OVERVIEW
Location: Tippah County, Mississippi; town of Ripley
Date Constructed/ Founded: 1845
Associated Surnames: Boyd, Brooks, Gray, Hunt, McKinney, Netherland, Rogan, Wood
Historical Notes: Alabama (1826 – 1845) – James Rogan married Sarah Netherland, daughter of prominent enslaver Richard Netherland (originally from Virginia) in 1822 at Netherland Inn on the Holston River, Kingsport, Tennessee. James Rogan, his wife Sarah Netherland and their two children Maria and James W. journeyed from Tennessee down the Holston and Tennessee Rivers by flatboat and arrived in Asheville, St. Clair Co., AL in 1826. There, James Rogan founded and operated a mercantile business at Gunter’s Landing, a store (Asheville, AL), and later, a tannery. By, 1830 James Rogan’s family had grown (6 free whites). One slave, a young black man (age 10 – 24) was enumerated in the Rogan household. James Rogan eventually co-founded Asheville’s first school, Asheville Academy, and church, Mount Pleasant, served as postmaster at Asheville for several years, and was elected Judge of the County Court. After three more children were born, Rogan prepared to move his family to Tippah County, MS.
Mississippi (1845 – 1866) – In 1845, James sent his 14 year old son Lafayette with enslaved persons, livestock, and farming implements to clear the land, plant crops, and build a dwelling house. The Rogan slaves had built a main house, smokehouses, big barns, stables, and slave quarters. James and the remainder of his family moved into the finished home in 1846 and began farming operations. Rogan was considered “Judge” of the Probate Court, although he was not officially elected. Through the years leading up to the Civil War, Rogan continued to run his small farm. After his wife’s death in 1854, James Rogans noted that it had been the first death in his family “white or black, for about 32 years (since 1813)”. This suggests that the same enslaved persons who were with the Rogan family in 1830 – 1854 were still living. During the Civil War, Rogan’s farm was constantly raided by Union troops. After the War had ended, a few of the Rogan freed persons remained at the farm to work on the shares.
Associated Pages: Walnut Hill (Sullivan Co., TN), William Boyd Plantation (Tippah Co., MS)
ASSOCIATED ENSLAVED PERSONS
Boyd family: Mrs. Hannah “Aunt Nancy” Boyd (b.1829-d.?) – from a neighboring plantation, wife of a man who was a slave on the Rogan Plantation in MS, lived in a home on the Rogan Plantation with her small family during the Civil War, testified as a witness for James Rogan’s Southern Claims Commission case
Rogan family: Sylvanus “Van” Rogan (b.1833-d.1916); Ivory “Ivey” Boyd Rogan (b.1845-d.1917) – wife of S. Rogan; Morris Rogan (b.1861-d.1950) – son of S. and I.B. Rogan; Jordan Rogan (b.1864-d.1928) – son of S. and I.B. Rogan; Fannie Rogan (b.1865-d.?) – daughter of S. and I.B. Rogan; other children were born as free persons after the 1865
Tom (b.?-d.1865) – a servant at the Mississippi plantation
1830: 1 male, age 10 – 24 (b.1806-1820) [1830 US Federal Census, St. Clair Co., AL, James Rogan]
1833: James Rogan may have purchased additional slaves when he purchased land near Asheville Academy where cotton was raised as a cash crop
1840: 7 slaves – 3 boys under age 10 (b.1840-1830); 1 male, age 10 – 24 (b.1816-1830); 1 girl under age 10 (b.1841-1840); 2 women, age 24 – 35 (b.1805-1816); [1840 US Federal Census, St. Clair Co., AL, James Rogan]
1850: Group 1 – Male (mulatto) age 23 (b.1837), Male age 22 (b.1838), Male (mulatto) age 19 (b.1841), Male age 12 (b.1848), Male age 12 (b.1848), Male age 3 (b.1857), Female age 30 (b.1830), Female age 28 (b.1860), Female age 19 (b.1841), Male age 1 mo. (b.1860); Group 2 – Female* age 6 (b.1854); Group 3 – Male (mulatto)** age 8 (b.1852), [1850 US Federal Slave Schedule, Tippah Co., MS, James Rogan]
* Note: The 6-year-old girl was enumerated under James Rogan’s name, and listed in what appears to be a family group enslaved by Levi S. Wells: Female age 28 (b.1822), Female age 10 (b.1830); and William McKee: Male age 15 (b.1835)
** Note: The 8-year-old boy was enumerated under James Rogan’s name, and listed in what appears to be a family group enslaved by Samuel White (14 slaves), and Richard White (1 slave)
1860: Female age 45 (b.1815), Female age 45 (b.1815), Male age 38 (b.1822), Male age 37 (b.1823), Male age 28 (b.1832), Female age 27 (b.1833), Male age 22 (b.1838), Male age 19 (b.1860), Female age 15 (b.1845), Male age 12 (b.1860), Female age 10 (b.1850), Male age 6 (b.1854) [1860 US Federal Slave Schedule, Tippah Co., MS, James Rogan]
ASSOCIATED FREE PERSONS
Rogan family: Judge James Rogan (b.1797-d.1885) – owner; Sarah Netherland Rogan (b.1806-d.1854) – wife (m.1822), daughter of Richard and Margaret Wood Netherland of the Long Island of Holston Plantation; Richard Cornelius Rogan (b.1833-d.?) – son; Leonidas Holman Rogan (b.1840-d.?) – son; Sarah Alabama Rogan (b.1848-d.?) – dau.
Rogan family: James Woods Rogan (b.1823-d.1891) – son of J. and S.N. Rogan; Margaret McKinney Rogan – wife (m.1846)
Rogan family: Lafayette Rogan (b.1831-d.1906) – son of J. and S.N. Rogan; Ellen Jane Hunt Rogan (b.?-d.?) – wife
Rogan family: John Netherland Rogan (b.1836-d.?) – son of J. and S.N. Rogan; Marie Wood Rogan (b.?-d.?) – wife
Wood family: Pinkney Wood (b.?-d.?); Maria Rogan Wood (b.?-d.?) – wife (m.1846), daughter of J. and S.N. Rogan
Gray family: W.A. Gray – pastor of the Presbyterean Church of Ripley, connected to William Boyd Plantation; Catherine Crawford Rogan Gray (b.1828-d.?) – wife (m.?), daughter of J. and S.N. Rogan
Brooks family: George W. Brooks (b.?-d.?); Margaret Cornelia Rogan Brooks (b.1844-d.?) – wife (m.1860), daughter of J. and S.N. Rogan
RESEARCH LEADS AND RECORDS
None noted yet
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION
- James Rogan, Hill Country Pioneer, by Virginia O. Bardsley “James Rogan bought his first slaves sometime after 1833, when he purchased land near Asheville Academy where cotton was raised as a cash crop.”; Aunt Nancy was a cook on the plantation
- James Rogan, Hill Country Pioneer, by Virginia O. Bardsley “Although servants were scarce during these years [during Reconstruction], James had a cook by the name of Hannah Boyd, the former slave of one of his neighbors. [16] “Aunt Nancy” whose husband had remained on the Rogan farm, devoted her energies to her own affairs, although she continued to render special services for her former master. For years while it was easy for the freedmen to get assistance from the authorities, this kindhearted woman shared her benefits with the impoverished Rogans.[17]; Footnote [16]: Markell, Diary, II, March 10, 1869. Footnote [17]: Conversation with Mrs. E.M. Owen, Nw Albany, Mississippi, December 23, 1960. Twelve years after this period, Mrs. Owens remembers the family’s walking down the path to the house of this woman [Hannah Boyd] who had prepared tea and a birthday cake for some member of the family, probably for James Rogan.
- Southern Claims Commission Files, James Rogan, Claim #16866. Tom, a servant of James Rogan, died in 1865 in Mississippi; testimony of Mrs. Hannah Boyd: “After the date [Dec. 25] and before the 23rd March 1863 witness states she removed from the home at Ripley to the premises of Claimant to have his protection whom she considered as her special friend that she continued to stay at his place with her little family until the close of the war, and during this period she witnessed the taking of the following property at different dates by the forces of the Union Army as specified in Claimant’s account to wit … Witness said she lived in the house in claimants land used by his colored families and could see everything plainly that transpired. Says she did not belong to claimant then nor at any other time. That she is now living in the same house but not in the employ of claimant. Says her husband has been a tenant on claimants premises for several years”
REFERENCES
- Rogan, James. Another Birth Day Has Come Round (autobiography). Southern Sentinel. Ripley MS. Dec 18, 1884.
- Southern Claims Commission Claim #16866, James Rogan, 1877. National Archives Microfiche Publication M1407. RG233, Southern Claims Commission Disallowed Claims, 1871-1880. Report 7, Office 0483, Fiche #2478, 2479, 2490
- 1830 U.S. Federal Census, St. Clair Co., AL p. 235
- 1840 U.S. Federal Census, St. Clair Co., AL
- 1850, 1860 U.S. Slave Schedule, Tippah Co., MS
- 1870 U.S. Federal Census, Tippah Co., MS
- Bardsley, Virginia O. James Rogan, Hill Country Pioneer. A dissertation submitted to the faculty of Mississippi State University. Mitchell Memorial Library, Mississippi State University. 1961.
- Rootsweb World Connect Project: Descendants of Daniel Rogan of Sullivan County, Tennessee (James Rogan, ID: I17988), http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=bbailey_rogan
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