Henry Huttleston Rogers - Youth and Education

Youth and Education

Henry Huttleston Rogers was born in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, on January 29, 1840. He was the son of Rowland Rogers, a former ship captain, bookkeeper, and grocer, and Mary Eldredge Huttleston Rogers. Both parents were of English descent and were descended from the Pilgrims who arrived in the 17th century aboard the Mayflower. His mother's family had earlier used the spelling "Huddleston" rather than "Huttleston." (Consequently, Henry Rogers' name is often misspelled.)

The family moved to nearby Fairhaven, Massachusetts, a fishing village across the Acushnet River from the great whaling port, New Bedford. Fairhaven is a small seaside town on the south coast of Massachusetts. It borders the Acushnet River to the west and Buzzards Bay to the south. Fairhaven was incorporated in 1812 and was already steeped in history when "Hen" Rogers was just a boy. Fort Phoenix is in Fairhaven. There, during the American Revolution, British troops once stormed the area. Also within sight of the fort, the first naval battle of the American Revolution took place on May 14, 1775.

In the mid 1850s, whaling was already an industry in decline in New England. The emergence of petroleum and later natural gas as a replacement fuel for lighting in the second half of the 19th century caused a much further decline.

Henry Rogers' father was one of the many men of New England who changed from a life on the sea to other work to provide for their families. As a teenager, "Hen" Rogers carried newspapers and he worked in his father's grocery store, making deliveries by wagon. He was only an average student, and was in the first graduating class of the local high school in 1857. Continuing to live with his parents, he hired on with the Fairhaven Branch Railroad, an early precursor of the Old Colony Railroad, as an expressman and brakeman, working for 3–4 years while carefully saving his earnings.