Nehemiah Rogers (1755-1848)
Merchant, of Rogers, Lambert & Co., New York City
Father
He was born at Fairfield, Connecticut. He went into business with his brothers (Fitch and Henry) in New York where prior to the Revolution they were successful merchants. He sided with the Loyalists and he and his brother, Fitch, fought as Captains in the DeLancey Brigade before being evacuated with the British Army. They were among the grantees of Saint John, New Brunswick, in 1783. He was one of its earliest Mayors and a Vestryman of Trinity Church. He re-established himself in business as Rogers & Aspinwall and in 1788 he was a Member of the House of Assembly.
In 1792, he returned to New York City and founded Rogers, Lambert & Co. with his nephew, David Rogers Lambert. They imported goods from Europe and the south, mainly cotton, turpentine, tar and provisions, doing "a very heavy business". He also helped to make up cargoes for the East India ships owned by his brother-in-law, Archibald Gracie. He owned interests in several vessels and was a director of the Bank of New York among others. By 1806, his success was evident in that he was one of only 15-people in New York who kept a carriage, joining others such as his brother Moses Rogers, his brother-in-law Archibald Gracie, Colonel Turnbull, Herman LeRoy, William Bayard etc.
From 1810 until his death in 1848, he lived at 4 Greenwich Street, New York. From 1801, he had lived at 19 Robinson (later renamed Park Place) which Colonel Turnbull offered to buy from him in exchange for his country house that sat on 20-acres. He refused the deal on account of the property being too far from the center of town and instead sold it for $17,000, which turned out to be an unwise move: Turnbull's country home was in what became Waverley Place and by the 1860s those twenty acres would have been worth millions. He was esteemed, "a courteous merchant of the old school... and did everything he could to promote his fellow man". He was a vestryman and warden of Trinity Church, New York, and an executor of the estate of Archibald Gracie. In 1786, he married Catherine Bell of Fredericton, New Brunswick, and they had six children, of whom only Henry and Caroline (Mrs John Crathorne Montgomery) married and only Henry had children.
In 1792, he returned to New York City and founded Rogers, Lambert & Co. with his nephew, David Rogers Lambert. They imported goods from Europe and the south, mainly cotton, turpentine, tar and provisions, doing "a very heavy business". He also helped to make up cargoes for the East India ships owned by his brother-in-law, Archibald Gracie. He owned interests in several vessels and was a director of the Bank of New York among others. By 1806, his success was evident in that he was one of only 15-people in New York who kept a carriage, joining others such as his brother Moses Rogers, his brother-in-law Archibald Gracie, Colonel Turnbull, Herman LeRoy, William Bayard etc.
From 1810 until his death in 1848, he lived at 4 Greenwich Street, New York. From 1801, he had lived at 19 Robinson (later renamed Park Place) which Colonel Turnbull offered to buy from him in exchange for his country house that sat on 20-acres. He refused the deal on account of the property being too far from the center of town and instead sold it for $17,000, which turned out to be an unwise move: Turnbull's country home was in what became Waverley Place and by the 1860s those twenty acres would have been worth millions. He was esteemed, "a courteous merchant of the old school... and did everything he could to promote his fellow man". He was a vestryman and warden of Trinity Church, New York, and an executor of the estate of Archibald Gracie. In 1786, he married Catherine Bell of Fredericton, New Brunswick, and they had six children, of whom only Henry and Caroline (Mrs John Crathorne Montgomery) married and only Henry had children.
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Contributed by Mark Meredith on 05/04/2020 and last updated on 16/09/2022.