JOSEPH BLACKBURN ROGERS

JOSEPH BLACKBURN ROGERS, the Fifteenth Pastor of the Green River Baptist Church, served from January, 1896, through January, 1897. He was a direct descendant of Charter Members Jonathan Rogers (1781-1844) and Elizabeth (Ray) Rogers (1782-1862), his paternal great-grandparents. His paternal grandparents were: Joseph Blackburn Rogers (1811-1864) and Mary Ellen (Milton) Rogers (1818-1871). His parents were: James Milton Rogers (b. February 18, 1842 - d. June 21, 1914) and Josephine (Taylor) Rogers (b. August 16, 1843 - d. May 24, 1917). They are both buried in the Fordsville Cemetery, Ohio County, Kentucky. His father served in Company H, 3rd Regiment, Kentucky State Militia, during the Civil War. 

Brother Rogers was born on September 6th, 1867 in Cromwell, Ohio County, Kentucky, and died in Chicago, Illinois, on March 22, 1934. He married Alzien Barnett on April 9, 1890 in Ohio COunty, Kentucky. She had been born in Ohio County, Kentucky, on July 2, 1871, and died on December 6, 1951 in Champaign, Illinois. She was the daughter of Robert Emmet Barnett and Amanda Malvia (Phipps) Barnett. They became the parents of four children, as follows: Jo Barnett Rogers (b. July 19, 1891 - d. March 4, 1919); Katherine Rogers (b. December 18, 1892 in Hartford, Kentucky); Ruth Rogers; and Alexander Rogers (b. October 6th, 1899). Brother Rogers probably became a Christian by 1890 and united by Christian Experience and Believer's Immersion with the Hartford Baptist Church. By that Church he was licensed to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ in October, 1895. On January 15-16, 1896, at the request of the Mt. Zion Church he was ordained to the Gospel Ministry by the Hartford Church. He began serving immediately, on a quarter-time basis, the Mt. Zion, Hartford, Green River and Slaty Creek Churches. He later served the Salem Church, in Butler County. The other Churches were in Ohio County. In the latter part of 1897 he moved to Moweaqua, Illinois, where he was still active in 1900, according to Lasher's "Baptist Ministerial Directory." He seems to have spent the remainder of his earthly life in Illinois.

A Sesquicentennial History of the Green River Missionary Baptist Church 1836 - 1986, Written and Compiled by Wendell Holmes Rone, Sr., For the One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Founding of the Church, 1987.