Rogers, Jacob S., 1823?-1901

Jacob S. Rogers was born about 1823. He was the son of Thomas Rogers (1792-1856), the founder of the business which ultimately became the Rogers Locomotive & Machine Works at Paterson, N.J. He succeeded as head of the business after his father's death in 1856.

Around 1882 Rogers became president of the Southern Railroad Association. This was a holding company formed in the late 1860s to invest in and rehabilitate southern railroads. It was originally formed by Henry S. McComb, a speculator of Wilmington, Del., with some support from officials of the Pennsylvania Railroad. McComb planned to construct a trunk line between Cairo, Ill., and New Orleans, using the Mississippi Central Railroad as a nucleus, and the Southern Railroad Association operated this system under lease. McComb's operations failed in the depression of 1873-79, and his roads became part of the Illinois Central Railroad. The Rogers locomotive firm had sold over 35 locomotives to the Southern Railroad Association in return for its notes. McComb died in 1881, and as a major creditor, Rogers was apparently in charge of settling the accounts and winding up the Association's affairs.

Rogers was also deeply involved in the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company as a director and member of several committees. He served as interim president in May and June 1884. He died in New York on July 2, 1901, shortly after the closing of his locomotive works.