John Henry Rogers

John Henry Rogers, 1890.

John Henry Rogers (October 9, 1845 – April 17, 1911) was a U.S. Representative from Arkansas and United States federal judge.

Life

Rogers was born in Roxobel, North Carolina to Absalom and Harriet Rice Rogers. He moved with his parents to Mississippi in 1852, settling near Madison Station (now Madison). His father became a wealthy planter, owning land worth more than $18,000 and 28 slaves.^[1] Rogers attended the local schools and was a student when the American Civil War began in 1861.

On March 15, 1862, the seventeen year old Rogers and his brother William enlisted as privates in the Semmes Rifles, which became Company H of the Ninth Mississippi Volunteer (Infantry) Regiment.Rogers was wounded twice and was commissioned a first lieutenant at the age of nineteen, for gallantry at the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee. At the war's end in May 1865, Rogers walked nearly a thousand miles from North Carolina to his home in Mississippi.^[2]

At the war's end, he entered Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, but in 1867 transferred to the University of Mississippi as soon as it reopened. He graduated from the law department of the University of Mississippi in 1868, was admitted to the bar, and entered private practice in Canton, Mississippi.^[3]

He moved his practice to Fort Smith, Arkansas in 1869, and resided there until 1877, when he was appointed to the Circuit Court in Little Rock, Arkansas. Rogers resigned in 1882 and returned to Fort Smith. He was elected a U.S. Representative from Arkansas as a Democrat and served in the 48th through 51st Congresses, from 1883 to 1891. Declining to be renominated, he resumed his private practice in Fort Smith.

Congressman

Rogers was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-eighth and was reelected to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1891). He served as chairman of the Committee on Mileage in the Fiftieth Congress. However, he then declined to be a candidate and returned to Arkansas to resume his law practice in Fort Smith. Rogers served as member of the Democratic State convention in 1892 and was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention the same year.

On November 27, 1896, Rogers received a recess appointment from President Grover Cleveland to fill a seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas, vacated by Isaac C. Parker. Formally nominated on December 8, 1896, he was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 15, 1896, and received his commission the same day. He held the position until his death in Little Rock on April 16, 1911 of an apparent heart attack.^[4]

John Henry Rogers was interred in Oak Cemetery, Fort Smith, Arkansas.^[5] He was survived by his wife, Mary (Gray) Rogers, and four children.

References

1. 1860 US Census: A. Rogers, 52, planter. Madison Co., Mississippi, page 50, dwelling #370
2. Gitleman, Morton, "John Henry Rogers (1845–1911)", Encyclopedia of Arkansas, April 4, 2014
3. Gitelman, Morton. "John Henry Rogers (1845–1911)", Arkansas Biography: A Collection of Notable Lives
4. “Judge J. H. Rogers Found Dead in Bed.” Arkansas Gazette, April 18, 1911, pp. 1, 3
5. In Memoriam: John Henry Rogers, 1845–1911, Forth Smith, Arkansas: Calvert-McBride Co., 1912

External links

• Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Rogers on the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture
• John Henry Rogers at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
• Rogers in Lamb's Biographical Dictionary of the United States Congress

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.