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1907 Past and Present Biographies

William Rogan

From the pioneer period in the development of Greene county, William Rogan has resided within its borders. Driving a mule team across the country, bringing with him his family and his few possessions, he arrived in the year 1875 and resolutely entered upon the task of breaking raw prairie and transforming it into a good farm. He has since carried on general farming and has gained a measure of success that makes him one of the substantial agriculturists of the community.

Mr. Rogan was born in Ireland in the year 1835 and spent the first thirteen years of his life in that country, after which he crossed the Atlantic alone to Boston. He had heard favorable reports concerning America and her opportunities and a venturesome spirit and a desire to enjoy the better advantages of the new world led him to leave the old world for the new. He worked in Boston for a time, later in Wisconsin and subsequently in Pennsylvania. That he had led a life of diligence and of economy was now proven by the fact that while in Pennsylvania he was able to invest in eighty acres of land, which he cultivated for a time. Later, however, he disposed of that property and removed to Illinois, where he made his home until coming to Iowa, in 1875. As stated the journey was made with a mule team, and on reaching Greene county he invested his capital in eighty acres of land on section 8, Willow township, buying this of the railroad. It was raw prairie, not a furrow having been turned or an improvement made upon the place, but he at once set to work to change all this. He built a small house, in which the family lived for some time, when it was replaced by his present residence. He has also put up barns and other necessary outbuildings and has set out all of the shade and fruit trees, which add so much to the value and pleasing appearance of the place.

Mr. Rogan has continuously resided upon this farm, covering a period of nearly a third of a century, and has followed general agricultural pursuits and stock-raising. He keeps good grades of stock and derives a good yearly income from their sales, while his fields produce good crops as a reward for the care and cultivation bestowed upon them. As he has prospered and his financial resources have increased, Mr. Rogan has doubled his original holdings and is now the owner of one hundred and sixty acres on section 3, Willow township. Great changes have occurred in the county as well as in the appearance of his property, for at the time of his arrival there were only four houses between his place and Scranton and much of the land was unbroken. Now the county has become settled with a contented and prosperous people, the wild land has been reclaimed for cultivation and the work of civilization has been carried forward until now in its possibilities and opportunities Greene ranks with the leading counties of this great commonwealth. Mr. Rogan has borne his full share in the work of public progress, co-operating in many movements for the public good. In politics, however, he is independent and neither seeks nor desires the honors and emoluments of public oflice.

While in Illinois, in 1872, Mr. Rogan was united in marriage to Miss Lydia Cutter, a native of Virginia, and they now have three children: Mrs. Maggie Harmonson; and Charles and Lizzie, at home. Mr. Rogan had been married previously, his first wife having been Catherine Trigg, anative of England, whom he wedded in 1862 and who died in 1866. There was one son by that marriage - William Rogan, now living in Nebraska.

Mr. Rogan has now passed the Psalmist’s allotted span of three score years and ten, having attained the age of seventy-two, but is still a hale, hearty and active man, giving general supervision to his farm and its further development. His life has been an industrious one, and the little lad of thirteen years who came alone to America across the great water is now a substantial farmer, deriving his income from a good property, which is the visible evidence of his thrift and diligence. He has worked hard, but labor always brings its reward and such has been the case with William Rogan.

Transcribed from "Past and Present of Greene County, Iowa Together With Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Prominent and Leading Citizens and Illustrious Dead,"
by E. B. Stillman assisted by an Advisory Board consisting of Paul E. Stillman, Gillum S. Toliver,
Benjamin F. Osborn, Mahlon Head, P. A. Smith and Lee B. Kinsey, Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1907.

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