Fort Stanwix, Towanda Creek, and the Road to Ohio: The Journey of Zepheniah Roger

 

The story of the American Republic was written by men and women who cleared the wilderness with a felling axe, stood their ground against imperial armies, and continued pushing the frontier west until they reached the outer edges of the young nation. For the Rogers family, this two-century journey began in the earliest puritan outposts of Massachusetts and Connecticut, moved through the battlefields of the Revolutionary War, anchored for twenty-six years along Towanda Creek in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, and concluded in the fertile soil of Franklin County, Ohio.

Part 1: Comprehensive Genealogical & Historical Discoveries

Generation 1 & 2: The Massachusetts Birthplace & The Connecticut Shore

• Zepheniah Rogers (1747–1823): Born out of wedlock in Mendon, Worcester County, Massachusetts, on March 8, 1747 (recorded March 18 in town records), to Abigail Hayward (daughter of possibly Oliver and Abigail Hayward, but still unproven). Town records noted Abigail as a "transient person." Raised in the rugged New England interior, Zepheniah grew up with a timberman's self-reliance.
• Elizabeth Rood (1753–1838): Daughter of Isaac Rood and Elizabeth Ellsworth, she married Zepheniah on March 7, 1770, in Litchfield, Connecticut. She was the grand-niece of the prominent Ellsworth line of Windsor. Elizabeth braved every leg of her husband’s frontier journey—from Connecticut to Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, and finally Ohio—surviving him by fifteen years and drawing his hard-earned Continental pension until her death in Brown Township, Ohio, in 1838.

Generation 3: The Continental Line & Military Service

• First Enlistment (May 1776 – April 1777): Enlisted as a Private in Capt. William Satterlee’s Company, under Col. Samuel Elmore in the Connecticut Line. Deployed to the northern theater in upstate New York, his unit garrisoned key outposts along the Mohawk Valley, including Fort Stanwix (Fort Schuyler) and Johnstown, securing the western gateway against British forces and frontier raids.
• Second Enlistment (April 1777 – Sept/Oct 1777): Following his initial term, Zepheniah re-enlisted in Capt. Daniel Davis’s Company, continuing under Col. Elmore for another five to six months of active wartime service.

Generation 4: The Bradford County, Pennsylvania Pioneer (1796–1822)

After the war, Zepheniah and Elizabeth raised their family across a nomadic line of frontier settlements: Rupert, Vermont (1773); Torrington and Goshen, Connecticut; and Catskill and Blenheim, New York (1787–1794).

• The Towanda Creek Homestead: In 1796, Zepheniah migrated with his family to Canton Township, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, settling on Towanda Creek (later known as the Hubbell Manley farm).
• Pioneer Ingenuity: Upon arrival, the family lived in a raw 14x18-foot floorless log cabin. Zepheniah built a "one-legged bedstead"—a forked stick driven into the dirt floor with poles running to the wall logs, woven together with bark for bed-cord.
• The Tub-Mill: To process grain for himself and his neighbors, Zepheniah constructed a primitive "tub-mill" on his property. Utilizing local conglomerate stone from the nearby coal measures, he hand-dressed the millstones. The mill had a capacity of cracking 1.5 to 3 bushels of corn in a 24-hour run.
• The 1818 Pension & Schedule of Property: On May 9, 1818, Zepheniah applied for a pension under the Revolutionary War Veteran's Act, drawing $8 a month ($96/year). His court-filed schedule of property offers a window into late-frontier life in Bradford County:
• Land & Livestock: 77.5 acres of land (25 acres cleared out of forest), 10 sheep, 1 sow, and 4 shoats.
• The Pioneer Kitchen: 1 bread oven, 1 iron trammel, 1 iron pot, 4 kettles, 1 frying pan, 1 spider, 1 tea kettle, flat irons, old pewter (6 plates, 2 platters), 6 teacups and saucers, and 6 iron spoons.
• Craftsman & Household Tools: Carpenter tools, 1 old cross-cut saw, 1 lantern, 1 hoe, 1 big spinning wheel, 1 foot wheel, 3 chairs, a chest, a table, and an old silver watch.

Generation 5: The Final Ohio Migration & The Bailey Connection

• Rosemanty Rogers (1789–1843): Born in Catskill, New York, Rosemanty grew up on the Canton Township homestead in Pennsylvania. Around 1810, she married Smith Bailey (1789–1862), a veteran of the War of 1812 and son of Thomas Bailey and Esther Smith. Rosemanty and Smith carried the family line onward into Ohio in 1821, and ultimately into the Iowa Territory in 1845.
• The Final Westward Push (1822–1823): In 1822, after 26 years of building up his farm in Canton Township, the elderly Zepheniah—alongside his wife Elizabeth and grown children—packed up one last time to join his family on the Ohio frontier. Settling in Washington Township, Franklin County, Ohio, Zepheniah died the following year on October 7, 1823, at the age of 76.

             The Migration Trail of Zepheniah Rogers

             

 1747: Mendon, MASSACHUSETTS (Birth)

   │

 1770: Litchfield, CONNECTICUT (Marriage to Elizabeth Rood)

   │

 1776: Fort Stanwix & Johnstown, NEW YORK (Revolutionary War)

   │

 1787: Catskill & Blenheim, NEW YORK (Birth of Rosemanty & Irvine)

   │

 1796: Canton Twp., Bradford Co., PENNSYLVANIA (26 Years: Tub-Mill & Farm)

   │

 1822: Franklin County, OHIO (Final Homestead)

Part 2: The Standard of Fort Stanwix: Zepheniah Rogers and the Road to Ohio

The story of the American Republic is written in the footsteps of those who marched toward the sound of the war drums, and then kept right on marching toward the setting sun. For Zepheniah Rogers and Elizabeth Rood, that trail spanned three states, two wars, and thousands of miles of wilderness—a journey that transformed raw forest into farms, mills, and communities.

Zepheniah’s life began on March 8, 1747, in Mendon, Massachusetts, born to Abigail Hayward during a period of colonial expansion. Raised in the timbered backwoods of New England, he developed a sharp edge of self-reliance. By 1770, his search for land brought him to Litchfield, Connecticut, where he married Elizabeth Rood—a daughter of the pioneer Rood line and a descendant of the prominent Ellsworth family of Windsor.

When the fire of the American Revolution erupted in 1776, Zepheniah left his young family to answer the call of the Continental Congress. Enlisting as a private in Capt. William Satterlee’s company under Col. Samuel Elmore, he was marched into the perilous northern theater of New York. In the dense wilderness of the Mohawk Valley, Zepheniah stood watch at Fort Stanwix and Johnstown—vital outposts charged with holding the northern frontier against British regulars and border raids. For nearly eighteen months across two enlistments, he endured bitter weather, short rations, and constant alert, holding the northern gateway for the young nation.

With independence won, Zepheniah returned to his family, but the spirit of the frontier would not let them settle. After years spent in Vermont, Connecticut, and the Catskill Mountains of New York, Zepheniah loaded his family and meager possessions into a wagon in 1796 and headed south into the wild interior of northern Pennsylvania.

They settled along Towanda Creek in Canton Township, Bradford County, taking up raw land on what would become the Hubbell Manley farm. There, in a 14 x 18-foot floorless log cabin, Zepheniah built a bedstead out of a forked stick driven into the earth floor, strung with bark cords. To feed his family and neighbors, he built a primitive "tub-mill" from scratch, dressing coarse conglomerate stone from the mountain coal measures to grind corn—a bushel and a half a day—for the early settlers of the valley.

For twenty-six years, Zepheniah and Elizabeth labored in Canton Township. They cleared 25 acres of timber, raised sheep, spun wool on their foot wheels, and built a self-sufficient life. When Zepheniah applied for his veteran's pension in 1818, his court schedule recorded a life lived through honest work: carpenter tools, an old cross-cut saw, a bread oven, iron kettles, and a few cherished pewter plates.

Yet, even in his seventies, Zepheniah was not done moving. In 1822, leaving the Bradford County farm to his children, Zepheniah and Elizabeth made one final journey west, joining their daughter Rosemanty and son-in-law Smith Bailey on the fertile plains of Franklin County, Ohio.

When Zepheniah passed away in Washington Township on October 7, 1823, he was laid to rest in the soil he had helped win and cultivate. Elizabeth lived on for another fifteen years in Brown Township, drawing the pension earned by her husband’s musket at Fort Stanwix.

From a floorless cabin along Towanda Creek to the sunlit fields of Ohio, Zepheniah Rogers and Elizabeth Rood proved that the American frontier was built not by fortune, but by relentless grit, hard work, and unyielding endurance.

Clarification on Mayflower Claims

Genealogical Note: Caution regarding any Mayflower claims is well-founded. While some online trees attempt to link Abigail Hayward or Zepheniah Rogers to Thomas Rogers or John Alden of the Mayflower, there is currently no primary documentation (town, probate, or land records) proving a direct line from Zepheniah to a Mayflower passenger. His primary documented record begins with his birth in the Mendon, Massachusetts vital records as the son of Abigail Hayward.

Thank you Gemini AI for your wisdom and research assistance. -- Drifting Cowboy

Oliver Bailey (1738–1822): The Veteran of Two Empires

 

The story of early America is often told through grand political declarations, but it was forged by men who spent their youth in the heavy timber and high grass of raw battlefields. Our 6th great-grandfather, Oliver Bailey, was one of those rare colonial citizen-soldiers who bore arms in both epochal conflicts that defined North America: the French and Indian War and the American Revolutionary War.

From the blood-soaked abatis of French Fort Carillon to the desperate retreat across Long Island under George Washington, Oliver spent decades marching toward the sound of gunfire before laying down his musket to become a founding pioneer of Bradford County, Pennsylvania.

Part 1: Genealogical Overview & Timeline

• Born: June 25, 1738, in Haddam, Middlesex County, Connecticut.
• Died: October 14, 1822, in Granville Township, Bradford County, Pennsylvania (Aged 84).
• Military Legacy: Serviceman in the French and Indian War (1758, 1759, 1760) and Private in the Revolutionary War (1776).

Generational Military Lineage

Oliver established a tradition of service that carried through generations of our family tree:

• Oliver Bailey (1738–1822) — 6th Great-Grandfather: French and Indian War & American Revolution.
• Thomas Bailey (1765–1854) — Son: War of 1812.
• Smith Bailey (1789–1862) — Grandson: War of 1812 (Husband of Rosemanty Rogers).
• Orange Bailey (1811–1905) — Great-Grandson.
• David Solomon Bailey (1837–1915) — 2nd Great-Grandson: Union Soldier, Civil War.
• David Jackson Bailey (1865–1949) — 3rd Great-Grandson.
• Frank Jackson Bailey (1886–1968) — 4th Great-Grandson: Montana Militia, World War I.

Part 2: Fighting for the Crown — The French & Indian War (1758–1760)

As a young man in his twenties living in Haddam, Connecticut, Oliver entered provincial service to fight for the British Crown against the French and their Native allies in the wilderness of upper New York and Canada.

                  Oliver's French & Indian War Campaigns

                  

 1758: Fort Carillon (Ticonderoga) ──► 3rd CT Regiment (Col. Fitch)

   │   Bloodiest defeat; faced French entrenchments

   ▼

 1759: Fall of Ticonderoga ──────────► 1st CT Regiment (Maj. Gen. Lyman)

   │   British capture the fort under Gen. Amherst

   ▼

 1760: Montreal Campaign ────────────► 2nd CT Regiment (Col. Whiting)

   │   Served as Regimental Drummer; French surrender

1758: The Disaster at Fort Carillon

Enlisting in Capt. Jonathan Latimer’s Company of Col. Eleazar Fitch’s 3rd Connecticut Regiment, 20-year-old Oliver was marched north into the Lake George wilderness under British General James Abercrombie.

On July 8, 1758, Abercrombie ordered a frontal assault against French General Marquis de Montcalm’s heavily fortified position at Fort Carillon (later renamed Fort Ticonderoga). Without waiting for field artillery, thousands of British and Provincial troops charged into a maze of sharpened, fallen trees (abatis) under devastating volley fire. It became the bloodiest battle of the war, leaving over 2,000 British casualties.

A Family Twist on the Battlefield: In an incredible stroke of genealogical fate, while young Oliver Bailey was charging the logs at Carillon with the Connecticut provincials, another of our grandfathers—Michel Vielle (our 5th great-grandfather)—was stationed behind those very same log walls as a French soldier in the Régiment de la Reine. Two ancestors, fighting under different flags, facing each other across the smoke of the same timber barrier.

1759: The Capture of Ticonderoga

Determined to erase the 1758 defeat, Oliver re-entered service in 1759 with Maj. Gen. Phineas Lyman’s 1st Connecticut Regiment. Under General Sir Jeffery Amherst, the British army returned to Fort Carillon. Outmaneuvered, the French garrison blew up the powder magazine and retreated. Oliver and his unit helped occupy the fallen stronghold, officially renamed Fort Ticonderoga.

1760: The Montreal Campaign & The Fall of New France

By 1760, Oliver had earned the responsibilities of a Regimental Drummer in Capt. Ichabod Scranton’s 5th Company, Col. Nathan Whiting’s 2nd Connecticut Regiment. Drums were the tactical communications system of 18th-century armies, signaling assembly, marches, and battlefield orders.

Oliver beat the drums as part of General Amherst’s three-pronged convergence on Montreal. Surrounded by 18,000 British and provincial troops, the French civilian governor surrendered on September 8, 1760, ending French colonial rule in Canada and completing the conquest of New France.

Part 3: Fighting for the Republic — The Revolutionary War (1776)

Sixteen years after helping win North America for the British King, Oliver Bailey took up his musket again—this time to fight against the Crown.

                      1776 Revolutionary Campaign

                      

 June 1776: Enlists in Capt. Higgins' Co., Col. Douglas' 5th CT Battalion

   │

 August 1776: Battle of Long Island (Brooklyn Heights)

   │   Fought in largest battle of the war; survived Washington's retreat

   ▼

 October 1776: Battle of White Plains

       Fought British flank maneuvers in Westchester County, NY

In June 1776, as the Continental Congress prepared to sign the Declaration of Independence, 38-year-old Oliver enlisted as a Private in Capt. Cornelius Higgins’ 8th Company, within Col. William Douglas’s 5th Connecticut Battalion (Wadsworth’s Brigade). His unit was rushed directly to New York to reinforce General George Washington’s fledgling Continental Army.

The Battle of Long Island (August 27, 1776)

Oliver arrived in New York just in time for the largest land battle of the entire Revolutionary War. Holding positions on Long Island, Washington’s army was outmaneuvered when British General Howe landed 32,000 troops and flanked the American line through Jamaica Pass.

Oliver’s Connecticut battalion was thrust into the chaos of the retreat toward Brooklyn Heights. While the heroic stand of the "Maryland 400" bought time, Oliver and his comrades held the inner defensive lines until the night of August 29–30, when Washington executed a daring, silent evacuation across the East River into Manhattan under cover of fog—saving the army from total destruction.

The Battle of White Plains (October 28, 1776)

Driven north out of Manhattan, Washington’s army made a stand at White Plains in Westchester County. On October 28, Howe attacked the American high ground on Chatterton Hill. Oliver’s battalion engaged British and Hessian troops in heavy fighting before Washington ordered a tactical retreat further north into the highlands. Having served out his campaign season during one of the most perilous stretches of the war, Oliver returned home to Connecticut.

Part 4: The Bradford County Pioneer (1790s–1822)

Following the Revolution, Oliver joined the wave of Connecticut veterans seeking land in Pennsylvania's Northern Tier. In the late 1790s, he settled in Granville Township, Bradford County, Pennsylvania.

In the rugged hills along the Towanda Creek watershed, Oliver cleared land, built a homestead, and established his family as foundational pioneers of the county. He lived out his remaining years surrounded by children and grandchildren who would themselves answer the nation’s calls to duty in the War of 1812 and the Civil War.

Oliver Bailey passed away on October 14, 1822, at the age of 84. He was laid to rest in the soil of Granville Township—a veteran who had beaten the drum for the British Empire in the northern wilderness and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Washington's troops to birth a new republic.

Thank you to Gemini AI for your wisdom and research assistance. — Drifting Cowboy

Our Pond Family: The Anvil and the Canoe

 

The connection between our New England Pond family and the North West Company (NWC) founder Peter Pond is a fascinating study in contrast. Two branches split in early colonial New England: one stayed in Massachusetts, building the institutional bedrock of New England through carpentry, local government, militia service, and agriculture; the other drifted south into Connecticut, raising the eccentric, rough-hewn, fearless fur trader, mapmaker, and explorer who pushed past Lake Athabasca.

Historical Context & Genealogical Notes

1. The Winthrop Fleet Anchor: Robert Pond I (1592–1637)

• The Crossing: Robert Pond (our 10th great-grandfather), his wife Mary, and his brother John emigrated from Suffolk, England, aboard the Winthrop Fleet (1630), settling in Dorchester, Massachusetts.
• Governor Winthrop’s Letters: Historical letters between Governor John Winthrop and his son in England famously mention "old Pond" (William Pond back in Suffolk), asking him to tell the elder Pond that "both his sons are well and remember their duty."
• The Pioneer Homestead: Robert constructed a timber-framed homestead on Cottage Street in Dorchester that remarkably survived for over two centuries until it was taken down in 1873 to widen the road.

2. The Civic Builder: Lt. Daniel Pond (1627–1698)

• Dedham Leadership: Daniel was a foundational figure in Dedham, Massachusetts, serving 14 terms as a Town Selectman—part of an elite circle of town leaders who managed colonial finances, roads, and land distribution.
• Master Carpenter & Builder: Daniel performed major structural carpentry on the First Church and Parish in Dedham and personally hung the town’s very first church bell. He was also granted rights to build a new corn mill along Mother Brook, America's first man-made canal.
• Militia Lieutenant: He earned his rank as Lieutenant in the local militia during the turbulent era of King Philip's War (1675–1676).
• Notable Kinship Note: Through another line, Lt. Daniel Pond is also a direct ancestor of Oliver Ellsworth, Founding Father, signer of the U.S. Constitution, and third Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

3. Frontier Expansion: Wrentham & Medway (1650s–1740s)

• Ephraim Pond (1656–1704) (our 8th great-grandfather) and Samuel Pond (1695–1746): As Dedham grew crowded, these generations expanded into the newer outposts of Wrentham and Medway. They served as yeoman farmers, blacksmiths, and militia men, establishing land holdings that shielded eastern Massachusetts during the French and Indian Wars.
• The Merging of Lines: When Esther Pond (1723–1797) married Capt. Job Plimpton (1718–1797), the Pond line merged directly with your Plimpton line, passing down to Minute Man Job Plimpton Jr. (1746–1814) (our 5th great-grandfather).

Two Paths from a Single Root

                        Robert Pond I (1592–1637)

                        Winthrop Fleet Immigrant

                                   │

         ┌────────────────┴────────────┐

         ▼                                                   ▼

   Daniel Pond (1627–1698)                             Samuel Pond Sr. (1617–1654)

 (Selectman & Carpenter, Dedham MA)                   (Migrated to Windsor, CT)

         │                                                   │

   Ephraim Pond (1656–1704)                            Lt. Samuel Pond Jr. (1648–1718)

         │                                                   │

   Samuel Pond (1695–1746)                             Samuel Pond III (1679–1726)

         │                                                   │

   Esther Pond (1723–1797)                             Peter Pond Sr. (1718–1765)

   m. Capt. Job Plimpton                                     │

         │                                                   ▼

         ▼                                           Peter Pond (1740–1807)

   Job Plimpton Jr. (1746–1814)                   NWC Founder, Explorer & Cartographer

   (Revolutionary War Minute Man)

Wrap-Around Narrative: The Anvil and the Canoe

"To understand a nation, one must look at those who build its walls, and those who climb over them."

In the summer of 1630, as the eleven wooden ships of the Winthrop Fleet dropped anchor in Massachusetts Bay, Robert Pond stepped ashore into a wilderness. He brought with him the steady, methodical habits of Suffolk County, felling white pine in Dorchester to frame a house on Cottage Street. When Robert died in the colony’s raw first decade, he left behind a family rooted deeply in the soil of the Puritan enterprise.

From that single seed, the Pond family split into two distinct chapters of the North American story.

Down our direct line ran Lt. Daniel Pond. Daniel was a man of square timber, heavy iron, and public order. In Dedham, Massachusetts, it was Daniel who raised the frame of the meetinghouse and hoisted the town’s first brass bell into its belfry to call the community to Sabbath and arms. As a 14-term Selectman, he drew town boundaries, laid out millways along Mother Brook, and trained the militia company. His son Ephraim and grandson Samuel carried that same quiet, steady resilience into Wrentham and Medway—clearing fields, organizing parishes, and raising daughters like Esther Pond. When Esther married Capt. Job Plimpton, she bound the Pond line to the Minute Men who would stand on the green in April 1775. Our branch was the anvil of New England: civic, steadfast, law-abiding, and enduring.

But across the river systems of the continent, another branch was taking a very different shape.

While Daniel’s line was raising church bells in Norfolk County, his brother Samuel had moved west into Connecticut. Four generations later, out of that Connecticut branch, came a man who could not be contained by fences, parish books, or town selectmen: Peter Pond.

Drawn to the wild interior of North America, Peter Pond traded a quiet Connecticut life for a pair of moccasins and a paddle. He pushed far beyond the mapped edges of the British Empire, paddling through the Great Lakes, traversing the Methye Portage, and mapping the uncharted waters of Lake Athabasca. As a founder of the North West Company, Peter Pond mapped the waterways that Alexander Mackenzie would later follow to the Arctic and Pacific Oceans. He was violent, eccentric, brilliant, and utterly fearless—a true legend of the fur trade.

Yet both men—the Selectman in Dedham hanging a church bell, and the Nor'Wester in a birchbark canoe charting Lake Athabasca—drew their blood from the same English immigrant who crossed the Atlantic with John Winthrop in 1630.

One side built the towns; the other mapped the wilderness. Together, they represent the full, unfiltered spectrum of the early American experience.

Thank you Gemini AI for your wisdom and research assistance. -- Drifting Cowboy

Please visit my other blog (laprairie-voyageur-canoes) to learn more about our cousin Peter Pond…

Sunday, August 23, 2020

Peter Pond, Connecticut Yankee, Nor'Wester Founder, and Cartographer

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2020/08/peter-pond-connecticut-yankee-norwester.html

Sunday, April 12, 2026

Five Fur Traders. Five centuries of rivers. One family tree.

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2026/04/five-fur-traders-five-centuries-of.html