The Rogerenes. John R. Bolles
to say, without soiling our pen with his obscene language, that what Peter Pratt said and others have quoted about John Roger’s “maid” has reference to his second wife, an account of his marriage to whom, with other facts of the case, we now give to the reader, in the words of John Rogers, 2d, in his “Reply” to Peter Pratt:—
After John Roger’s first wife had left him, on account of his religion, he remained single for more than twenty-five years, in hopes that she would come to repentance and forsake her unlawful companions. But, seeing no change in her, he began to think of marrying another woman, and, accordingly, did agree upon marriage with a maid belonging to New London, whose name was Mary Ransford. They thereupon agreed to go into the County Court and there declare their marriage; and accordingly they did so, he leading his bride by the hand into court, where the judges were sitting and a multitude of spectators present, and then desired the whole assembly to take notice that he took that woman to be his wife; his bride also assenting to what he said. Whereupon, the judge offered to marry them in their form, which John Rogers refused, telling him that he had once been married by their Authority, and by their Authority they had taken away his wife again and rendered him no reason why they did it. Upon which account, he looked at their form of marriage to be of no value, and therefore would be married by their form no more, etc. And from the court he went to the Governor’s house with his bride, and declared their marriage to the Governor,[12] who seemed to like it well enough, and wished them much joy, which is a usual compliment.
And thus having given a true and impartial relation of the manner of his marriage to his second wife, which I doubt not but every unprejudiced person will judge to be as authentic as any marriage that was ever made in Connecticut Colony, in the next place, I shall proceed to inform the reader in what manner he came to be deprived of this his second wife; for, after they had lived together about three years and had had two children, the court had up John Roger’s wife and charged her with fornication, for having her last child, pretending no other reason than that the marriage was not lawful; and thereupon called her Mary Ransford, after her maiden name. And then vehemently urged her to give her oath who was the father of her child, which they charged to be by fornication, her husband standing by her in court, with the child in his arms, strictly commanding her not to take the oath, for these three following reasons:—
First, because it was contrary to Christ’s command, Matt. v, 34, “But I say unto you, swear not at all,” etc.
A second reason was because it was a vain oath, inasmuch as they had been married so publickly, and then lived together three years after, and that he himself did not deny his child, nor did any person doubt who was the father of the child, etc.
A third reason was, he told her, they laid a snare for her, and wanted her oath to prove their charge, which was that the child was by fornication; so that her swearing would be that he was the father of that child by fornication, and so it would not only be a reproach to him and the child, but also a false oath, forasmuch as the child was not by fornication.
For these reasons, he forbid her taking the oath, but bid her tell the court that her husband was the father of that child in his arms. He also told her in the court that if she would be ruled by him, he would defend her from any damage. But if she would join with the court against him, by being a witness that the child was by fornication, he should scruple to own her any more as a wife.
But the court continuing to urge her to take the oath, promising her favor if she took it, and threatening her with severity if she refused to take it, at length she declared she would not be ruled by John Rogers, but would accept of the court’s favor, and so took the oath; and the favor which the court granted her was to pass the following sentence:—
New London, at a County Court, the 15th of September, 1702.
Mary Ransford of New London, being presented by the grandjurymen to this court, for having a child by fornication, which was born in March last, and she being now brought before this court to answer for the same, being examined who was the father of her child, she said John Rogers senior of New London, to which she made oath, the said Rogers being present.
The court having considered her offense, sentence her, for the same, to pay unto the County Treasurer forty shillings money, or to be whipt ten stripes on the naked body. She is allowed till the last of November to pay the fine.
A true copy of the Record, as far as it respects the said Mary Ransford, her examination and fine.
Test. John Picket, Clerk.
And now the poor woman found that by her oath she had proved her child illegitimate, and thereby denied her marriage, and that her husband dare not own her as a wife; for I think that no woman can be said to be a wife (though ever so lawfully married) if she turn so much against her husband as not only to disobey his most strict commands, but also to prove by her oath that his children are by fornication, as it was in this case. She was also greatly terrified on account of her whipping, to avoid which she some time after made her escape out of the Government, to a remote Island in Rhode Island Government, called Block Island; and in about eight years after she had thus been driven from her husband she was married to one Robert Jones, upon said Island, with whom she still lives in that Government.
Whereupon, John Rogers again lived single twelve years, which was four years after she was married to Robert Jones, and then he made suit to one Sarah Coles of Oyster Bay, on Long Island, a widow, and by reason of the many false reports which had spread about the Country, as if he had turned away his second wife, etc., he offered the woman to carry her to Block Island, where she might know the truth of the matter, by discoursing with the woman herself, as well as the Authority and neighbors, which accordingly he did; by which means she was so well satisfied that she proposed to be married before they came off; and accordingly was married, by Justice Ray.
There are other scandalous stories quoted nearly verbatim from Pratt’s book by Trumbull, which neither space, nor the patience of the reader, nor delicacy permits us to repeat, all of which have been completely refuted by John Rogers, 2d, in his “Reply” to the same.
We will presently entertain the reader with Pratt’s poetical effort deriding baptism by immersion, concerning which John Rogers, 2d, replies. It should be remembered that Peter Pratt was the son of John Roger’s first wife, by her second husband, and was much at the house of John Rogers, Sr., on visits to his half brother, John, 2d. He was baptized (viz., rebaptized by immersion) by Rogers, and even suffered imprisonment, at one time, with other Rogerenes, but apostatized under persecution and returned to the Congregational church, from which, after the death of Rogers, he threw at him those poisonous shafts of which the reader has seen some specimens.
Here follow Pratt’s verses, quoted in “Reply” of John Rogers, 2d:—
And now as to his songs and other verses, I shall be very brief, only mentioning some of the gross blasphemies which they contain, not doubting that all sober Christians, together with myself, will abhor such profaneness as may be seen in page 36, and is as follows:—
That sacramental bond,
By which my soul was tied
To Christ in baptism, I cast off
And basely vilified.
I suffered to be washed
As Satan instituted,
My body, so my soul thereby,
Became the more polluted.
I suppose he intends by that sacramental bond by which he says his soul was tied to Christ, that non-scriptural practice of sprinkling a little water out of a basin on his face in his unregenerate state. Now the scriptures abundantly show us that the Spirit of God is the bond by which God’s children are sealed or united to him; as Eph. i, 13, Eph. iv, 3 and 30, John iii, 24. Thus it plainly appears it is the Spirit of God that is the bond by which God’s children are united to Christ, and not by sprinkling a little elementary water on their faces, as Peter Pratt has ignorantly and blasphemously asserted.
Whereas he says he suffered his body to be washed as Satan instituted, I suppose he intends