Contra Costa-Amador-Stanislaus County CA Archives Biographies.....Rodgers, William B. 1827 - 
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Author: W. A. Slocum & Co., Publishers (1882)

WILLIAM B. RODGERS.—Was born in Ripley county, Indiana, June 26, 1827, and is
the son of Samuel and Catharine Rodgers. When fifteen years of age he
accompanied his parents to Burlington, Des Moines county, Iowa, where our
subject attended school during the Winter months, and farmed in the Summer. In
1846 he proceeded to Van Buren county, in the same State, and there served his
apprenticeship to the cooper's trade; in that year, also, taking the most
important step of his life, in marrying Miss Elizabeth Shaffer. By the year 1852
the wild shibboleth of gold had taken the world by storm. Mr. Rogers, too, was
captivated by the seductive sound, and that Spring essayed the arduous journey
across the plains to California, arriving in Drytown, Amador county, October 20,
1852. To let the grass grow under his feet, is not Mr. Rogers' motto. He at once
opened a laundry in Drytown, and, as a criterion of the prices then raging, he
received as much as "four bits" for washing a white shirt. In the Fall of 1854
he erected the Iowa Hotel in Empire City. A year later he removed to San Ramon
valley, Contra Costa county, and in the Summer of 1856, commenced farming— a
pursuit he engaged in until the year 1867. Mr. Rodgers then took up his
residence in San Francisco, where he embarked in the draying business. From 1870
to 1878, he was in the San Francisco Police Force, where he was widely known as
an energetic and efficient officer, and in 1880, he came to Walnut Creek and
erected his present hotel—one of the very best houses of entertainment on the
Pacific Coast. He married, secondly, in August, 1870, Elizabeth Anderson, by
whom there is no issue. He has two sons, William and Walter, offsprings by his
first wife, who died in 1868.

Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

HISTORY OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY,
CALIFORNIA,
INCLUDING ITS GEOGRAPHY, GEOLOGY, TOPOGRAPHY, CLIMATOGRAPHY AND DESCRIPTION;
TOGETHER WITH A RECORD OF THE MEXICAN GRANTS; THE BEAR FLAG WAR; THE MOUNT
DIABLO COAL FIELDS; THE EARLY HISTORY AND SETTLEMENT, COMPILED FROM THE MOST
AUTHENTIC SOURCES; THE NAMES OF ORIGINAL SPANISH AND MEXICAN PIONEERS; FULL
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY OF THE COUNTY; SEPARATE HISTORY OF EACH TOWNSHIP, SHOWING
THE ADVANCE IN POPULATION AND AGRICULTURE;
ALSO,
Incidents of Pioneer Life; and Biographical Sketches
OF EARLY AND PROMINENT SETTLERS AND REPRESENTATIVE MEN;
AMD OF ITS TOWNS, VILLAGES, CHURCHES, SECRET SOCIETIES, ETC.
ILLUSTRATED.
SAN FRANCISCO: W. A. SLOCUM & CO., PUBLISHERS
1882.

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/contracosta/bios/rodgers76bs.txt

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