R as in RODGER
Our Rodger family connection starts with Margaret RODGER born in 1813 who married James MATTHEW on the 14th of June, 1835 in Longforgan, Perthshire, Scotland.
When Margaret married James he was listed as a ploughman in Polgavie, a hamlet just outside Longforgan. Sadly, James committed suicide in 1878 when he was elderly and depressed. It was such a shocking event it made the papers.
Margaret’s parents were Alexander Rodger (ploughman in Gray’s Inn and then labourer in the quarry at Kingoodie) and Isobel (Isabella) Thornton. Alexander’s father Henry worked in Dundee.
Marriage record of Henry Rodgers (of Longforgan) and Cathrine Brown 1780
Another sad event was when Margaret’s father and grandfather died within days of each other. Her grandfather died on the 18th of September, 1836 and then her father died on the 21st. It doesn’t say if there was an illness involved but the burial record for Alexander states that he is “the son of the man above” meaning the man just entered in the record!.
It’s amazing to me how far back I can get in Scottish records. It’s also pretty easy to read their records back until the 1600s. From then back, I have to resort to my Paleography lessons from the National Institute for Genealogical Studies!
Ties That Bind 