William Chenault Rodgers (1820-1860)

My Maternal 2nd Great Grandfather, married Martha Ann Wingo (1798-1867)

William Chenault Rodgers (1820-1860), the son of Edmund Rodgers Rodgers and Mary Phillips, was born in Tennessee. William made his living as a merchant. He  married Martha Ann Wingo in the mid-1840s and they had three children. According to family legend he suffered from debilitating depression and on April 8, 1860 at the age of 40, he neatly folded all is clothes by the side of a river, walked into the water and drowned.  The official cause of death on the death certificate was drowning but those close to him were convinced it was a suicide. 

[Photo: William Chenault Rodgers and Martha Ann Wingo]

Their first child Edmund Rutter “Ed” was born in Feliciana Kentucky in 1848, married Susan Amanda Simmons, fathered four children and  made his living as a dry goods merchant, a grocer and later in  life as a rancher with 500 cattle in Texas. 

Their second child William Chenault Jr. was born in 1854, married Mary Catherine “Kate” Ray, fathered seven children and owned a water powered grist mill. I was stunned to come across a newspaper article which reported that William Jr committed suicide in 1912.  Since depression is an inherited trait it adds credence to the family’s claim that his father’s death was also a suicide. 

William Chenault Rodgers Jr and wife Mary Catherine Ray

William Chenault Rodgers Sr and Martha Ann Wingo’s third child, Charles W. Rodgers is my great grandfather. One of his children, Rosa Judson Rodgers, is my grandmother.  Their stories are told in separate blogs.

After her husband died, Martha Ann Wingo married a second time to a wealthy farmer, Jefferson Alexander. It was his third marriage. She outlived him and married a third time to James Nixon Hunter, a farm manager 17 years older than she was,  who allegedly spent all of her money. She outlived James as well and moved in with her son Charles. Martha died in 1912.