Richard Saltonstall Rogers
Richard Saltonstall Rogers was an early American shipping merchant and was possibly the inspiration for a character in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter.
Early life
Rogers was born on January 13, 1790, in Salem, Massachusetts. He was a son of Abigail Rogers and Nathaniel Rogers. He was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy, from which he graduated in the year 1800.As a young man, he began to deal in business. Using the influence of his oldest brother, Nathaniel Leverett Rogers, who married the daughter of a prominent businessman in Salem, he acquired large amounts of cargo to be shipped to Russia. He spent several years in Russia, and dealt with the management of the affairs of his sister-in-law's family.
Career
In 1816, he served as the supercargo of the ship Friendship, owned by Waite and Pierce, his sister-in-law's father's company. He traveled to Lisbon, Portugal, and Kolkata, India, along with several other destinations. Following his time on the Friendship, he embarked on one journey upon the Tartar. He then partnered with Nathaniel Rogers and his second oldest brother, John Wittingham Rogers, to form the Rogers Brothers company. Their company employed the ships the Tybee, Clay, Grotius, Augustus, Quill, and Charles Daggett. The brothers pioneered the Zanzibar and New Holland trades, and had their ships collectively travel over 120 times around Cape Horn and Cape of Good Hope. Later in life, he served as supercargo on the ship the Ianthe, and worked with his brother-in-law, W.D. Pickman.Political career
Rogers was, at certain points of his life, a member of the Common Council of Salem and the Legislature. He however disliked the methods of his colleagues. He was a Whig, and an enemy of the Democratic-Republican, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and was involved with Hawthorne's removal from the Boston Custom House. Hawthorne, in a letter to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, promised to "immolate" Rogers, along with several other political opponents, if he were successfully removed from his office. It has been suggested that Roger Chillingworth, a character in Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter, was based on Rogers.Personal life
On May 14, 1822, Rogers married Sarah Crowninshield Rogers, daughter of U.S. Representative Jacob Crowninshield and Sally Crowninshield. They had five sons and a daughter:- William Crowninshield Rogers, who married Mary Ingersoll Bowditch, daughter of Nathaniel Ingersoll Bowditch, in 1871.
- Richard Denison Rogers, who married Martha Endicott Peabody in 1851.
- Jacob Crowninshield Rogers, who married Elizabeth Putnam Peabody.
- George Rogers, who died young.
- Arthur Saltonstall Rogers, who married Annie Rodman Nichols in 1869.
- Sarah Elizabeth Rogers, who died young.
- Dudley Pickering Rogers, who graduated from Harvard College in 1869; he died in New York City.
- George Willoughby Rogers, a "man of leisure" who died of consumption in Salem; he married Josephine Frances Lord.
- Elizabeth Pickman Rogers, who married Alfred John Pound, an English barrister.