Background
Henry J. Rogers was born in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, the son of Col. John H. Rogers.
Henry J. Rogers was born in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, the son of Col. John H. Rogers.
He was educated in St. Mary's College, Baltimore, and immediately applied himself to the art of telegraphy and signaling, which from his early youth had appealed to him strongly.
He was engaged in developing a system of marine signals with flags when he was attracted to the work of Samuel F. B. Morse and his electro-magnetic telegraph. As a result, about 1843, he obtained employment with Morse in the construction of the demonstration telegraph line between Baltimore and Washington, sponsored by the federal government, and when this line was opened for public business under the direction of the Post Office Department, he was appointed telegraph operator at Baltimore. When the government refused to buy Morse's invention at his stipulated price of $100, 000 and the privately owned Magnetic Telegraph Company was organized, May 15, 1845, Rogers was a subscriber to the new company and one of the incorporators. In 1848 he joined the North American Telegraph Company, which used the telegraph invented by Alexander Bain. Its line extended from New York to Washington but the system failed to work properly until Rogers introduced certain modifications. He continued with the company as superintendent until 1852 when, as a result of the successful infringement suit brought by the Morse interests, it was absorbed by the Morse company. Rogers then became superintendent of the House Printing Telegraph Company, organized about 1852, and operating between New York and Washington. In 1855 he severed his connections with it, in order to devote his time to perfecting his marine signaling system, which he had patented on Sept. 27, 1844. He succeeded in having the system adopted by the United States Navy, but failed, after making two trips to Europe, to secure its adoption by any foreign power. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he was called to Washington and rendered important service in the establishment of field telegraph lines, particularly for the Army of the Potomac. He served also as secretary of the Potomac flotilla and as a navigation officer at the Washington Navy Yard. While in Washington, May 17, 1864, he patented his semaphore telegraph system. At the close of the war he became superintendent of the Bankers' and Brokers' Telegraph Line between New York and Washington, but eighteen months later relinquished this position in order to accept a similar one with the Southern and Atlantic Telegraph Line. He continued in this capacity, with headquarters in New York, until 1873, when he retired to his home in Baltimore. There he engaged in writing a history of the telegraph, but his death prevented the completion of the work. In addition to his two signaling systems, he devised a code of flare signals for use at night and a system of insulation for telegraph lines patented on December 3, 1872.
He was married to a Miss McGlennan of Baltimore, and at the time of his death in that city was survived by his widow and four sons.
