BIOGRAPHY: Isaac Hallerman RODGERS, Mifflin County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by P. S. Barr Copyright. All rights reserved. http://files.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://files.usgwarchives.net/pa/mifflin/ _______________________________________________ The Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley, Comprising the Counties of Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata, and Perry, Pennsylvania. Chambersburg, Pa.: J. M. Runk & Co., 1897, Volume I, page 609. ISAAC HALLERMAN RODGERS, McVeytown, Mifflin county, Pa., was born near Downingtown, Chester county, Pa., January 7, 1838, son of Samuel and Sydney (Hallerman) Rodgers. His grandparents, Matthew and Ann Rodgers, who were both of Scotch-Irish descent, came to America from Ireland about 1803. Matthew Rodgers had in his youth learned ship-carpentry, and worked at that trade in this country. He assisted in fitting out the fleet with which Commodore Perry won his memorable victory on Lake Erie, in September, 1813. His business engagements required Mr. Rogers to visit different cities; and the last knowledge that his family had of him was that he had gone to Pittsburg, after which they heard from him no more. Matthew and Ann Rodgers had three sons and four daughters. The sons were: Matthew, married and resided near Philadelphia, where he died, leaving one daughter, Sarah (Mrs. Joseph Longer), and where their descendants now reside; Samuel; and Robert, married and went to Iowa as a pioneer settler, was a brick-maker, and has left a family who are among the substantial citizens of the State. One of the daughters of the elder Matthew Rodgers, Margaret, became Mrs. Hood, of Philadelphia, and had children. The second son, Samuel Rodgers, mentioned above, was educated in that city, and learned the trade of milling spices, at the village of Milltown, in Philadelphia county. Here also he was married to Sydney, daughter of Jacob Hallerman. His subsequent life was spent in various places and occupations; he was a farmer in Chester county, Pa., for nine years; then State supervisor on the Pennsylvania Railroad between Downingtown and Paoli for about six years, the last five of those years being passed in the borough of Frankford; he next bought a farm at Gwynedd, Montgomery county, where he remained about four years; then for a short time turned his attention again to milling, at Frankford; removed in 1860, to Cecil county, Md., where he had purchased a farm in the vicinity of Lewisville, on which he lived for about eight years, and in 1868, removed to Mifflin county. Here he became a resident of Lewistown, and having bought the Mt. Rock mills, managed them for several years, and finally sold them to Andrew Spanogle, and retired from active business life. He died in 1885, at the age of eighty. His wife was long deceased, having died in 1844. Their children are: Julia Ann (Mrs. Alexander Harrison); Maurice, married Isabella Gilmore, has three children; Eliza (Mrs. Cool), has one son; Isaac H.; and Annie M. (Mrs. Edward Miller), has one daughter. Having received a common school education, Isaac H. Rodgers learned the milling business with his father, and resided with his parents until he was twenty-nine. He began business on his own account in Lewistown, in 1885, having purchased the Logan steam flouring mills; in 1893, he bought the Brookland roller flouring mills at McVeytown, where he now resides. He has been very successful financially, the products of his mill enjoying a good reputation, and being always in demand. He is a liberal and public-spirited citizen. He belongs to the Republican party. Isaac Hallerman Rodgers was married October 18, 1868, to Sarah, daughter of Gideon and Elizabeth Brahm, of McConnellsburg, Fulton county, Pa. Their children are: Joseph L., died aged about nine years; John, associated with his father in the milling business; Anna Mary; and Samuel, who died when about two years old. The family attend the Methodist Episcopal church.