Biographical Database of NAWSA Suffragists, 1890-1920
Biography of Mrs. Margaret K. Rogers, 1840-1929.
By Leslie Gildart, retired attorney and legal editor.
Minneapolis Suffrage Activist; Executive Board Member, Minnesota Woman Suffrage Association; Presenter of Welcome Address at the 1902 Annual Convention of the Minnesota Woman Suffrage Association
Margaret K. Rogers was born Margaret K. Vernon in Bourbon, Kentucky on June 10, 1840. In June 1857, she married William Edward Rogers, also of Bourbon, Kentucky. By 1870, she and her husband resided in Versailles, Kentucky and had six children. They remained there until at least 1880.
The 1893 Report of the National American Woman Suffrage Association lists a donation from Mrs. Margaret K. Rogers, who was living in St. Paul, Minnesota, and the 1900 federal census confirms that by then, she, her husband, and two of their children were living in St. Paul. According to census data, she had given birth to eight children total, only four of whom were alive as of 1900.
In 1902, at the Annual State Suffrage Convention in Saint Paul, Mrs. Margaret K. Rogers gave the welcome address. That convention featured speakers from around the world, including including Vida Jane Goldstein, an Australian suffrage reformer, who advocated for equal rights, equal pay, equal suffrage, and raising the age of consent.
Margaret K. Rogers served from between four and ten years on the Minnesota Woman Suffrage Association Board of Directors.
She died in Minnesota on February 15, 1929 and was buried in Georgetown, Kentucky.
Sources:
Harper, Ida Husted, The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume VI (1922) [LINK to MN state report]
The Minneapolis Journal, Saturday, May 31, 1902, page 5.
ABC.AU News, "Who Was Vida Goldstein" (updated 12 Aug. 2014) http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-12/vida-goldstein-biography/5593204
Ancestry.com. U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.
Ancestry.com. Kentucky, Marriage Records, 1852-1914 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.
Original data: Kentucky. Kentucky Birth, Marriage and Death Records - Microfilm (1852-1910). Microfilm rolls #994027-994058. Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, Frankfort, Kentucky.
Year: 1870; Census Place: Versailles, Woodford, Kentucky; Roll: M593_504; Page: 551B; Family History Library Film: 552003
Year: 1880; Census Place: Versailles, Woodford, Kentucky; Roll: 446; Page: 388B; Enumeration District: 003
Proceedings of the Twenty-fifth Annual Convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, held in Washington, D.C., January 16, 17, 18, 19, 1893
Author:
Harriet Taylor Upton; National American Woman Suffrage Association. Convention; National American Woman Suffrage Association Collection (Library of Congress); Susan B. Anthony Collection (Library of Congress)
Publisher:
Washington, D.C. : The Association, 1893
Year: 1910; Census Place: St Paul Ward 5, Ramsey, Minnesota; Roll: T624_717; Page: 13A; Enumeration District: 0062; FHL microfilm: 1374730
Census Date: 1895, Ancestry.com. Minnesota, Territorial and State Censuses, 1849-1905 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.
Census Date: 1905, Ancestry.com. Minnesota, Territorial and State Censuses, 1849-1905 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.