Stanislaus
County
Biographies
CAROLINE ROGERS DeYOE
The subject of this sketch, who is
one of the representative women of California, came to the state in June,
1855. She was born Caroline Cotton in
Schoharie County, New York, April 16, 1832, a daughter of Sir John Cotton. The latter was born in Columbia County, New
York, January 26, 1788, and his father, the grandfather of Mrs. DeYoe, was a native of Germany, who after living some years
in England immigrated to New York where his descendants were prominent in the
Dutch Reformed Church. Sir John Cotton
married Miss Maria Bame, also a native of Columbia
County, New York, where they began their married life favorably, and Mr. Cotton
lived to be seventy-three years old. A
lady and gentleman of the highest respectability, they exerted an influence for
good upon all with whom they associated during their long and useful lives and
were especially helpful to the Dutch Reformed Church. Mrs. Cotton, who lived to the advanced age of
eighty-four years, bore her husband ten children and three of their daughters
are living, the eldest near Hudson, New York, aged eighty-three years.
Mrs. DeYoe
was educated in her native county, finishing her studies at a ladies’ seminary
at North Chatham. She was married April
7, 1850, to Stephen Rogers, who was born in Saratoga County, New York, August
20, 1822, a son of Platt Rogers, whose pilgrim ancestor landed at Plymouth
Rock. In 1853 Mr. Rogers came to California, by way of the Isthmus of Panama,
pulling a boat up the Chagres River and crossing the land on a mule. He mined half a day and made a “bit,” as he
was fond of saying, and then turned his attention to farming and the Calaveras
River near Stockton. After he began to
attain a little permanent success he several times asked her to join him, but
her parents opposed her making the journey and prevailed upon her to remain
with them for a time. At last he sent to
her by a friend a letter which led her to override her parents’ objections and
she came to California, by way of Panama, bringing with her their little son, Stimpson P. Rogers.
She visited her parents frequently as long as they lived, making the
journey by way of the Isthmus five times and later crossing the continent
several times by rail.
Mr. Rogers prospered so well that it
was not long before they owned one thousand acres of land on the Calaveras
River. He became prominent as a sheep
and cattle raiser and gave such careful attention to his stock that in one dry
season, when sheep were perishing all around him; he looked after eleven
thousand sheep and saved them all. As he
prospered he added to his landed possessions, acquiring in addition to the land
already mentioned, seventeen hundred and fifty acres
in Stanislaus County. He had two good
residences on his home ranch and one hundred and ten acres of it was planted in
fruit, and he had a vineyard of ten thousand grapevines. Late in life he moved to Modesto, where he
died in 1888. He took a deep interest in
everything pertaining to the welfare of the town, was helpful to the cause of
education and was one of the organizers of, and until his death, a stockholder
in the First National Bank of Modesto.
In politics he was a staunch Republican, but declined the many offices
offered him.
Stimpson
P. Rogers, a son of Stephen and Caroline (Cotton) Rogers, became one of the
most prominent businessmen of Stanislaus County and died in his thirty-fifth
year, deeply regretted by all who had known him, for his honest, upright
character and many lovable traits attracted the friendship of all whom he met. He built the first brick block at Modesto and
the first stone sidewalk and was prominently identified with numerous public
improvements and, until his untimely death, was a stockholder in and cashier of
the First National Bank. His little son
and only child, Stephen Roy Rogers, died in the sixth year of his age, leaving
his grandmother bereft of all relatives in California, and she erected to the
memory of the boy and his father a costly and handsome water fountain at the
central point in Modesto.
For six years after the death of her
husband, Mrs. Rogers lived a sad and lonely life. On April 25, 1894, she married Nathan Emory DeYoe a furniture merchant and prominent resident of
Modesto, and after their marriage they visited her relatives and his in the
east. Mrs. DeYoe
has proved herself a true friend to Modesto and has advanced its interests in
every way possible. She was prominent in
founding the Roger’s Ladies’ Library Association, which has a library of nearly
one thousand volumes, and to which additions are frequently made. She formerly owned five thousand acres of
land on the Coast Range, thirty-two miles east of Modesto, but has sold it and
is in receipt of one hundred dollars per month interest on deferred payments on
account of it. She has built one of the
handsomest residences in the city and her home is widely known as one of
refinement and elegant hospitality.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
“A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of Northern
California”, Pages 131-132. Chicago Standard Genealogical Publishing Co. 1901.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.