George M. Rogers

Quick Facts

Significance:

Boston Vigilance Committee member, businessowner, landlord

Place of Birth:

Newburyport, Massachusetts

Date of Birth:

November 23, 1819

Place of Death:

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Date of Death:

June 9, 1889

Place of Burial:

Boston, Massachusetts

Cemetery Name:

Mount Hope Cemetery

A prosperous businessowner and landlord in Boston, George M. Rogers served as a member of the 1850 Boston Vigilance Committee.

Born in Newburyport, Massachusetts in 1819, George M. Rogers ran furniture stores in the heart of Boston’s North End.¹ While running his business, Rogers publicly supported the antislavery cause and frequently donated to organizations such as the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, New England Anti-Slavery Convention, and the American Anti-Slavery Society.²

In 1850, Rogers joined other Bostonians at Faneuil Hall to form the third and final Boston Vigilance Committee. Founded in the wake of the new federal Fugitive Slave Law, the organization dedicated itself to assisting freedom seekers escaping slavery on the Underground Railroad. While Rogers attended the meeting and served as a member of the committee, any of his direct contributions remain unknown.³

In 1855, Rogers married Lucy Stebbins in a ceremony officiated by Theodore Parker.⁴ As Rogers became a successful businessman, he and his wife continued to financially support the abolitionist cause.⁵ Rogers also acquired significant property in Boston and ran tenement houses.⁶ Eventually, Rogers moved to nearby Cambridge, where he ultimately died on June 9, 1889. His remains are interred in the Mount Hope Cemetery in Boston.⁷

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Footnotes

1. “George M. Rogers,” Ancestry.com. North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016, North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000 - Ancestry.com; “Furniture and Feather Store” The Liberator, October 29, 1858, 4; “George M. Rogers,” Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch, 1850 United States Federal Census - Ancestry.com
2. “Cash received at the N.E. Anti-Slavery Convention,” The Liberator, June 6, 1845, 3; “Roll of Members and Delegates,” The Liberator, May 29, 1840, 2; The Liberator, February 1, 1839, 3; “Pledges To the Mass. A.S. Society,” The Liberator, February 6, 1852, 3; “Collections by Finance Committee, at N.E. Convention, May 1858,” The Liberator, June 18, 1858, 3; “Collections,” The Liberator, February 17, 1865, 3; “Receipts into the Treasury of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Soc.,” The Liberator, May 17, 1839, 3.
3. Rogers is mapped at his location on the Vigilance Committee Broadside, 2 Salem Street. The Liberator, October 18, 1850, 3; “Fugitive Slave Meeting,” Boston Evening Transcript, October 15, 1850, 3; The Boston Directory, (Boston: Sampson and Murdoch Co., 1850), 282; "Members of the Committee of Vigilance," broadside printed by John Wilson, 1850, Massachusetts Historical Society.
4. “Married,” New England Farmer, July 28, 1855, 3.
5. “Subscription List,” The Liberator, February 18, 1859, 2.; “Subscription List,” The Liberator, February 19, 1864, 3; “Subscription List,” The Liberator, February 14, 1862, 4.
6. “To Let,” Boston Evening Transcript, June 23, 1863, 1.
7. “Cambridge,” Boston Globe, June 12, 1889, 2.