Rogerenes

The Rogerenes (also known as the Rogerene Quakers or Rogerines) were a religious sect founded in 1674 by John Rogers (1648–1721) in New London, Connecticut.^[1] Rogers was imprisoned and spent some years there. He was influenced by the Seventh Day Baptists and the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and opposed the established Puritan church.

Rogerenes initially held to a Seventh Day (Saturday) Sabbath, but over the years began to regard each day as equally holy. Their disdain for Sunday worship often brought them into sharp conflict with their neighbors. Increasingly, they adopted^[when?], a pacifist stance, including war tax resistance,^[2] which further brought them the ridicule of the larger community.

Some of the Rogerenes left Connecticut^[when?] and migrated to New Jersey. settling in parts of present-day Morris County. One such group settled in what is now the Landing section of Roxbury Township, New Jersey near Lake Rogerine, known as Mountain Pond in about 1700. Another, smaller group of Rogerenes in about 1734 settled on the eastern side of Schooley's Mountain near present-day Hackettstown, New Jersey.^[3]

After their conflict with the Congregational church waned and disappeared the Connecticut Rogerenes became active in the Abolitionist movement. They continued their anti-war stance by sponsoring peace rallies at an open-air site near Mystic that by the 1880s attracted thousands of attendees. The site is now known as the Peace Sanctuary. Because their progressive attitudes were increasingly mirrored in American society as it evolved from the 19th century into the 20th, the Rogerenes gradually disappeared as a distinct social and religious group.

References

1. Sachse, Julius Friedrich (1905). The German Sectarians of Pennsylvania. Printed for the author. p. 105.
2. Gross, David, ed. (2008). We Won't Pay!: A Tax Resistance Reader. pp. 74–75. ISBN 978-1-4348-9825-8.
3. Wolf, Theo F. (1914). "18". History of Morris County. Lewis Publishing Co.

Further reading

• Bolles, John R.; Williams, Anna B. (1904). The Rogerenes: Some Hitherto Unpublished Annals Belonging to the Colonial History of Connecticut (PDF). Boston: Stanhope Press.
• Lim, Susan (2008). "The Rise of the Rogerenes in Colonial New London". Connecticut History. 47 (2): 237–51. doi:10.2307/44369869. JSTOR 44369869. S2CID 254477673.
• Lim, Susan (2013). "Evangelization in Print: The Writings of the Rogerenes of New London, 1677-1721". Connecticut History. 51 (2): 234–250. doi:10.2307/44370138. JSTOR 44370138. S2CID 254478386.
• Schaefer, Patricia M. (23 December 2020). "The Rogerenes Leave Their Mark on Connecticut Society". Connecticut History. Connecticut Humanities. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
• Starr Brinton, Ellen (March 1943). "The Rogerenes". The New England Quarterly. 16 (1). The New England Quarterly, Inc.: 2–19. doi:10.2307/361127. JSTOR 361127.