DATE SUBMITTED BY:
10/23/2009

 

 Phyllis

It takes a ranch to host Rogers family reunion

By HARLAN OSBORNE,
ARGUS-COURIER COLUMNIST

Keeping close and staying in touch with everyone can pose a problem for those families who’ve outgrown the dining room table, the add-on family room, or the spacious back yard, which was one of the obstacles facing cousins Phyllis Sharrow, Lauren Bettinelli, and 10 additional cousins who formed the committee planning the recent Rogers family reunion.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Rogers name you might recognize some of their relatives whose surnames include Dolcini, Gallagher, McIsaac, Bettinelli and Cheda. If those don’t ring a bell it’s probable some of the other 60-plus family names who attended the gathering would.

They’re all ancestors of James Henry Rogers and his wife, Elizabeth. Rogers was the only child of Nicasio Valley settlers George and Mary Rogers, and his wife was the daughter of Nicasio pioneer dairyman and prominent land owner William Redding. James and “Lizzie” Rogers, who married in 1890, were the parents of 12 children, six boys and six girls, and have a lineage of 434 descendents both living and deceased. Those 12 children are known collectively as “The Twelve” to the four generations that have followed.

“They were the closest family we’ve ever seen. All the brothers and sisters would pitch in to help each other, then they’d party hard afterward,” recalled Sharrow, the daughter of the youngest of the 12 offspring, Clarence “Jiggs” Rogers, who was raised, along with her brother, Fredric, on her parents’ Nicasio ranch. “The Twelve” are all gone now, but their tradition of togetherness is still being fulfilled by their descendents with periodic family reunions, the most recent of which was held in a wooded glen on the Chileno Valley ranch of Leroy Dolcini.

Over time, many of the family members retained their agrarian heritage while others branched off into a wide range of careers, including teachers, a pharmacist, a thoracic surgeon, a high school football coach, a funeral director, an insurance agent, many farm-related occupations and one or two descendents who’ve “just disappeared.” They were widely known in this area since all but one of the original 12 families considered Petaluma their town to live, shop, or do business in.

Lauren Bettinelli, whose mother, Loretta, was the Rogers’ 10th born child, contributed considerable expertise to the committee, having helped plan a similar reunion for the Bettinelli clan several years ago. A former elementary school teacher who retired after 31 years at Cherry Valley School, Lauren lived on a Point Reyes dairy ranch before his parents moved to Petaluma, where his father, Laurence, worked at Pacific Guano and Kresky Manufacturing, and his mother taught at Lincoln Primary and McNear School.

“We had such a fun time doing the planning. It became hard to stay focused on topics, we kept drifting,” said Sharrow. Fortunately, another cousin, Sandy Hall, kept scrupulous notes of all the meetings. To keep it simple, they planned to barbecue chicken and hot dogs, with everyone obliged to bring a side dish and beverages of choice. On the day of the event the food was bountiful. Three tables were set up just for the salads, which included that reliable standby of older generations, green and orange Jello. Darlene Dolcini Lafranchi brought “pots and pots” of home-cooked beans and others brought homemade pies and cakes.

A chart of the extensive Rogers family tree was on display along with poster boards affixed with numerous family photographs. Everyone wore name tags, which had the number corresponding with which of “The Twelve” they had descended from, and greeters helped familiarize newcomers with each other. Of the nearly 300 attendees, the eldest was Dorothy Rogers Hall, 82, and the youngest was McKenzie Mann, just two months old. Unbridled energy abounded, with more than 60 children under the age of 12 rambling about. At the end of the celebration, the leftover food was thoughtfully wrapped and donated to the Petaluma Kitchen.

(Harlan Osborne’s column, Toolin’ Around Town, appears every two weeks. Contact him at harlan@sonic.net)

 
November 2009 Lauren
  • This is from Loretta's writings about her mother: Elizabeth Redding Rogers.  "She worked very hard, was a good cook.  I still remember her desserts yet.  This is a little story about her.  I came home from school one night and she was sewing on the sewing machine and sitting on my dad's and brothers' overalls.  I asked why she was sitting on them and she said I'm pressing them.  She was a very heavy person and certainly could press them."  My favorite recipe of hers was Taft Cake (have recipe). 
  • And, about her Father, James Henry Rogers.  "My father was a very stern and strict man.  He was boss.  He also played with us whenever he had time.  I remember picking blackberries then rubbing them all over our faces.  He was good company.  He rode horses.  Drove a very wild horse named Don, hitched up to a cart, and sometimes walking down to Nicasio to have drinks and taking us sometime."
  • "I remember being a teenager, buying my own clothes.  My favorite age was 22 because I got to drive the car.  I had my first kiss when I was 24 and began dating at 22 and had my first real boyfriend at the age of 22, and the one I married."
     
October 2009 Lauren
  • Grandpa Rogers was very strict.  When they finally moved to Seventh Street in Petaluma, only the younger ones lived at home and went to St. Vincent's School.  At a certain time at night, he locked the front door.  Anyone who wasn't in at the time got locked out.  So if one of the kids was going to be late, another one had to wait up for them to let them in the front door.  Can't you imagine the sisters, Loretta and Elinore laughing and having fun while waiting up for each other, or for Clarence?
June 2009 Lauren
  • Grandma Rogers, Elizabeth Rogers, for many years was a midwife and delivered many babies in the Nicasio Valley.
May 2009 Phyllis
  • Did you know that Elizabeth Redding's given name was Bridget Elizabeth Redding?  She thought Bridget was too lace-curtain Irish and reversed the names. Shanty Irish" was used to describe the poorest of the poor Irish immigrants, the kind who ended up in shantytown (the origin of the word "shanty" is not known, but it might come from the Irish "sean tí", meaning "old house").  "Lace-curtain Irish" could be as poor as the Shanty Irish but they had notions of being more respectable.  They were called that because they would put up lace curtains for appearance's sake, even in a shantytown.  Thus the term is far from being a compliment.

  • My father was named Rafael Clarence Rogers because he was born in San Rafael and the only one of the 12 born in a hospital.  He, too, reversed his name and went by Clarence Rafael Rogers.  He was also known as Jiggs because he loved the comics Bringing up Father with Maggie and Jiggs.  I remember Dad reading the funny books to Fred at bedtime.  No classics for him, just comics and funny papers.

The comic strip humor centers around Irishman Jiggs, who comes into wealth in the United States.  Even so, he still wants to keep his old pals, eat corned beef and cabbage (sometimes called Jiggs' dinner) and hang out at the tavern, much to the consternation of his social climbing wife Maggie and daughter Nora.  (see sample comic strip below).