Where is Robert Rogers Buried?

A History Mystery
Where is Robert Rogers Buried?

Multi-Shelf Fungus
Signed Original $195

Robert Rogers was born to James and Mary McFatridge Rogers. He was one of five brothers three of whom are believed to have served under him as Rangers. James, Richard and possibly John all were Rangers during the period when Rogers' name was made.

Richard died of smallpox, James returned to the family farm after the war and John vanished into obscurity. Brother Samuel seems to have been the homebody among them, not venturing into miliary service but remaining with the family.

When Robert Rogers died in London on May 18, 1795 he was a pauper - likely as a result of a descent into alcoholism in his later years. Just what happened to his remains is a matter of some dispute and speculation. Some writings about Rogers claim he was buried in a pauper's grave in London that was destroyed by German bombing raids during World War II and later made into a park.

However, the romantic legend about Roger's final resting place is far more interesting - and quite possibly even provable.

In what is now the town of Bow in the Dunbarton Cemetary, and just across the street from where their childhood home stood, lay the remains of Robert Rogers' older brother, Samuel, in a grave marked with his name. Not far from Samuels grave is a shallow, unmarked grave according to Frank Nastasi, an amateur historian and Rogers aficionado. Nastasi has been to the Dunbarton Cemetary on two separate occasions in early 2000 and 2003. Employing a ground-penetrating radar, Nastasi found an unmarked grave, 3-1/2 feet deep, in the cemetery.

Some say that members of the Rogers family spirited the last remains of Robert Rogers back to New Hampshire and, in the dead of night, laid him to rest for eternity in the state he had loved.

The Colors of Livermore, Livermore Falls

Image signed and dated by the Artist

Open Edition, unsigned