founder theologian religious activist
John Rogers was born in Milford, Connecticut, the son of Elizabeth (Rowland) and James Rogers who emigrated probably from England, settled at New London, Connecticut, about 1660, and became one of the richest merchants and landowners in Connecticut.
The son was converted by the Seventh-Day Baptists of Newport, Rhode Island in 1674; he converted his father and brothers to the same creed, and elders from Rhode Island baptized them and admitted them into the Newport church. Having started to study the Bible independently, he gradually developed novel opinions, in which the Rhode Island Baptists could not follow him. Though still accepting the Calvinist doctrine of a new birth, he opposed salaried clergy, the use of meeting houses. Formal prayers, and all connection between church and state. He freed his slaves and advocated non-resistance; and he refused to use medicine, believing that diseases should be cured by prayer and anointing with oil. He afterward abandoned the Seventh-Day Sabbath, holding religious services on Sunday but declaring labor on that day to be lawful. Rogerene services were held on the family farm at Great Neck in New London. He toured New England to propagate his doctrines but made few converts outside his own family. He wrote thirteen pamphlets in defense of his opinions, of which The Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ (1720) is perhaps the most important. They are filled with involved theological arguments and do not show any great eloquence or learning. His methods of asserting his opinions were often lacking in tact and good taste; but the courage and firmness with which he endured half a century of persecution cannot be praised too highly. If his character had not been consistently blackened by orthodox historians, he would be remembered as a pioneer of religious freedom. The state and ecclesiastical authorities, notably Gurdon Saltonstall, were bitterly hostile to the new sect. The Rogerenes were repeatedly fined for non-attendance at meeting, laboring on the Sabbath, refusing payment of the minister's rates, non-attendance at military training, and entertaining Quakers. Rogers was imprisoned seven times, his various sentences totaling fifteen years; he was whipped twice, on the second occasion receiving seventy-six stripes on a charge of blasphemy. The Rogerenes retaliated by marching into the meeting house in New London during service and making public protests. They seem to have had the sympathy of their neighbors; Rogers was elected to various official positions in the town, juries acquitted him whenever possible, and the government had difficulty in finding officers who would enforce payment of fines.
The sect became extinct during the nineteenth century.
He freed his slaves and advocated non-resistance; and he refused to use medicine, believing that diseases should be cured by prayer and anointing with oil. He abandoned the Seventh-Day Sabbath, holding religious services on Sunday but declaring labor on that day to be lawful. Rogerene services were held on the family farm at Great Neck in New London. He toured New England to propagate his doctrines but made few converts outside his own family. He wrote thirteen pamphlets in defense of his opinions, of which The Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ (1720) is perhaps the most important. They are filled with involved theological arguments and do not show any great eloquence or learning.
His methods of asserting his opinions were often lacking in tact and good taste; but the courage and firmness with which he endured half a century of persecution cannot be praised too highly. If his character had not been consistently blackened by orthodox historians, he would be remembered as a pioneer of religious freedom.
In 1670 he had married Elizabeth, the daughter of Matthew Griswold of Lyme. While under religious conviction he told her of some sexual misdemeanor he had committed before marriage. After his conversion she returned with their two children to her own family, who in 1676 persuaded the General Court to give her a divorce, alleging as sufficient reason what Rogers had confessed to her and accusing him of the most revolting vices. In 1699 Rogers took as a second wife a maid-servant, Mary Ransford, refusing to have any legal ceremony performed. The marriage was unhappy, and there were lawsuits between Mary Ransford and the Rogers family. In 1703 the county court imprisoned her for having a child without being legally married; she was rescued and sent to Block Island, where in 1710 with Rogers' approval she married Robert Jones. In 1714, after unsuccessful attempts to recover his divorced wife Elizabeth, Rogers married Mrs. Sarah Cole, a Quaker widow of Oyster Bay. In 1721 he caught smallpox in Boston and died after his return to New London. He was succeeded as leader of the Rogerenes by John Rogers, Jr. , his son by Elizabeth (Griswold) Rogers, who had been brought up by his mother but had at the age of fourteen voluntarily returned to his father.
