| Sources |
- [S74] Atchley Funeral Home Records, Volume IV, 1987-1999, Larry D. Fox, (Smoky Mountain Historical Society), 9 Jul 1989.
Estalena Rogers Brabson obituary
- [S118] History of early Sevier County Doctors , Beulah Linn, (www.sevierlibrary.org/genealogy/doc/doc.htm).
Dr. Rogers was born in Blount County, son of William Benjamin and Rebecca McClanahan Rogers. He graduated from Harrison Chilhowee Academy, and the Normal School, which was located between Seymour and Knoxville. He taught school at Harrison Chilhowee between sessions at medical school. He was an avid sports fan and played both baseball and football. He and Rule Newman were Sevier County High School's first football coaches.
In 1907, Dr. Rogers graduated from the Knoxville College of Medicine, the forerunner of the University Tennessee Medical School, first organized in Knoxville and later moved to Memphis. He delivered his first baby in the slums of Knoxville near the Old Knoxville General Hospital. After World War I, he took a post graduate course at Toulon University in New Orleans to catch up on the new procedures learned during the war.
His first practice was at Isolate. Cumberland County, Tennessee, as doctor for a coal 1910). He moved to Blount County and was a charter member of the Blount County Medical Association. He stayed in Blount County until 1912 when he setup practice in Sevier County. His first office was above the old Lawson Drug Store across from the Courthouse. Later he moved to offices in the old First National Bank Building on the corner of Court and Bruce. He owned the first stethoscope in Sevierville, kept a human skeleton (Mr. Bones) in his office, and had an ultra violet ray machine, said to be good for arthritis.
Dr. Rogers had typhoid as a young man, so he did not believe in starving a fever. He gave his patients small amounts of high calorie foods which were easily digested with striking results.
During the small pox epidemic in Sevierville, he kept a raincoat in his car to put on before visiting his patients. He worked many, many hours during the flu epidemic during World War I. Calomel, iodine, and soda pills were standard medicines of the time.
Dr. Rogers rode horseback, or in a buggy to make house calls before he got his Ford Runabout. He always kept one or more horses in the barn. His riding horse was always called "Dandy" regardless of its name before he got it.
Dr. Z. D. Massey, a neighbor, heard one of the children "cropping" with diphtheria from two doors away and came over to see about them since Dr. Rogers was away on an O. B. case He called Knoxville for the vaccine and Dr. Oliver brought it upon the train and the child survived. Dr. Massey also sat up with Dr. Rogers a few weeks before his death, and before he left the next morning, said, "John Wright, you might live longer than I do!"-and he did- eleven days longer.
Dr. Rogers served as Worshipful Master of Mountain Star Lodge S & AM, and was Worth Patron of the OES. He died with cancer of the esophagus after being treated at Mayo's any St. Thomas in Nashville. He is buried in the Ellejoy Cemetery in Blount County.
He married Eliza Estalena Bowers, daughter of Joseph Elbert and Elizabeth Sing Bower: They had six children: Elizabeth Rogers King; William Bowers Rogers; Estalena Roger Brabson; Joseph Wright Rogers; Harold Vincent Rogers; Margaret Rogers Baldwin.
Information furnished by Elizabeth Rogers King.
- [S101] 1880 Census, District 13, Blount County, Tennessee, 195B.
- [S87] Death Certificate.
Name: John Wright Rodgers
Event: Death
Event Date: 21 Aug 1923
Event Place: Sevierville, Sevier, Tennessee
Gender: Male
Marital Status: Married
Race or Color: White
Age: 51
Estimated Birth Year:
Birth Date: 27 Jul 1872
Birthplace: Tenn.
Spouse:
Father: W. B. Rodgers
Father's Birthplace: Tenn.
Mother: Rebecca Mcclanahan
Mother's Birthplace: Tenn.
Occupation: Practicing Physician
Street Address:
Residence:
Cemetery:
Burial Place: Ellejoy
Burial Date: 24 Aug 1923
Informant:
Additional Relatives:
Digital Folder Number: 4183079
Image Number: 758
Film Number: 1299763
Volume/Page/Certificate Number: v 48 cn 323
- [S58] Marriage Certificate.
Groom's Name: William B. Rogers
Groom's Birth Date:
Groom's Birthplace:
Groom's Age:
Bride's Name: Rebecca C. Mcclanahan
Bride's Birth Date:
Bride's Birthplace:
Bride's Age:
Marriage Date: 23 Jul 1871
Marriage Place: Blount County, Tennessee
Groom's Father's Name:
Groom's Mother's Name:
Bride's Father's Name:
Bride's Mother's Name:
Groom's Race:
Groom's Marital Status:
Groom's Previous Wife's Name:
Bride's Race:
Bride's Marital Status:
Bride's Previous Husband's Name:
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: M71006-1
System Origin: Tennessee-EASy
Source Film Number: 888847
Reference Number: Vol 2 p 19
|
Search | Advanced Search
1872 - 1923 (51 years)
: Address
: Location
: City/Town
: County/Shire
: State/Province
: Country
: Not Set
= Link to Google Maps