Merced-San Joaquin County CA Archives Biographies.....Rogers, Charles Sheffield 1863 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com February 6, 2006, 12:09 am Author: John Outcalt (1925) CHARLES SHEFFIELD ROGERS The descendant of one of California's earliest pioneers, and himself born here when California history was in the making, Charles S. Rogers has had a most interesting and eventful career. Starting among pioneer surroundings, and continuing through life as a huntsman, he has viewed the beauties of nature in her most rugged form as few men have had the opportunity to do; from the Big Trees, and mountain heights, to the plains, he has traveled afoot, camping out by some wayside stream and enjoying life to the full, as only a nature-lover can. Born near Linden, in San Joaquin County, June 27, 1863, he is the youngest of two sons born to the late Nathaniel Sheffield and Jennie (Russum) Rogers, the former a native of New York, and the latter of Pennsylvania. Nathaniel S. Rogers came to California via Cape Horn in 1849, as a gold seeker, and worked that winter on Sullivan Bar, Tuolumne County. He was an expert marksman and spent considerable time as a hunter, bringing in game which he sold to the miners for their meat supply, and receiving in return one dollar per pound for venison. By profession he was a school teacher, and had taught some in the public schools of Michigan in the late forties. At Sonora, Cal., he established himself as a storekeeper, supplying the miners, and had splendid results from this business venture for several years. Later, he sold out and moved to the San Joaquin Valley, where he entered the grain and stock business, farming on Mormon Slough, near Linden, and there he remained through the fifties and sixties, raising good crops, and selling wheat as high as five cents a pound. In 1868 this fine old pioneer moved to Merced County and took up a homestead on Bear Creek, one and one-half miles from the present town of Merced, which at that time was not known. The old Rogers home was erected in 1868, just a mile and a half from where the Central Pacific Railway built their station in 1872, and founded Merced. A full and unique life was given to Nathaniel S. Rogers; and he often recalled his experiences in interesting reminiscence to his large circle of friends in his later years. He sent stock to the mountains in 1877 for feed on account of the worst drought in the history of that section and succeeded in saving his herds. Bear and other wild animals were numerous when he first settled on the plains, and his expert marksmanship often stood him in good stead! A well-educated man of fine caliber, he was active in political circles, and he was one of the most active and oldest members of the Odd Fellows, a Past Grand in Merced Lodge, No. 208. He remained quite active past his eightieth year, and his death occurred July 23, 1905, while the wife and mother passed on June 28, 1908, at the old family home, aged sixty-two. Charles S. Rogers was brought up on the home ranch, and received his education in the McSwain district school, which his father organized and taught for the first two terms. He recalls the building operations and the construction and completion of the railway through Merced, and the locating of the station so near his home. He worked for his parents on the ranch, and at the early age of seven, showed remarkable ability for holding and handling firearms; wild animals and birds of all kinds were plentiful on the plains and along the creeks, and he hunted in his spare time until he was fifteen years old, becoming an expert marksman. His first firearm was a No. 8, muzzle-loading shot gun, which he used to carry and rest on a tripod; then he had an old Kentucky muzzle-loader. As the lighter arms were brought into use he became the proud owner of these, and entered the market hunting business, which he has followed each season for fifty years, shipping his game to the San Francisco hotels and markets, where he found a ready sale for all he could supply. Geese, ducks, rabbits and deer were among his game supplies, and his hunting expeditions have taken him over the rugged mountains on the east and west slopes of the Sierra Nevadas, in Nevada and California, from Modoc County, where he acquired many Indian relics, through the Golden State to Lake Tulare and the rich duck feeding grounds of the San Joaquin. His trips have occupied much of his life, and to be properly chronicled would mean the filling of many pages. A close student of nature, and the life of the unexplored corners of mountain and swamp regions not often traveled by man, he has a most unusual and very valuable collection of pioneer relics, hunting knives, firearms, ammunition, deer horns, stuffed birds and animals, Indian curios, arrowheads, baskets, beads, etc., which he has gathered and put on display in a specially built room at his home; it is perhaps the largest display of its kind in the West, and among the pieces he has entrusted to his care are the private hunting weapons of such hunters and well-known pioneers as Joe Heacox, George Kibby, Jack Kennedy, Dr. Joshua Griffith, Ben Jolley, and others, who have handed material, arms, etc., to the care of Mr. Rogers. Two relics of special interest are the old gold scales and old Kentucky rifle of H. Hultz, the former used in early days when gold was the medium of exchange. In addition to his hunting activities, Mr. Rogers is the owner of sixty acres of rich bottom land on Bear Creek, which he farms to grain, and where he makes his home. His marriage, at the family homestead, united Mr. Rogers with Mary Ivers, born in Merced, the third of six children born to Richard A. Ivers, a venerable pioneer of Merced County, and prominent citizen during its early history. Like her husband, Mrs. Rogers was reared and educated in the McSwain District. Additional Comments: From: HISTORY OF MERCED COUNTY CALIFORNIA WITH A Biographical Review OF The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been Identified with Its Growth and Development from the Early Days to the Present HISTORY BY JOHN OUTCALT ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 1925 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/merced/bios/rogers424bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/cafiles/ File size: 6.6 Kb