OBITUARY: Elisha Rogers; Pavilion, Genesee co., New York

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Obituaries in the LeRoy House, obituary published 1876

In Pavilion, September 20th, 1876, Elisha Rogers, aged 83 years.

One more of the pioneers of Genesee has gone from among us, and but a feeble
few yet linger to remind the generation which is reaping the harvest, of the
struggles and privations of the seed time.  Elisha Rogers was born in Lyme, 
Connecticut, in 1788.  Trained on those rugged hills to the steady labor and 
self-denial of an eastern farmer life, he was well fitted to join the ranks of 
those who were clearing up the wilderness of Western New York.  In 1815 he 
first pitched his rude cabin on the farm where he died, and which he has
occupied over sixty years with his devoted wife.  They commenced their life 
work with but little other capital than health and strength and a
determination to succeed.

1816, the cold year when nature seemed to have reversed the seasons, came 
upon them, their little clearing produced nothing, and they were obliged to 
exchange their labor with the more fortunate for the means of subsistence.  
Jedediah Smead, Mosely Stoddard and Marshall Smead were their nearest 
neighbors, and even in that discouraging time there was public spirit in that 
little settlement to build a schoolhouse and employ a teacher.

There were then no bridges, no roads worthy the name, no mail routes, no means
of transportation but the ox-cart. What surplus produce they had was bartered
for goods, no money being in circulation, and a bushel of wheat would only
purchase a yard of the cheapest cotton cloth. But through all these
difficulties Elisha Rogers propspered, his steady industry, economy and good 
judgment forcing a slow but steady gain.  An he lived to reap the reward; to 
see the forests leveled until men of foresight fear changes in our climate
from the loss of their equalizing influence; to see the fruit productions, of
which he was one of the earliest planters, a specialty, exceeding in returns
any other growth of the section; to see markets at his door and academic
education free for every child.

Of ten children, all lived to a mature age, and only one went before; all 
by their honorable lives proving a blessing and satisfaction to his old age.  
And his partner in life looks to a happy re-union in a brighter world with an 
assured faith, and awaits with joyous expectations the summons "across the 
River."