Rogers Family History & Genealogy

Clifford L Rogers of Lamb County, TX was born circa February 27, 1939 in Holdenville, Hughes County, Oklahoma United States. Clifford Rogers was married to Carolyn (Rogers) Rogers on April 11, 1985 in Lamb County, TX. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Clifford L. Rogers.

Deanne (Rogers) Oberlander was born circa 1952 in Kirkland, King County, Washington United States. She was married to Charles Theodore Oberlander in 1973 in Seattle, King County and they later divorced in 1976 in San Jose, Santa Clara County, California. Deanne Oberlander has a child Christopher Lee Oberlander. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Deanne (Rogers) Oberlander.

Chuck Lavaughn Rogers of Ohio United States was born on February 9, 1970 in Perry County, KY, and was the father of Dedee (Rogers). Chuck Rogers died at age 24 years old on May 26, 1994 in Fairfield, Butler County, OH, and was buried at St Mary's cemetery in Hamilton.

Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Clarence Reginald Rogers.

Laura Edna (MacAfee) Rogers of Pennsylvania United States was born on April 3, 1890, and died at age 70 years old on December 12, 1960 in Sayre.

Emma L Rogers of Point Pleasant, Mason County, WV was born on March 10, 1944, and died at age 56 years old on June 17, 2000.

David D Rogers of Jackson, Hinds County, MS was born on December 24, 1983, and died at age 18 years old on December 7, 2002.

Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Kamayla Rogers.

Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Kathryn Staats .

Kathryn Ann (Rogers) Staats was born on September 2, 1955. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Kathryn Staats.

Desire D (Rogers) Rogers was born on May 5, 1993 in Detroit, Michigan United States. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Dedee (Rogers).

Adeliah E Rogers of Irvington, Essex County, NJ was born on March 26, 1922 in Virginia United States, and died at age 72 years old on August 25, 1994.

Henry Alton Rogers Jr of Woods Hole, Barnstable County, MA was born on November 5, 1918 in Falmouth, and died at age 79 years old on December 28, 1997 in Falmouth.

He was born to James and Nancy Rogers in Latrobe PA. His father was a successful businessman who was president of the McFeely Brick Company, Rogers also had a sister, Elaine, whom the Rogers's adopted when he was 11 years old. Fred McFeely Rogers was married to Joanne Byrd in 1952. They had 2 children. He was an American television personality, musician, puppeteer, writer, producer, and Presbyterian minister. Rogers was famous for creating, hosting and composing the theme music for the educational preschool television series Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1968–2001), which featured his kind-hearted grandfatherly personality, and direct connection to his audiences. Originally trained and ordained as a minister, Rogers was displeased with the way television addressed children at the time, and made an effort to change this when he began to write for and perform on local Pittsburgh-area shows dedicated to youth. Rogers developed his own show on WQED in 1968, and it was distributed nationwide by Eastern Educational Television Network. Over the course of three decades on television, Rogers became an icon of American children's entertainment and education. He was also known for his advocacy of various public causes. His testimony before a lower court in favor of fair-use recording of television shows to play at another time (now known as time shifting) was cited in a U.S. Supreme Court decision on the Betamax case, and he gave now-famous testimony to a U.S. Senate committee, advocating government funding for children's television. Rogers received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, 40 honorary degrees, and a Peabody Award. He was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame, was recognized by two Congressional resolutions, and was ranked No. 35 among TV Guide's Fifty Greatest TV Stars of All Time. Several buildings and artworks in Pennsylvania are dedicated to his memory, and the Smithsonian Institution displays one of his trademark sweaters as a "Treasure of American History". On June 25, 2016, the Fred Rogers Historical Marker was placed near Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and was named and dedicated in his memory. He was born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, 40 miles (65 km) southeast of Pittsburgh, to James and Nancy Rogers; he had one sister, Elaine. Early in life, he spent much of his free time with his maternal grandfather, Fred McFeely, who had an interest in music. He would often sing along as his mother would play the piano, and he himself began playing at five. He obtained a pilot's license while still in high school. Rogers graduated from Latrobe High School (1946). He studied at Dartmouth College (1946–48), then transferred to Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, where he earned a B.A. in Music Composition in 1951. Rogers was also a trained general aviation pilot. At Rollins, he met Sara Joanne Byrd (born c. 1928), an Oakland, Florida, native; they married on June 9, 1952. They had two sons, James (b. 1959) and John (b. 1961). In 1963, Rogers graduated from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and was ordained a minister in the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Rogers had an apartment in New York City and a summer home on Nantucket island in Massachusetts. Rogers was red–green color blind, swam every morning, and neither smoked nor drank. He was a vegetarian on ethical grounds, stating "I don't want to eat anything that has a mother." Despite recurring rumors, he never served in the military. His office at WQED Pittsburgh famously did not have a desk, only a sofa and armchairs, because Rogers thought a desk was "too much of a barrier". Early work Fred Rogers had a life-changing moment when he first saw television in his parents' home. He entered seminary after college; but, after his first experience as a viewer, he wanted to explore the potential of the medium. In an interview with CNN in his later years, Rogers stated, "I went into television because I hated it so, and I thought there's some way of using this fabulous instrument to nurture those who would watch and listen." He applied for a job at NBC in New York City in 1951 and then worked on musical programs including Your Hit Parade, The Kate Smith Hour, and The Voice of Firestone. He also worked on Gabby Hayes' show for children. Ultimately, Rogers decided that commercial television's reliance on advertisement and merchandising undermined its ability to educate or enrich young audiences, so he quit NBC. In 1954, he began working at WQED, a Pittsburgh public television station, as a puppeteer on the local children's show The Children's Corner. For the next seven years, he worked with host Josie Carey in unscripted live TV, developing many of the puppets, characters, and music used in his later work, such as King Friday XIII and X the Owl. Rogers began wearing his famous sneakers when he found them to be quieter than his work shoes as he moved about behind the set. He was also the voices of King Friday XIII and Queen Sara Saturday (named after his wife), rulers of the neighborhood; as well as X the Owl, Henrietta Pussycat, Daniel Stripèd Tiger, Lady Elaine Fairchilde, and Larry Horse. The show won a Sylvania Award[26] for best children's show and was briefly broadcast nationally on NBC. During his off hours, he would leave the WQED studios during his lunch breaks to study theology at the nearby Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. Rogers, however, was not interested in preaching; and, after his ordination, he was specifically charged to continue his work with children's television. He had also done work at the University of Pittsburgh's program in Child Development and Child Care. In 1963, Rogers moved to Toronto, where he was contracted by CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) to develop his debut in front of the camera, the 15-minute children's program Mister Rogers,] which, though popular with children, ran for just three seasons. Many of his famous set pieces—Trolley, Eiffel Tower, the 'tree', and 'castle'—were created by CBC designers. While in Toronto, Rogers brought to Mister Rogers' Neighborhood his friend and understudy Ernie Coombs, who would go on to create Mr. Dressup, a very successful and long-running children's show on CBC, and similar in many ways. Mr. Dressup also used some of the songs that would be featured on Rogers' later program. Coombs was a puppeteer and voice actor on Misterogers. When Rogers returned to the United States, Coombs remained in Canada and was in the cast of the CBC's replacement for Misterogers, Butternut Square, on CBC TV between October 19, 1964, and February 10, 1967 and then starred in his own show, Mister Dressup (1967-1996). In 1966, Rogers acquired the rights to his program from the CBC and moved the show to WQED in Pittsburgh, where he had worked on The Children's Corner. He developed the new show for the Eastern Educational Network. Stations that carried the program were limited but did include educational stations in Boston; Washington, D.C.; and New York City. After returning to Pittsburgh, Rogers attended the Sixth Presbyterian Church in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood. Distribution of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood began on February 19, 1968. The following year, the show moved to PBS (Public Broadcasting Service). In 1971, Rogers formed Family Communications, Inc. (FCI), and the company established offices in the WQED building in Pittsburgh. Initially, the company served solely as the production arm of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, but it now develops and produces an array of children's programming and educational materials. Mister Rogers' Neighborhood A sweater worn by Rogers, on display in the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of American History

Roy Rogers, born Leonard Franklin Slye on November 5, 1911, in Cincinnati, Ohio, grew up in modest surroundings that shaped his down-to-earth character which held true his entire life. His childhood home would later become part of the site for Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium. In 1930, at the age of 18, he moved to California, where his journey toward stardom began. He played in such musical groups as The Hollywood Hillbillies, Rocky Mountaineers, Texas Outlaws, and his own group, the International Cowboys. In 1934 he formed a group with Bob Nolan called Sons of the Pioneers. While in that group he was known as Leonard Slye, then Dick Weston. Their songs included "Cool Water" and "Tumbling Tumbleweeds". They first appeared in the western Rhythm on the Range (1936), starring Bing Crosby and Martha Raye. In 1936 he appeared as a bandit opposite Gene Autry in "The Old Coral". In 1937 Rogers went solo from "The Sons Of The Pioneers", and made his first starring film in 1938, Under Western Stars (1938). He made almost 100 films. The Roy Rogers Show (1951) ran on NBC from October 1951 through 1957 and on CBS from 1961 to September 1964. In 1955, 67 of his feature films were released to television. Spouses (3) Dale Evans (31 December 1947 - 6 July 1998) ( his death) ( 6 children) Grace Arline Wilkins (11 June 1936 - 3 November 1946) ( her death) ( 3 children) Lucile Ascolese (8 May 1933 - 8 June 1936) ( divorced) Fun Facts & Trivia: The dog who appeared in a few of his films was named Bullet. Elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1980 as a member of the Sons of the Pioneers and elected again in 1988 as Roy Rogers. Nicknames: Roy Rogers "King of the Cowboys", Dale Evans "Queen of the West", Trigger "Smartest Horse in the Movies" There is a Roy Rogers & Dale Evans Museum at Branson, Missouri. Roy got his horse Trigger in 1938 and rode him in every one of his films and TV shows after that. He had appeared in one earlier movie, ridden by Olivia de Havilland in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). Trigger died in 1965 at age 33. Roy's theme song, "Happy Trails", was written by Dale Evans. He had two children and 1 adopted daughter with Arlene Wilkins. He and wife Dale Evans adopted four children, one of whom--Cheryl Rogers--later became an actress. One of his and Dale's daughters died in a bus wreck in Aug. 1964. One adopted son choked to death in Nov. 1965. The little town of Portsmouth, Ohio (USA) also claims to be the hometown of Roy. They also have a little museum with mementoes and hoofprints of Trigger, handprints of Roy and Dusty in the sidewalk in front of the museum. Every year they had a Roy Rogers Day and Roy or Dusty would make an appearance. Once received 78,852 fan letters in a single month. Star of Mutual (1944-1951) and NBC Radio's (1951-1955) "The Roy Rogers Show." His guest appearance on Wonder Woman (1975) in 1977 reflected his real life, as the character he played was a western man who had adopted several children. Roy's conservative side showed through, though, when he insisted to the show's producers that, in order for him to agree to do the episode, series star Lynda Carter needed to wear more clothing than the "bathing suit" type of costume she normally wore. Rogers won out and Carter wore a sleeved solid red top and white chino pants. Inducted (with his wife Dale Evans) into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1976. Inducted (as a member of the Sons of the Pioneers) into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1995. Was a Master Mason. In other words, he became a member of the Masonic Fraternity. Was a strong opponent of gun control, and once appeared in TV commercials put out by the National Rifle Association opposing a proposed ban outlawing certain types of guns in California. Once lived next door to actor Val Kilmer (when Val was a child). When Roy moved, the Kilmers later moved into to his old ranch. Then, in 1999, Val led a Trigger lookalike on stage at the 1999 Academy Awards in honor of Roy Rogers. Biography in: "American National Biography". Supplement 1, pp. 522-525. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. In his autobiography, "Happy Trails: The Story of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans," the former Leonard Slye stated that his stage name of Roy Rogers was given to him by executives at Republic Pictures when he became their new singing cowboy to replace Gene Autry. The Rogers came from Will Rogers, the beloved western comic and storyteller who had recently died in a plane crash in Alaska and Roy was made the first name because it is the French word for "king," as in "Roy Rogers, King of the Cowboys." Roy said he had no input at all in the renaming decision. Arline Wilkins, his second wife, died a few days after giving birth to their son, Roy Rogers Jr. (Dusty). She had complications from the cesarean--a blood clot formed, traveled to her brain and killed her. Dale Evans, his third wife, became his children's mom when Dusty was 15 months old. He and Arline had three children: two girls and Dusty. Childhood home was on real estate that later included second base in Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium. His adopted daughter is Little Doe Rogers. Besides his most famous role as Roy Rogers himself, "King of the Cowboys", Roy may be one of the few actors, if not the most famous one, to have played three of the West's greatest legends: Wild Bill Hickok, William F. Cody (aka Buffalo Bill) and Jesse James. Also, in Billy the Kid Returns (1938), he played the slain gunslinger as well. Profiled in "Back in the Saddle: Essays on Western Film and Television Actors", Gary Yoggy, ed. (McFarland, 1998). Rogers was asked to run for Congress on the Republican ticket at one time. He replied, "I have both Democrat and Republican fans and I can't afford to lose any of them!". He was awarded 3 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Pictures at 1752 Vine Street; for Radio at 1733 Vine Street; and for Television at 1620 Vine Street in Hollywood, California. The Sons of the Pioneers were awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 6843 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California. Godfather of Robbie Lee. The Roy Rogers/Dale Evans Museum has closed. All the memorabilia was sold at auction in April and May of 2011. In 1951, several years before the airing of his feature films on TV and just months before the premiere of his long running TV series "The Roy Rogers Show"(1951-57), Roy did TV Ads for "Quaker Oats" and "Mother's Oats" oatmeal. These commercials carried the then unusual slogan, "Quaker and Mother's Oats (oatmeal) are the same". However, things wouldn't remain the same. Following the TV success of "Hopalong Cassidy" feature films,"The Lone Ranger" (1949) and "The Gene Autry Show"(1950), "The Roy Rogers Show" debuted on Dec.30, 1951. "Post Cereals" was the sponsor and Roy's association with "Quaker" and "Mother's Oats" was soon forgotten. His horse, Trigger, would often receive second billing, even above his wife and co-star, Dale Evans. Son of Andrew Slye. He and his third wife Dale Evans were one of three married couples to make guest appearances in The Muppet Show (1976). The other two were Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge and Robert Shields and Lorene Yarnell Jansson. Roy Rogers and Dale Evans had a large family - nine children in all. Dale had one son by a previous marriage, of whom Roy was the step-father. Roy had three children, including one adopted, by a previous marriage, for whom Dale was their step-mother. The couple had a child together and adopted four other children. Personal Quotes If there were no valleys of sadness and death, we could never really appreciate the sunshine of happiness on the mountain top. When I die, just skin me out and put me up on old Trigger and I'll be happy. [in 1982] Another thing that burns me up is that California voted in capital punishment and they haven't electrocuted anyone yet. [in 1982, when asked about Republic Pictures owner Herbert J. Yates, his boss for many years] I don't want to talk about Yates. Let's just say he wasn't very flexible. [in 1982] Not long after Will Rogers died, they turned his ranch into a museum. And it didn't have anything in it. So I made up my mind I was gonna keep everything. [Advice to his son, Roy Jr. regarding the Roy Rogers Museum] If the museum starts costing you money, then liquidate everything and move on. [The museum closed its doors in December, 2009. The assets were auctioned off at Christie's in July 2010.] Fun fact: His salary was $75/week under Western Stars in 1938.

Elizabeth Watson (Laird) Rogers was born in 1876, and died at age 73 years old in 1949. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Elizabeth Watson (Laird) Rogers.

Benjamin Morris Rogers was born in 1876, and died at age 77 years old in 1953. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Benjamin Morris Rogers.

Helen Elizabeth (Rogers) Leese was born in 1904 to Benjamin Morris Rogers and Elizabeth Watson (Laird) Rogers, and had a sister Thelma M. (Rogers) Leese. She married William Leese on July 26, 1937 in Manhattan, New York County, New York United States, and they were married until death separated them. She had children Eugene Vincent Leese and Joan Lois McGhie. Helen Leese died at age 87 years old in 1991, and was buried at Greenwood Memorial Park and Mortuary, 4300 Imperial Ave, in San Diego, San Diego County, California United States. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Helen Elizabeth (Rogers) Leese.

Thelma M (Rogers) Leese was born in 1913 to Benjamin Morris Rogers and Elizabeth Watson (Laird) Rogers, and had a sister Helen Elizabeth (Rogers) Leese. She married Joseph R. Leese, and they were married until death separated them. She had a child Wayne Leese. Thelma Leese died at age 80 years old on September 23, 1994. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Thelma M. (Rogers) Leese.

Jeannette Evangeline (Boisjoli) Rogers of Winooski, Chittenden County, VT was born on September 26, 1915 in Winooski, and died at age 84 years old on July 20, 2000 in Burlington. Jeannette Rogers was buried at Saint Francis Xavier Cemetery in Winooski.