[21]. “Secretary Bolles” is mentioned in the Biglow Papers. He wrote an “Essay on Usury and Usury Laws,” published by the Boston Chamber of Commerce, which led to the suspension of usury laws on short bills of exchange.
[22]. Obituary Notice of Elder Peter Rogers, by Rev. J. M. Peck, D.D., of Illinois. Published in the Minutes of the Pastoral Union for 1850.
[23]. Later a professor in Chicago University.
[24]. This young man reproduced, from a description given him by his grandmother, Mrs. Haven, the old John Rogers house, near which Mrs. Haven lived in her youth, and where she used to visit her aunt Elizabeth Rogers. (See the Genealogy entitled “James Rogers and His Descendants,” for the drawing by Mr. Thrall.)
[25]. Her daughter, Anna Hempstead Branch, is now well known as one of our young poets.
[26]. Not to be confounded with Bolles Hill where Joshua Bolles resided, which is a mile and a half from above location.
[27]. The parentage and native place of James Rogers remain undiscovered. He may, or may not, have been the James Rogers who came over in the Increase (Hotten). There were several of the same name and date in New England. There is a tradition in the New London family, which can be traced as far back as 1750, that James Rogers of New London was a grandson, or greatgrandson, of John Rogers the martyr. Up to this date (1904) no proof has been found to substantiate this claim. The same claim has been made by descendants of other first settlers of the name of Rogers, and their traditions are also proven to have been of early date. These long-standing and very persistent traditions may possibly be explained by some future discovery.
[28]. 1679—James Rogers sells Thos. Parker 50 A. of land that were granted James Rogers of N. London, by the Gen. Court, he being a Pequot soldier.—New London Land Records.
Also in “Memorial History of Hartford,” by J. Hammond Trumbull (pub. 1886), p. 81, is a chapter on the Pequot War, by Rev. Increase N. Tarbox, which names the men from Saybrook, viz. “John Underhill, Edward Pattison, James Rogers, Edward Lay, John Gallup and John Wood.”
[29]. An ancient mill built in 1728, on or very near the site of the first mill, is still standing (see “Hempstead Diary,” page 200). Less than fifty years ago, the cove was a beautiful sheet of water commencing just in front of the mill, separated from it by little more than the width of the winding street, and from thence stretching out in rippling, shining currents to the river. This cove has been so filled in of recent years that considerable imagination must be exercised to reproduce the ancient sweep of clear, blue water known as Winthrop’s Cove.