Captain John "Hellfire Jack" Rogers Sr.

Biography

There were at least seven John Rogers living in Cherokee territory in the mid-1700s. See research notes below.
This John Rogers was thought to have been born around 1745 in either North or South Carolina. He had a trading post on the Hiwassee River in Tennessee.[citation needed] He was often called Captain. John may have been a Tory Captain in the Revolutionary War,[citation needed] but this is uncertain.

John married Elizabeth Emory around 1771; Elizabeth was still alive as late as 8 Aug 1806:

"Today on the 8th, Mr. Rogers's two women, namely a mother and her daughter!, visited the school in the afternoon."[1]
The footnote for this entry reads:
"The mother was Elizabeth Emory and her daughter was Jennie Due, Rogers’s step-daughter. Starr, History of the Cherokee Indians, p. 305"
John and Elizabeth were the parents of five children:

• Charles,
• Aky,
• John,
• James,
• Nannie.

Around 1783, John began having children with his step-daughter, Jennie Due. They were also the parents of five children:[2]

• Annie,
• Joseph,
• William,
• Tiana
• Susannah.

John died before 1835, but place and date are unknown.

Research Notes

The other six John Rogers are:

John Rogers who married Alsey Vann and resided on the Chattahoochee River among the tribe in Georgia. He was also called Captain.
Captain John Rogers, son of John Rogers and Elizabeth Emory who fought in the War of 1812 and became the Chief of the Old Settlers.
John Rogers, son of John Rogers and Alsey Vann who married Sarah Cordery and also resided on the Chattahoochee River in Georgia.
John Rogers, mixed blood or white, living with the tribe at Newton, Georgia in 1830 and said to be poor.
John Rogers, grandson of John Rogers and Elizabeth Emory, in Indian Territory by 1852.
John Rogers, unknown, in Indian Territory by 1840.

The following is from an unsourced web site, https://www.songofml.com//john_james_rogers.htm (now a dead link) but appears to be from The Texas Cherokee pg.

However, we do know more about our Captain John Rogers since the Revolution. He was a Tory Captain in the British Army and fought in the Carolinas with Captain John Stuart. Stuart's son was known as Bushyhead. From this man comes the well-known Bushyhead families of Oklahoma. Reverend Jesse Bushyhead led a group to Arkansas. Why the family name of Bushyhead was adopted, rather than Stuart, we have no historical record.

Captain John Rogers was called "Hell-Fire Jack" by the Cherokees because of his hot temper, and also to designate him from another John Rogers, who was called "Nolichucky Jack". Some sources say that the nickname of "Hell-Fire Jack" came from his decadent lifestyle among the "uncivilized" Cherokee.

He was Scotch (English). We know very little about the life of this man before he came among the Cherokee during the Revolution. In an early history of America, it gives that there were two Rogers brothers who came to this country. They first came into Wythe County, Virginia. William went to Pennsylvania, and Ben came to Tennessee. From this we can gather that our line of the Tennessee Rogers are descendants of Ben.
His first marriage was to Elizabeth Emory Due - he being her third husband. Elizabeth was the daughter of William Emory and Mary Grant, granddaughter of Ludovoc Grant and a Cherokee of the Long Hair Clan.

John Rogers's second marriage was to Jennie Due, a daughter of his first wife, Elizabeth Due, by her first husband, Robert Due. Their daughter, Talahina or Tiana Rogers, born about 1800, married Sam Houston.

Sources

1. ↑ Rowena McClinton, The Moravian Springplace Mission to the Cherokees, Vol. 1, University of Nebraska Press. (p. 121)
2. ↑ Starr, Emmet. History of the Cherokee Indians. Oklahoma Yesterday Publications edition, Tulsa, OK. 1979.pp. 305, 306, 307. Digitized edition at Starr

See also:

James Manford Carselowey, "My Journal," Oklahoma section; from Mahon Library
George Morrison Bell Sr, Genealogies of Old and New Cherokee Indian Families, Bartlesville, OK: 1972 Call Number: 929.2 B433G
"A Brief Genealogy of the Samuel Felix Magee Family," acquired from Vada Pitts home; author unknown; Cobb archives - Lubbock, Tx 79423
Chronicles of Oklahoma, Volume 17, No. 2, pgs 6, 7, 8. Interviews 1921-1962. Oklahoma Historical Society, June 1939. Oklahoma State University Library Digital Collections.
Old Cherokee Families and their Genealogy, Reprinted from "History of the Cherokee Indians and their Legends and folk lore by Emmet Starr Compiled by J J Hill Publication: (Norman: Univ of OK, 1968).
https://sites.rootsweb.com/~tnpolk2/rogers.htm

(Curator note: Seeking source for the place currently listed in the Death Place field, namely: Fort Smith, Sebastian, Arkansas.)

Source: The WikiTree Native American Project @ https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Rogers-3886
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CAPTAIN JOHN ROGERS was born Abt. 1755 in Scotland, and died in Arkansas Territory, (Oklahoma).
He married (1) JENNIE DUE, daughter of ROBERT DUE and ELIZABETH EMORY. She was born Abt. 1766.
He married (2) ALSEY VANN, daughter of JOHN VANN and WAI-LI OTTERLIFTER. She was born 1768.
He married (3) ELIZABETH EMORY Abt. 1771 in Cherokee Nation East, TN, daughter of WILLIAM EMORY and MARY GRANT. She was born Abt. 1748 in Cherokee Nation East, TN.

• John started the Roger surname connected with the Cherokee, which includes Chief William Charles Rogers, Diana Rogers Houston (Sam Houston's wife) and Will Rogers (there is question whether there is a blood connection to Will Rogers).
• He was a Scottish trader.
• He was reported to be a Tory Captain during the Revolutionary War and fought with John Stuart in the Carolinas.
• He lived about 12 miles south of Calhoun TN, near the Hiwassee and TN Rivers. He plyed boats on both rivers.
• In 1817 he left his home near Lookout Mt. and traveled by keel boat with 31 other people.They settled at Big Mulberry Bend, about 20 miles south of present day Ft. Smith, AR.
• Some speculate that John was the son of Ben Rogers who was the brother of William. Beginning in Wythe County, Virginia, William went to Penn. and Ben to TN.
• In " History of the Cherokee Indians", by Emmet Starr, on page 305, John Rogers is listed as a spouse to Elizabeth Emory, 1'1, 1'2, 2'3.
• Jennie Due was John's stepdaughter from Elizabeth Emory.
• Burial: AK, 20 miles south of Ft. Smith

Notes for JENNIE DUE:
From "The Texas Cherokee", Dianna Everett, Univ of OK Press, p 146;"interesting to note... Talihina's mother (John Roger's wife) was named Jennie Due; coincidentally one of Duwali's three wives was named Jennie (the other two were Utsuta and Utiyu).It is possible the Duwali married Jennie Due after the death of John Rogers thereby becoming Talihina's "father".

• Jennie was John Roger's step-daughter.

Notes for ALSEY VANN:

• Other sources state that James Vann, John's brother was her father.

Notes for ELIZABETH EMORY:

• Elizabeth Emory was of the Long-Haired Clan

Children of JOHN ROGERS and JENNIE DUE are:

	i.	 	ANNIE2 ROGERS, b. Abt. 1790; m. (1) JOHN W. FLOWEY; m. (2) THOMAS IRONS.

	ii.	 	JOSEPH ROGERS, b. Abt. 1792.

2. iii. CHIEF WILLIAM CHARLES ROGERS, b. Abt. 1794.

	iv.	 	SUSANNAH ROGERS, b. Abt. 1796; m. NICHOLAS MILLER.

	v.	 	DIANA ROGERS, b. Abt. 1798; d. Abt. 1840; m. (1) SAMUEL HOUSTON; m. (2) DAVID GENTRY; b. Abt. 1780; m. (3) SAM MCGRADY.

• Diana Rogers Gentry was the widow of David Gentry, a half breed blacksmith who came to AR as early as 1817 and died in a skirmish with the Osage.Diana lived with Sam at Wilson Creek, Indian Territory where Sam had a crude store.It is thought that she was about 10 years younger then Sam.After her death she was buried near Cantonment Gibson.Later moved to the National Cemetery at Fort Gibson on the west side of the Officer's Circle, grave " 2467.Tombstone reads "Talahina, wife of Sam Houston".

	Notes for DAVID GENTRY:

He was a blacksmith.David was Diana Rogers first husband, her second husband was Sam Houston.

Child of JOHN ROGERS and ALSEY VANN is:
3. vi. POLLY ANN2 ROGERS, b. Abt. 1787, TN; d. 1857, TX.

Children of JOHN ROGERS and ELIZABETH EMORY are:
4. vii. CHARLES2 ROGERS, b. Abt. 1774.
5. viii. AKY ROGERS, b. Abt. 1776.
6. ix. JAMES ROGERS, b. Abt. 1780.

	x.	 	NANNIE ROGERS, b. Abt. 1782; m. (1) LOONEY PRICE; m. (2) NELSON B. GRUBB.

7. xi. JOHN ROGERS, JR., b. Abt. 1778; d. June 12, 1846, Washington, DC.

Source: Waddell, S. W. (2023). Genealogy Report: Descendants of John Rogers. Genealogy.com. Retrieved April 9, 2023, from https://www.genealogy.com/ftm/w/a/d/Stacy-W-Waddell/GENE2-0001.html (Identical to work by James Hicks @ Genealogy.com)
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John Hell-Fire Jack Robers b. 1755

1) Elizabeth Emory b. 1748 dau of William Emory and Mary Grant
A. Charles Rogers b. before 1774 TN
wife Nanie Dowling, children Pleasant Robers 1808, Eliza Rogers b. 1810
wife Rachel Hughes b. 1790, children Levi, Charles Jr, Elizabeth, Richard, alzira, Joseph, John, Catherine
B. Arkansas Arky Rogers b. befor 1775 TN
husband George Hicks, children Aaron and Nannie
husband Daniel Vickery, children Naomi and Moses
C. James Rogers b. aft 1776
wife Nancy Coody
D. Nancy Rogers b. aft 1776 TN
husband Looney Price
husband Nelson Grubbs
E. John Rogers, Jr b. 1779 in TN
wife Elizabeth Coody b. 1790, children Cynthia, Charles Coody, George Washington, Thomas lewis, Nelson, Granville, Randolph, Isaac

2) Alcey Vann (Anna Mary Pruitt) b. 1772 GAdau of Chief James Vann and Wa-Li Mary Christiana.
A. Polly Ann Rogers b. 1787 McMinn Co, TN
Husband Samuel Riley Dawson b. 1782, children Elizabeth Dawson, Edna Belle, John F, James, Robert, Joseph, Samuel Riley Jr

3) Jennie Due, , dau of Robert Due and Elizabeth Emory
A. Martha Rogers
husband Ignatius Chisholm, chilren Jesse, Martha, Nelson, George
B. Annie Rogers
husband John W Flowers
husband Thomas Irons
C. Joseph Rogers
D. Susannah Rogers
husband Nicklos Miller
E. William Charles Rogers. b. 1794
wife Nellie May, shildren Robert Due, Jennie, Mary Ann, Minerva, Musidora, Caroline
F. Talahina Tiana Diana Rogers b. 1800 TN
husband Sam McGrady
husband David Gentry
husband Samuel Houston

Notes

• Rogers was a British soldier during the American Revolution who remained in the US, traded with the Indians, and had several Cherokee wives. All of these families lived on the Hiwassee River in McMinn Co, TN near Calhoun, GA or Calhoun, McMinn Co, TN on the Hiwassee River.
• On 10/18/1817, Rogers left TN for ARK territory and stopped 4/18/1818. Thirty-one others joined Rogers on the trip.
• In 9/1821, In McMinn County, TN, a John Rodgers was sued and the plaintiff recovered $2.50 plus costs.
• In 6/1823 he was sued by the State of TN and fined 6 1/4 cents for fighting. (McMinn Co Circuit Court Records, 1819-1831, pages 31, 84)
• In 9/1826 it appears that John Rogers filed title to his 88 1/2 acres of land in the Hiwassee District, NE fractional 1/4, Section 13, Fractional Twp. 5, Range 3 West of the meridian in McMinn Co in order to sell the land to John L McCarty (McMinn Co Land Entries 1820-1849) Vol B page 16). At this time Rogers must have been in his seventies and possibly in bad health.
• Son: Capt John Rogers settled at Dardanelle, ARK 1821. Last Chief of the Old Settler Cherokees. He died at Washington in 1846 and is in the National Cemetery. The wives of John & James Rogers were sisters. John Rogers first wife was Elizabeth Due nee Emory and 2nd Jennie Due, step daughter.
• Reservation Roll 1817- Those desiring 640 acre tract of land in the east, in lieu of removing to ARK.

B. Robert (Rogers)
John (Rogers)
John Jr (Rogers)

• Emigration Roll - 1817 (-1835, a listing of Cherokees who voluntarily emigrated to the west, prior to the Treaty of New Echota of December, 1835.)

Capt Charles (Rogers)
Green (Rogers)
Iry (Rogers)
James (Rogers)
John (Rogers)
Lewis (Rogers)
Lucy (Rogers)
Nancy (Rogers)
Richard (Rogers)
Robert (Rogers)

• Cherokee By Blood Vol 1 p. 398:
• Joanna Barber and 1 child, Crowell, TX. Rejected. It does not appear that any ancestor was a party to the treaties of 1835-6 and 1846. Nor does it appear that any ancestor was ever enrolled, or that any ancestor lived within the Cherokee domain. (Misc. Test. P. 3393) Applicant born in Arkansas in 1835. (From the oral testimony of one Isaac Barber, a claim in right of his wife one Joanane Barber, #1306, and she claims her Indian blood through her mother, Elizabeth Petty, who died in TX in 1873. She was born in the East, in GA. I think. Her mother Polly Ann Rogers, married Sam Dawson in GA and they lived there for a while and then moved west in 1835.)

MISC TEST. P. 3393. Isaac A. Barber: My name is Isaac A. Barber…
“…The mother of Polly Ann Rodgers was a full blood Cherokee Indian named Avery Vann, who lived and died in GA. Avery and Alcey Vann are the same, some call it Avery and others Alcey. Alcey Vann was alive in 1835, and that is as near as I can come to her time of living. I do not know when she died… John Rodgers married Alcey Vann and helped to move the Indians west in 1835. He married Alcey Vann in GA. Capt. John Rodgers was 1/2 Cherokee Indian. He is on the 1835 and 1848 rolls. Polly Ann Rodgers was in TX is the reason she was not enrolled. Capt. John Rodgers is the greatgrandfather of my wife and through him, a 1/2 blood Cherokee, and through his wife Alcey Vann, a full blood Cherokee, both enrolled, we, my wife and children, and her family claim a right to share in this fund. SIGNED; Isaac A. Barber, Quanah, TX, 10/2/1908. EXCEPTION CASE. Rejected. Total number of exceptions filed in this group--7. Original recommendation renewed.”

Source: Owen, T. (2008, October 12). John Hell Fire Jack Rogers. Genealogy.com. Retrieved April 2, 2023, from https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/rogers/16417/
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John Rogers, Sr. was a Scottish trader who lived most of his life with the Cherokee. He was reportedly a Tory Captian during the Revolutionary War. He is known in the literature variously as Captain John Rogers and Hellfire Jack Rogers.

John started the Rogers surname which includes Chief William Charles Rogers, Diana Talihina Rogers Huston (Sam Houston's Cherokee wife), and Will Rogers. John's first wife was Elizabeth Due nee Emory and his second wife was his step-daughter Jennie Due.

Source: The Texas Cherokee Page 70;....he [Samuel Houston] had married a Cherokee woman, Talihina ["Tina"] (also know as Diana) Rogers, daughter of John Jolly's brother, John Rogers. On June 30, 1806, [Moravian Diaries] John Rogers who lived on the Hiawassee River, Tennessee, came to Spring Place. He told the Moravians he wanted to put his 12 year old daughter [unnamed] into the school but her mother [unnamed] was the sister of John Fawling who had just been killed by James Vann in a duel. Rogers thought it unwise to rile Van by having a Fawling in his neighborhood. Thus the disputed story of Ailsy, sister of James Vann, who was the third wife of John Rogers [not listed in Starr] and had a daughter, Polly Ann, born about 1787. This story is very similar to the sister-in-law of James Vann who was the third wife of John Rogers [not listed in Starr] and the mother of a daughter born circa 1794. Thus Ailsey would be Ailsey Fawling and Polly Ann Rounnameduld be her unmaned daughter.

John Rogers was a very prominent figure among the Cherokee. He gave them much help and advice. You can find many letters, writter by him to the government. He once paid the ransome, demanded for a young boy named Jennings and returned him to his family. He was often a delegate to Washington, DC, a Council man of outstanding ability; and his influence was manifest.

Little is known about the life of John Rogers, Sr. before he came among the Cherokee during the Revolutionary War. In an early history of America, it gives that there were two Rogers brothers who came to this country. They first came into Wythe County, VA. William Rogers went to Pennsylvania, and Ben Rogers came to Tennessee. From this we can gather that our line of the Tennessee Rogers are descendants of Ben Rogers.

However, we do know more about our Captain John Rogers since the Revolution. As stated above, he was a Tory Captain in the British Army and fought in the Carolinas with Captain John Stuart. John Stuart's son was known as Bushyhead. From this man comes the well-known Bushyhead families of Oklahoma. Reverend Jesse Bushyhead lead a group to Arkansas. Why the family name of Bushyhead was adopted, rather that Stuart is not known as there is no historical record regarding this matter.

Captain John Rogers was called "Hell-Fire Jack" by the Cherokee because of his hot temper, and also to designate him from another John Rogers, who was called Nolichucky Jack." Some sources say that the nickname of "Hell-Fire Jack" came from his decadent life style among the "Uncivilized" Cherokee.

John lived about twelve miles south of Calhoun, Tennessee, on the Hiwassee and Tennessee Rivers. He was a man of wealth. Captain John must have loved to entertain, for in the minutes of the Mission, this is mentioned. The Christmas of 1806, he gave such a large party - they tell what his guests consumed - not how many were present as we do today; saying, the guest consumed a number of beeves, two barrels of flour, and two barrels of rum, and their stock ate two stacks of hay and one hundred bushels of corn. At one time there were two hundred present. Nancy Vann, a guest, was reported as saying, "I never had such a good time in all of my life."

In 1818, Captain John Rogers came to western Arkansas from his home, Ross Landing, on the Tennessee River near Lookout Mountain. Leaving there in 1817. It is interesting to know how the government had provided the Indians transportation to the west. A boat was constructed to be sixty feet long and twelve feet wide, two thirds of it was to be covered, two side oars and a steering oar, they were called Keel Boats. Each was given a gun, a kettle, a beaver trap and some ammunition. Often these boats fell apart on the rocky shoals of the Tennessee River. He and thirty-one members of his party settled a Big Mulberry Bent, about twenty miles south of present day Ft. Smith, AR. Captain John Rogers is buried there.

John's first marriage was to Elizabeth Emory Due - he being her third husband. Elizabeth was the daughter of William Emory and Mary Grant, granddaughter of Ludovoc Grant and a Cherokee woman of the Long Hair Clan. From this marriage comes three of the Cherokee Chiefs of Oklahoma: namely Chief John Rogers, Jr., born in 1779, Chief of the Western Cherokees and Grand Saline, Texas; Judge Charles Coody Rogers; and Chief William Charles Rogers, the last Chief of the Western Cherokees.

John's second marriage was to Jennie Due, the daughter of his first wife, Elizabeth Due, by her first husband Robert Due. Their daughter, Talahina or Tiana Rogers, born about 1798, married Sam Houston, Governor of Tennessee and General and President of the Republic of Texas.

John's Third marriage was to Alsey Vann (also known as Anna Pruitt) and their only Child, Polly Ann, born 1787, married Samuel Dawson, a Scott-Irish man. They were the parents to the well-known Dawson Families of Oklahoma. F.M. or Bud Dawson was one of the leading men who established the rights of citizenship of a lafge family, who were placed on the Cherokee Rolls by the Dawes Commission. Based on the granting of Cherokee citizenship to Alsey's decendents this wife is Alsey Vann believed to ba a sister of the well known Chief James Van.

John Rogers, Sr. is often confused with his son John Rogers, Jr., who was born about 1776. John, Jr. is also known as Captain John Rogers for his service with the Cherokee troops of General Andrew Jackson in the Creek Wars. He was elected Chief after the death of his Uncle, Chief Oolooteskee (John Jolly Rogers). John, Jr. died at the home of Mrs. Eugenia Townsley, in Washington, DC, on 12 June 1846, while presenting his claims for possession or reimbursement for the salt works. He is burried in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC. There were three Cherokees buried about the same time; John Rogers, Jr., Thomas W. Starr, and W.B. West. Their grave sites are #89, 90, and 91, Range 40. John's grave has no headstone.

Another son of John Rogers, Sr. was James Rogers, a minor Cherokee Chief according to some records.

The Rogers were supplanted by John Ross, leader of the anti-treaty party, who became Chief of the Cherokees after the general removal in 1826. Captain John Rogers and Colonel A.P. Chouteau had established the salt works on the east side of Grand River, near the present town os Salina, in Mayes Co., OK. They manufactured large Quantities of salt, which was sold to the garrison at Fort Gibson as well as the Cherokees and other Indian Tribes. Chouteau dies in 1832, possession passing to Captain John Rogers. Then John Ross, Principal Chief, in the name of the Cherokees, took over the salt works and gave the concession to his brother, Lewis Ross. Ross asserted the springs were the property of the national domain of the Cherokee Tribe and might be leased to a hew party if deemed expedient. Captain and Chief John Rogers.

Source: Everett, D. (1995). The Texas Cherokees: A people between two fires, 1819-1840. University of Oklahoma Press.
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Source: From https://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:2298338...