Marker #820 Roger's Station

Historical Marker #820, “Rogers’ Station,” examines Colonel James Rogers, a Revolutionary War veteran, Kentucky settler, early Kentucky politician, and church leader, who was born in 1742. Rogers was best remembered for early settlements in Jefferson County and Nelson County, especially the establishment of Rogers’ Station, two miles north of the Beech Fork River. Rogers’ Station was one of the earliest settlements in Nelson County.

Rogers’ birthplace appears to be contested, based on sources. According to Lon B. Rogers, James was born “probably in Virginia,” while J. H. Spencer writes that James “was born, either in Ireland, or of Irish parents, in Maryland, about the year 1742.”

Rogers served in the Revolutionary War with the Fincastle Militia under Captain Daniel Smith in 1774. He was also a captain at Catfish Camp, District of West Augusta, in early 1777. West Augusta later became known as Augusta Town and now Washington, Pennsylvania. When Rogers migrated to Kentucky (then part of the Old Dominion), Virginia Governor Patrick Henry appointed him as lieutenant colonel in the Kentucky militia.

Rogers moved to Kentucky in 1780. His party included William Keith, Evan Williams (of the bourbon brand fame), and several others. He was given a preemption, or settlement right, for 1,000 acres along Cedar Creek where he established Rogers’ Station. His patent was settled in 1782. In the notes by Lon B. Rogers, at the time there were approximately five settlements within the present boundaries of Nelson County.

When the governor of Virginia approved the boundaries of Nelson County in 1784, he appointed Rogers, Isaac Cox, and several others to serve as justices of the peace. Rogers also served on the committee to create the first courthouse in Nelson County. As Kentucky began to grow, Rogers was one of the signers of the petition for Kentucky statehood and was involved in two out of the ten constitutional conventions to help Kentucky establish its own government.

Rogers also established churches in his area of Kentucky. He is listed in the constitution of the Cedar Creek Baptist Church, dated July 4, 1781, which was the second Baptist church in Kentucky. This church was a part of the Salem Association in 1792. The South District Association met at Rogers’ home in 1790 and again in 1792. Two years later they were granted a license to give rites of matrimony. He was also one of six ministers at the South District Association in current Marion County. He performed marriages and was active in spreading the Baptist faith for the remainder of his life.

Rogers was married twice, first to Martha Blackburn in 1766. They had eight children together. Blackburn passed in 1818, and Rogers moved to Mercer County, where he met and married Nancy Flournoy in 1820.

Colonel James Rogers passed away in Mercer County on March 24, 1828.