555. But my aunt Susan, a maiden lady
of vivid imagination, was able to make out the connec-
tion quite to her satisfaction, suspended, however, upon
very flimsy calculations-certainly too flimsy for the
settlement of ancient honors upon our family. My
ambitious aunt, as if sensible of the weakness of her
cause, was in the habit of closing her argument with a
flourish of the following facts, viz.: That her father
came from Smithfield, England, where the distinguished
martyr suffered; that his family were all Protestants;
that all were partial to the name John; and last, though
not least, that, as far back as their genealogy could be
traced, not one of the name had ever been known to
show the white feather. This last mentioned fact was
compensating and comforting, indeed, inasmuch as it is
far better to have the spirit of a martyr in the breast
than to have the blood of a martyr in the veins. When
my father, Ezekiel Rogers, was but an infant, my grand-
1


 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF



father embarked for England to obtain a small patri-
mony that had been left him by his relatives, and he was
never heard of afterwards. After exhausting every
available resource to obtain information, no tidings could
be had either of the ill-fated vessel upon which he
sailed, or of its crew. This sad circumstance weighed
so heavily upon the widowed mother that both her body
and mind gave way, and sbe soon died, leaving four little
orphans, Ezekiel being the youngest.
  The waves of the sea having carried away the father,
and the waves of sorrow having borne the mother to an
untimely grave, the little ones were thrown upon the
charity of the world. By a happy providence they
were kindly cared for, and found as much comfort as
ordinarily falls to the lot of fatherless and motherless
children.
  At the age of fifteen my father joined a company of
light-horse, belonging to the regiment of Colonel Wash-
ington. He was at the battle of Cowpens, where Tarle-
ton was defeated and pursued so closely that he lost his
cue. He continued in the service to the close of the
Revolution, was present at the siege of York, and wit-
nessed the surrender of Cornwallis. Soon after this he
married Rebecca Williamson, of Charlotte county, Vir-
ginia, a woman of strong mind and deep devotion to the
Christian religion. She was a member of the Church
of England, but, under the teachings of the Wesleyan
Reformers, she early took her stand with the Methodists,
and had me christened by Bishop Asbury, who was the
first American Bishop after the separation of the Meth-
odists from the Church of England in the year 1784.
  In the year 1793, my father, with his little family,
joined a band of emigrants bound for Central Ken-
tucky. Passing through Cumberland Gap and the Crab
Orchard, he sojourned for a few months in the neighbor-
hood of certain Virginia acquaintances, who had pre-
ceded him a few years and settled on the waters of Salt
River, a few miles southwest of Danville, then in Mercer
county.



2


 



ELDER SAMUEL ROGERS.



  The country was, for the most part, a tangled wilder-
ness. The thick cane and undergrowth so obstructed
the way, that the faithful packhorse was the pioneer's
main dependence for conveying his family and household
effects.
  A few rude culinary instruments, with bread and
meat for the journey, constituted the contents of one
end of a large sack, called a wallet, made somewhat after
the fashion of saddlebags; while a small bed and bed-
ding, with now and then a little fellow too small to
retain his equilibrium on horseback, were ordinarily
stowed away in the other, the head of the little one pro-
truding just far enough for breathing purposes. The
mother sat enthroned between this moving kitchen and
nursery, guiding the horse and administering to the
wants of the babes, while the proud father, with unerring
rifle on his shoulder, and his faithful dog by his side, led
the way, dreaming of contentment and plenty in the
Canaan of the West.
  It was somewhat after this fashion that I found a safe
and comfortable passage across the wilderness to the new
home in Kentucky. Finding an opportunity of making a
more favorable settlement, my father moved with his
family to Clark county, and located on Stoner Creek,
eight miles from Winchester, in what was called the Gay
and Patton neighborhood. His family found comfort-
able quarters at Strode's Station, two miles from Win-
chester, while he and his faithful servant-boy built their
cabin in the deep forest.
  Seventv-five years have made great changes upon the
face of the country and in the habits of the people
about Winchester, and in my father's old neighborhood.
Seventy-five years ago, dense forests and thick cane
covered the face of the earth, except here and there,
where some emigrant had reared his cabin and cleared
out the cane and undergrowth in small patches, that he
might raise a scant supply of the necessaries of life.
The man who could boast of an orchard of young seed-
lings was almost an object of envy. Poultry-yards and



3


 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF



pig-pens were not altogether unknown in the country,
but wild turkeys supplied abundantly the place of tame
fowls, while venison or bear meat was a good substitute
for pork. Tea and coffee were rare luxuries, to be in-
dulged in only on Sunday, and then in small quantities,
and of poor quality. Sassafras and sage teas were most
common, and reluctant children were induced to drink
them from the consideration that the free use of these
beverages would purify the blood and prevent the use of
senna or the lancet. The maple supplied us abundantly
with molasses and sugar. Even the thought of sugar-
making now stirs the old blood in my veins, as some of
my most pleasant memories are associated with the old-
fashioned sugar-camp.  I have watched the boiling
sugar-water for hours, waiting with impatience for the
consummation of my joys-the time of " stirring off."
Always I have regretted the destruction of our beautiful
maple forests of Kentucky-- not only because the for-
ests themselves were beautiful, and full of sweet memo-
ries, but especially because of the short supply of pure
maple molasses, which, to my taste, has no parallel in
the world. If I were to have the appointment of my
winter breakfasts, I would always have, among other
things, a stack of hot buckwheat cakes and the old
family jug of home-made tree molasses, and, to crown
the feast, a good strong cup of tea.
  What would the Clark county children now think of
the breakfasts and suppers of those early times A
breakfast of boiled milk and bread, or of milk and
bread cold, according to taste-a supper of mush and
milk, in a pewter dish, eaten with a pewter spoon, while
sitting either upon the uncarpeted floor or upon the
three-legged stool.
  I can tell them that their grandfathers and grand-
mothers were happy and contented with such living, had
fewer aches and pains, had more rosy cheeks and slept
more soundly, had better dreams and clearer consciences,
I doubt not, than their more aristocratic and wealthy
descendants. Those hardy pioneers had few of the lux-



4


 



ELDER SAMUEL ROGERS.



uries of life, but they had what was far better-good
constitutions and good common sense. They had no
time to sigh for what was out of reach, but brought
their wants within the limits of their supplies. They
had no plank, but laid their floors with rough puncheons.
Instead of the large windows of the present day, which
put the housewife to so much extra trouble and expense
in draping and shading them to exclude the flood of
light, they had a square opening in one side or end of
the cabin, which they covered with paper, or muslin,
which they then oiled, so as to make it translucent. The
people had very little money then, and they needed but
little. He was satisfied who had enough to pay for his
salt and leather, and, at the end of the year, to pay his
taxes. They were often without either salt or leather,
and without the money to buy with. In such cases I
have known clean hickory ashes to be used for salt, and
buckskin moccasins instead of leather shoes. As a
rule, the children went shoeless until they were large
enough to engage in profitable out-door labor. For
some time after we settled in Clark county we had no
school near; and, while we remained in the county, I do
not remember of having heard of a religious meeting or
meeting-house. Our first school was taught in the
neighborhood of Gateskills, by a young Mr. Stewart, in
the year 1 7l99, as well as I remember.
  Hornback, on Strode's Creek, built the first mill in the
neighborhood. Before that was done, we used hand-
mills and graters. The grater was used in the fall of
the year, before the corn became hard enough to grind.
A Mr. Vert built the first mill I know of on Stoner;
this was near North Middletown, and is now called
Lidner's Mill. Here I had my first battle. Bowie
knives and pistols were seldom used in those days,
although fist-fighting was of frequent occurrence. My
father never quarreled with any one, but was ever ready
to resent an insult with blows, and he generally brought
his adversary to speedy terms. He warned me against
his example, both as to fighting and using profane



5


 



6                AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF
language, declaring that one in the family was enough to
do all the fighting and swearing. Poor as was this argu-
ment, I knew better than to disregard it. It was fre-
quently my misfortune to be imposed upon, and, at
times, quite roughly handled, by a boy named Jack
Kirk, who lived near Vert's mill; and, although I
believed myself capable of punishing the insolent tyrant,
the remembrance of my father's admonition restrained
me. Still I felt it degrading to be compelled to bear
insult upon insult without resentment. A small cir-
cumstance changed my father's mind, and had the effect
of quite changing his counsel. As he and I were passing
Kirk's house together one day, this boy Jack, watching
his opportunity, hurled a stone at my head, which, miss-
ing its mark, struck my father in the back. The young-
ster beat a hasty retreat, and was soon out of sight. My
father turned to me, and said: "Sam, the next time
Jack insults or abuses you, if you do not whip him, I
will whip you as soon as I hear of it."  This pleased
me. The first time I went to the mill after this, the
much coveted opportunity to redress my wrongs pre-
sented itself. I soon brought the insolent fellow to
terms, made him beg my pardon for past offenses and
promise to amend his life in the future. Shortly after
this, we parted to meet no more until, as soldiers in the
war of 1812, we met on the Northern lakes, when Jack
Kirk thanked me for what I had done, saying that I had
made a man of him.




 



ELDER SAMUEL ROGERS.



                    CHAPTER IT.
EIis father makes a prospecting tour Westward.-Passes O'Post, now
  Vincennes.-Crosses the Mississippi at Paincourt, now St. Louis.-
  Purchases land on the Missouri, twenty miles above St. Louis -
  Removes with his family to his new home in 1801.-He is pleased
  with his new honme.-Fertile lands.-Wild game and fruits.-The
  first water-mill.-Night overtakes hini in the forest.-He is pur-
  sued by wolves.-Makes a narrow escape.-Fishing and swimming
  his delight.
  In the year 1799 a pamphlet fell into my father's
hands which gave a glowing description of New Spain,
or Upper Louisiana, now called Missouri. It set forth
the great fertility of the soil, the rare beauty of the
country, the abundance of game, and the vast extent of
range for stock, besides the gift of six hundred and forty
acres of land to every bona fide settler. All this was
too much for my father, who, by this time, had contracted
a great fondness for border life. Accordingly, in com-
pany with a Mr. Bradley, of Clark county, he mounted
his favorite horse, and, with rifle on his shoulder, faced
the boundless wilderness. They crossed the Ohio at the
Falls, and took the Indian trail to O'Post, now called
Vincennes, on the Wabash river-the oldest settlement
in the West, I believe. Thence they passed through to
Paincourt, now St. Louis.  This place was an insignifi-
cant village at that time, inhabited chiefly by Spaniards
and French. There was not a brick house in the place
until several years afterward. The two most respectable
dwellings were occupied, the one by Chouteau and the
other by Gratiot, men who were for years the leading
merchants of the place. They dealt extensively in furs,
by which they amassed large fortunes. Furs and skins
were the chief circulating medium of that time. There
were two Spanish forts near the river, the one a little
below and the other a little above the town. My recol-
lection is that these forts had round towers, twenty or



7


 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF



thirty feet high. My father was offered one hundred
and fifty acres of land near the village for a fine horse,
which he prized very highly. That land is now covered
with blocks of the finest business houses in the city of
St. Louis. There was then but little promise of the
future prosperity of the place. Indeed, it has always
been my opinion that it was the accident of its having
been the first trading post of that region, rather than
any peculiar advantage in situation on the Mississippi,
that gave it the start of all other places in the West.
But I will venture the prediction that, without some
great misfortune to the place, the man who lives to see
St. Louis in the middle of the next century will see the
largest city this side of New York, if not the largest in
the United States. This will be in no small degree
owing to the fact that St. Louis, from the time of the
Chouteaux until now, has been peculiarly blessed with
enterprising and public-spirited men, without which no
city has ever attained to great distinction.
  From Paincourt my father passed on to what was
called the Bonhomme settlement, on the Missouri river,
twenty-two miles from St. Louis. There he bought a
tract of six hundred acres of land at one dollar per acre.
On the tract were two log cabins, and there were about
four acres of the land under cultivation. This place lie
rented out for one year, and laid his claim in what is
now Franklin county, about fifty miles west of St.
Louis, in the vicinity of South Point.
  Returning to Kentucky the same season, he purchased
a small drove of cattle, which, with the assistance of his
faithful man, Cy, be took, in a second journey through
the wilderness, to New Spain. There he sold his cattle
at a profit of eight hundred dollars; and with a part of
the money he paid for the land he had purchased. The
remainder he expended in moving to his new home.
  In the month of September, 1801, we loaded eight pack-
horses with such things as were most useful, and started
for our home in New Spain. I, being the oldest child,
had to walk and carry a rifle, and help to drive the cat-


 



ELDER SAMUEL ROGERS.



tie over the entire route. My father advised my mother
to leave her Bible with her friends in Kentucky, as the
country whither we wvere going was under the control of
the Catholic Church, which prohibited the use of it
among the common people; and that the discovery of
her Bible might involve the family in trouble. She
would not listen to such counsel, however, but deter-
mined at every hazard to carry her Bible with her, say-
ing she could not think of rcaring her children without
it, and would not be willing to live in any country where
she could not have the benefit of the Word of God. To
avoid the vigilant eye of the priest, she sewed it in a
feather bed, and carried it safely through, and found it,
indeed, a " lamp to her feet and light to her path " in
her wilderness home. The priest never gave her any
trouble. We carried with Us a large tent, under which
the family found ample protection from the storm.
Before the door of our tent we built large fires, which
afforded us both comfort and light by night, as well as
facilities for cooking, etc. We camped several days on
the little Wabash, very near the place where the village
of Maysville now stands. This was in what is now Clay
county, Illinois.  Here my father killed and jerked
venison enough for our journey. The common practice
of jerking venison and beef in those days was carried on
by cutting the meat into thin slices, and exposing it to a
moderate heat, until it became perfectly dry. It then
might be put away and kept for a long time without the
use of salt. While camping on the little Wabash, my
father killed a young buffalo, the first one I had ever
seen running wild. The tenderloin of this young animal
was very delicious. I went to the little river that ran
close to our camp, to assist my father in washing the wild
meat which he had brought in, and I was astonished at
the quantities of fish that inhabited those waters. When
we threw the offal into the river the hungry fish fairly
made the water boil in struggling after it.
  We were about four weeks, altogether, on our journey,
and to me they were four happy weeks. My experiences
1 



9


 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF



were the richest of my boyhood life. In the neighbor-
hood of the Missouri river I had my first experience in
eating persimmons. A stranger gave me a few ripe
ones, and they were so delicious that I sought and found
the tree upon which they had grown. In my eagerness,
I failed to discriminate between the ripe and the half-
ripe fruit; so I ate rapidly for some minutes until I
found my mouth so contracted that I could eat no more.
I came down from that tree, if not a better, certainly a
wiser boy. I had learned to discriminate to a better
advantage afterwa