He was born about 1778 in Surry County, North Carolina, son of George Rogers and Elizabeth Losson. He married about 1799 to Nancy Holcomb in Buncombe County, North Carolina. They were parents of nine known children: George H., John M., Jacob S., William, Abner, Elizabeth, Sarah, Catherine, and Nancy (not in order of birth). "Roger" is believed to be William's middle name.

William and his young family are in Buncombe Co., NC for the 1800 and 1810 census. He had moved his family to Kentucky and by 1820 where they are found in Clay Co. It is believed all the children were born in North Carolina and since their ninth child was born in May 1816, they would have gone to Kentucky following that date.

His father-in-law, John Holcombe, sold 150 acres of land to William Rogers on March 3, 1800 in Ivy Barnardsville, Buncombe Co., NC. In 1803 he purchased 200 acres of land in Little Ivy from James Cope.

William Rogers was co-administrator with John Barrett of George Rogers' estate July 1811 in Buncombe Co., NC. He served in the War of 1812 under General Andrew Jackson. In 1813 he was made Justice of Peace/Magistrate in Buncombe Co.

In 1800, 1810 and 1820 census he is listed as having 1 male and 1 female slave. According to family tradition his son George Holcombe Rogers was care taker of an old freed slave called Mammy. When freed she wanted to stay with the Rogers family. When she died she supposedly was buried outside the gate of Rogers Cemetery in Daviess Co., Missouri, even tho some family members were against it.

In 1829, Joshua Etherton, father-in-law of Catherine Rogers Etherton, was appointed commissioner to divide the real estate of her father, William Rogers, into nine parts. It is believed that William died between 1825 and 1829 in Clay Co., Kentucky.
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