Harriot was the 8th child (of 9 surviving) and the youngest daughter (of 3) of Oliver Williams and Mary Lee of Massachuseets. She was the last child to be born in the Bay State before the family emigrated to Detroit in the Michigan Territory when she was but a year and a half old.
She spent 4 years in the growing Detroit frontier town before the family moved again to the wilds of Oakland county in Waterford Twp. in March of 1819. It was there she truly learned of pioneer living.
She met and married George W. Rogers (a stove manufacturer from Vergennes, VT who had come to Pontiac in the winter of 1840 with his wife and 5 children, and who had been since recently a widower) in November of 1842 in Pontiac, perhaps at the Hodges House, her older sister Mary Anna Hodges' home and business.
George and Harriot had no children of their own, and Harriot's days were spent being mother to the growing brood which ranged in age from George at 10 years old to one year old Ford.
The children were:
George Emmons, b.1833 VT
Frederick, b.1835 VT (d.1851 at age 15)
Harriet Clark, b.1837 VT (Mrs. G.W. Stevens)
Mary Ripley, b.1838 VT (Mrs. R.D. Morgan)
Fordyce Huntington, b.1840 MI
They were married just over 17 years with the children well on their way when husband George W. Rogers passed away due to a stroke in April 1860.
She went west after a few years more in Pontiac, and resided with her daughter Mary Ripley (Rogers) Morgan in Santa Rosa, CA which also was where Harriot's youngest brother James M. Williams had located in August of 1860.
(The 3 youngest of the Oliver Williams family had eventually moved to the Golden State, gold having been the principal draw during those early days)
Here she was grandmother, and aunt to brother James' children.
In 1877 the Morgan family patriarch Robert Dudley Morgan died, so in 1878-79 Harriot with the Morgan family had removed to San Francisco, where they lived at 427 Geary St. Harriot shortly thereafter became a member of the San Francisco First Congregational Church.
She enjoyed the next few years watching her two grandchildren grow into young men. Her role as grandmother and aunt was cut short in the summer of 1884, when Harriot's stay with us was ended.
The "Detroit Free Press" back in Michigan had a more lengthy notice, but the "Daily Alta California" in San Francisco on the 2nd of September simply announced:
"ROGERS- In this city, August 31st, Mrs. H. L. Rogers
aged 70 years."
Harriot rests in her son-in-law Robert D. Morgan's plot at Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery.
She spent 4 years in the growing Detroit frontier town before the family moved again to the wilds of Oakland county in Waterford Twp. in March of 1819. It was there she truly learned of pioneer living.
She met and married George W. Rogers (a stove manufacturer from Vergennes, VT who had come to Pontiac in the winter of 1840 with his wife and 5 children, and who had been since recently a widower) in November of 1842 in Pontiac, perhaps at the Hodges House, her older sister Mary Anna Hodges' home and business.
George and Harriot had no children of their own, and Harriot's days were spent being mother to the growing brood which ranged in age from George at 10 years old to one year old Ford.
The children were:
George Emmons, b.1833 VT
Frederick, b.1835 VT (d.1851 at age 15)
Harriet Clark, b.1837 VT (Mrs. G.W. Stevens)
Mary Ripley, b.1838 VT (Mrs. R.D. Morgan)
Fordyce Huntington, b.1840 MI
They were married just over 17 years with the children well on their way when husband George W. Rogers passed away due to a stroke in April 1860.
She went west after a few years more in Pontiac, and resided with her daughter Mary Ripley (Rogers) Morgan in Santa Rosa, CA which also was where Harriot's youngest brother James M. Williams had located in August of 1860.
(The 3 youngest of the Oliver Williams family had eventually moved to the Golden State, gold having been the principal draw during those early days)
Here she was grandmother, and aunt to brother James' children.
In 1877 the Morgan family patriarch Robert Dudley Morgan died, so in 1878-79 Harriot with the Morgan family had removed to San Francisco, where they lived at 427 Geary St. Harriot shortly thereafter became a member of the San Francisco First Congregational Church.
She enjoyed the next few years watching her two grandchildren grow into young men. Her role as grandmother and aunt was cut short in the summer of 1884, when Harriot's stay with us was ended.
The "Detroit Free Press" back in Michigan had a more lengthy notice, but the "Daily Alta California" in San Francisco on the 2nd of September simply announced:
"ROGERS- In this city, August 31st, Mrs. H. L. Rogers
aged 70 years."
Harriot rests in her son-in-law Robert D. Morgan's plot at Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery.
Harriot was the 8th child (of 9 surviving) and the youngest daughter (of 3) of Oliver Williams and Mary Lee of Massachuseets. She was the last child to be born in the Bay State before the family emigrated to Detroit in the Michigan Territory when she was but a year and a half old.
She spent 4 years in the growing Detroit frontier town before the family moved again to the wilds of Oakland county in Waterford Twp. in March of 1819. It was there she truly learned of pioneer living.
She met and married George W. Rogers (a stove manufacturer from Vergennes, VT who had come to Pontiac in the winter of 1840 with his wife and 5 children, and who had been since recently a widower) in November of 1842 in Pontiac, perhaps at the Hodges House, her older sister Mary Anna Hodges' home and business.
George and Harriot had no children of their own, and Harriot's days were spent being mother to the growing brood which ranged in age from George at 10 years old to one year old Ford.
The children were:
George Emmons, b.1833 VT
Frederick, b.1835 VT (d.1851 at age 15)
Harriet Clark, b.1837 VT (Mrs. G.W. Stevens)
Mary Ripley, b.1838 VT (Mrs. R.D. Morgan)
Fordyce Huntington, b.1840 MI
They were married just over 17 years with the children well on their way when husband George W. Rogers passed away due to a stroke in April 1860.
She went west after a few years more in Pontiac, and resided with her daughter Mary Ripley (Rogers) Morgan in Santa Rosa, CA which also was where Harriot's youngest brother James M. Williams had located in August of 1860.
(The 3 youngest of the Oliver Williams family had eventually moved to the Golden State, gold having been the principal draw during those early days)
Here she was grandmother, and aunt to brother James' children.
In 1877 the Morgan family patriarch Robert Dudley Morgan died, so in 1878-79 Harriot with the Morgan family had removed to San Francisco, where they lived at 427 Geary St. Harriot shortly thereafter became a member of the San Francisco First Congregational Church.
She enjoyed the next few years watching her two grandchildren grow into young men. Her role as grandmother and aunt was cut short in the summer of 1884, when Harriot's stay with us was ended.
The "Detroit Free Press" back in Michigan had a more lengthy notice, but the "Daily Alta California" in San Francisco on the 2nd of September simply announced:
"ROGERS- In this city, August 31st, Mrs. H. L. Rogers
aged 70 years."
Harriot rests in her son-in-law Robert D. Morgan's plot at Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery.
She spent 4 years in the growing Detroit frontier town before the family moved again to the wilds of Oakland county in Waterford Twp. in March of 1819. It was there she truly learned of pioneer living.
She met and married George W. Rogers (a stove manufacturer from Vergennes, VT who had come to Pontiac in the winter of 1840 with his wife and 5 children, and who had been since recently a widower) in November of 1842 in Pontiac, perhaps at the Hodges House, her older sister Mary Anna Hodges' home and business.
George and Harriot had no children of their own, and Harriot's days were spent being mother to the growing brood which ranged in age from George at 10 years old to one year old Ford.
The children were:
George Emmons, b.1833 VT
Frederick, b.1835 VT (d.1851 at age 15)
Harriet Clark, b.1837 VT (Mrs. G.W. Stevens)
Mary Ripley, b.1838 VT (Mrs. R.D. Morgan)
Fordyce Huntington, b.1840 MI
They were married just over 17 years with the children well on their way when husband George W. Rogers passed away due to a stroke in April 1860.
She went west after a few years more in Pontiac, and resided with her daughter Mary Ripley (Rogers) Morgan in Santa Rosa, CA which also was where Harriot's youngest brother James M. Williams had located in August of 1860.
(The 3 youngest of the Oliver Williams family had eventually moved to the Golden State, gold having been the principal draw during those early days)
Here she was grandmother, and aunt to brother James' children.
In 1877 the Morgan family patriarch Robert Dudley Morgan died, so in 1878-79 Harriot with the Morgan family had removed to San Francisco, where they lived at 427 Geary St. Harriot shortly thereafter became a member of the San Francisco First Congregational Church.
She enjoyed the next few years watching her two grandchildren grow into young men. Her role as grandmother and aunt was cut short in the summer of 1884, when Harriot's stay with us was ended.
The "Detroit Free Press" back in Michigan had a more lengthy notice, but the "Daily Alta California" in San Francisco on the 2nd of September simply announced:
"ROGERS- In this city, August 31st, Mrs. H. L. Rogers
aged 70 years."
Harriot rests in her son-in-law Robert D. Morgan's plot at Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery.
Inscription
ROGERS. (top)
HARRIOTT L.
ROGERS,
BORN
FEB. 16, 1814,
DIED
AUG. 31, 1884.
Family Members
Siblings
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Ephraim Smith Williams
1802–1890
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![]()
Gardner Davinport Williams
1804–1858
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![]()
Caroline Lee Williams Stevens
1806–1847
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![]()
Mary Anna Williams Hodges
1807–1889
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![]()
Alfred Leonzo "A.L." Williams
1808–1886
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![]()
Benjamin Oliver "B.O." Williams
1810–1887
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![]()
Col Alpheus Fuller Williams
1812–1884
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![]()
James Monroe "Bridge" Williams
1817–1903
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