Adair County IA Archives Biographies.....Rodgers, Wesley M. 1840 - 1894
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 9, 2007, 7:43 pm

Author: Lewis Publishing Co. (1896)

WESLEY M. RODGERS, deceased.- The subject of this biographical review was born
in Guernsey county, Ohio, October 13, 1840. He came to Iowa in the fall of 1861.

   In the spring of 1862 he enlisted in Company D, Twenty-ninth Iowa Infantry,
and served throughout the war of the Rebellion as a private. His military record
was in every respect a credit to himself and his family, and his comrades all
speak of him as a faithful and patriotic soldier. While in the service he
contracted disease, which clung to him through his whole life, and in his later
years entailed much severe suffering. The recollections of the privations and
fatigues of his military life frequently came back to his semi-conscious mind in
the last days of his life, while confined to his death-bed, and he lived those
painful experiences over again in imagination.

   He was honorably discharged, and on his return took a business course in the
old Commercial College of Des Moines, at which he was graduated in 1866. On his
return from college he engaged in teaching at Fontanelle for some time, but
resigned that position to accept the office of Deputy Treasurer of Adair county,
-a position to which he was chosen on the election of J. C. Gibbs to the County
Treasurer's office. He later became a partner with Mr. Gibbs in the real-estate
business. Subsequently he studied law and was admitted to the bar, but never
entered upon the active practice of that profession. Mr. Rodgers continued in
the real-estate and loan business until about 1884, when his increasing
infirmities and the fact that he had accumulated a sufficient competency for his
support, induced him to abandon it and devote himself solely to the management
of his estates.

   March 20, 1870, he was united in marriage with Miss Ella M. Heatherington, at
Fontanelle, Iowa. Mr. Rodgers was always somewhat infirm in health, and during
these twenty-four years (almost) of married life, he always found her a devoted
and self-sacrificing wife, a genial companion, and one who was specially fitted
by temperament and attainments in all the accomplishments of a good housewife
and nurse, to make his home and his life as comfortable as possible.

   Whatever Mr. Rodgers undertook to do, he did well. He was accurate,
painstaking and thorough. These traits he carried into his life work, whether of
a public or private nature. He was eminently free from mistakes.

   Mr. Rodgers was prominently associated with the Masonic fraternity. He was
initiated as an Entered Apprentice in Fontanelle Lodge, No. 138, June 28, 1866;
passed to the degree of Fellow Craft July 21, 1866, and raised to the sublime
degree of Master Mason November 29, 1866. He was demitted from Fontanelle Lodge,
November 24, 1877, and became a charter member of Crusade Lodge, No. 386, and
was the first of the charter members to pass to the other shore. In 1886 he was
made a Knight Templar, at Des Moines, and was subsequently demitted to the
Commandery at Creston.

   The death of this honored citizen occurred at his home in Greenfield, Iowa,
January 4, 1894, and he was buried with the imposing ceremonies of the Masonic
ritual. Crusade Lodge and a large number of visiting Masonic brethren and the
Commandery of Creston, as a guard of honor, took part in these last rites to
their deceased brother. The burial ceremonies were conducted by Mr. George, of
Corning, and their beauty and impressiveness were enhanced by the charm of a
pleasant voice and a dignified manner. His comrades of Myers Post, G. A. R., had
decorated his grave and turned out to evidence their respect for their deceased
comrade. Thus was consigned to mother earth a loving husband and a faithful
friend and companion, whose untimely death was mourned by all who knew him.

   The parents of our subject were John and Elizabeth (Palmer) Rodgers, the
former a native of Pennsylvania, born June 19, 1804, and the latter born in
Ohio, April 26, 1810. The estimable companion, who survives Mr. Rodgers is the
eldest daughter of James D. and Sarah J. (Armstrong) Heatherington. She was born
in Pottsville, Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, and educated principally in her
native State. At fifteen years of age she came to Iowa, preceding her parents,
who came a few years later. Here Miss Heatherington engaged in teaching, being
employed in that capacity in the Fontanelle public schools at the time of her
marriage to the subject of this sketch.

   Mrs. Rodgers is a lady of education and refined culture. Her virtues are
praised by rich and poor alike, for to the latter she is as a ministering- angel
of mercy. Her charity knows no bounds, and there is no hovel in the city of
Greenfield where distress and sorrow prevail, that she has not visited on a
mission of humanity. Fortunately she is not hampered by limited means in this
noble work, for her possessions are ample to gratify her liberal disposition and
sympathetic heart.

   On the death of her husband Mrs. Rodgers was appointed executrix of his will
without bond, and at once assumed the management of the extensive estates. This
comprises 1,100 acres of fertile farming lands, together with valuable city
property in Greenfield and the palatial home where she now resides. By the
provisions of Mr. Rodgers' will Miss Delia M., the foster daughter, is well
provided for on attaining her twenty-first birthday or at her marriage if
earlier. Miss Ella has been a member of the family since her second year, and
receives all the love and attention to education and accomplishments which
wealth and intelligence can bestow. She is a daughter of Loman and Mary
Wolgamott, residents of Orient, Iowa. Her mother was a sister of Mr. Rodgers.

   Mrs. Rodgers' family history is as follows: Her parents were James D. and
Sarah J. (Armstrong) Heatherington. Her father, a mechanic, was a native of
Milton, Pennsylvania, born March 19, 1813; enlisted in a Pennsylvania regiment
and served through the Civil war, coming to Iowa after the cessation of
hostilities, here joining his family who became residents of the Hawkeye State
in 1863. He died at Fontanelle, Iowa, in November, 1866. His widow still resides
at Fontanelle. She was a native of Derry, Ireland, where she was born September
r, 1822. At the age of fifteen she came alone to the United States and was
married in Pennsylvania. She was reared in the Episcopal Church, but after
marriage united with the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which her husband was a
life-long member. Mrs. Heatherington now resides at Fontanelle.

   Of their family of eleven children, five have passed over the river of death
and the whereabouts of one, if living, is unknown. John Jackson was born in
Danville, Pennsylvania, October 1, 1841, was a soldier from his native State in
the late war, and is now a banker at Greenfield, Iowa; James Alexander was born
in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, February 5, 1843, also served through the war
in a Pennsylvania regiment, and is now a resident of Greenfield, Iowa; George
Thomas was born January 10, 1845, and died at Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, his
birthplace, when a child of three years; Samuel Wilson was born at Lewisburg,
Pennsylvania, January 20, 1846, and died in infancy; William Ross was born June
5, 1847, at Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, and at last accounts was a soldier in the
regular army, stationed in the far West; Ella M., widow of the subject of this
sketch, was the next in order of birth; Albert was born April 17, 1851, and died
at eight years of age; Harriet O., born March 25, 1853, died in childhood; Annie
E., the wife of Dr. McDermid, of Fontanelle, Iowa, was born September 27, 1855;
Sarah J., born September 19, 1858, died of smallpox in early life; and Emma L.,
wife of Clyde McManigal, resides at Horton, Kansas, where her husband is editor
of a weekly newspaper called the Commercial.

   Mrs. Rodgers is a zealous Christian lady, finding her church home with the
Methodist Episcopal Church in Greenfield. She holds membership in the O. E. S.
and W. R. C.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

A MEMORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF IOWA

ILLUSTRATED

"A people that take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will
never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote
descendants."'—MACAULAY.

"Biography is by nature the must universally profitable, universally pleasant,
of all things."—CARLYLE

"History is only biography on a large scale"—LAMARTINE.

CHICAGO: THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1896


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