Hezekiah “Izzie Carl” Rogers

Known in the Family as Izzie Carl

Most records call him Hezekiah Rogers, but within the family another name survived — Izzie Carl.

Great Aunt Mary remembered him by that name, and years after his death a Powell Circuit Court record referred to Rutha’s deceased husband as “Izzie Rogers.” Together, family memory and the old court paper preserve something more personal than the formal name found in census books and legal records.

Rooted in the Kentucky Hills

Hezekiah grew up in a large farming family in Estill County, Kentucky, the son of Hezekiah and Rebecca Rogers.

In 1880 he was still a boy in his parents’ household, surrounded by brothers and sisters. By 1900 he was a young man working as a farm laborer. Farming remained part of his life after he married, and the records place him among the families who made their lives in the hills and creek country of Estill and Powell counties.

Hezekiah & Rutha

On April 24, 1901, Hezekiah Rogers married Rutha Bishop. Their marriage record described Hezekiah as a farmer born in Estill County.

Together they raised a growing family. In the 1910 census, Rutha reported that she had given birth to five children, with four still living. The identity of the child who had died has never been established.

Grandpa Rogers later remembered that a baby in the family had died, although by the time he told the story he could no longer remember the baby’s name or whether the child had been a boy or a girl. That memory may belong to the child reflected in the 1910 census, but the connection remains unproven.

Another child was born later. A newspaper notice records the birth of a baby girl to Mr. H. K. Rogers and Ruth Rogers on October 24, 1914.

A Memory That Survived

The Winter of 1918

The influenza epidemic of 1918 changed this family forever.

Rutha died during the epidemic. Family history says that Hezekiah died only a short time afterward, perhaps within a week or so. A death certificate for him has never been located, so his exact date of death remains unconfirmed.

The family cemetery stone also remembers another 1918 loss: their daughter Rhoda. The full story of those losses belongs partly to Rutha’s page as well, but it is clear that 1918 was a devastating year for this household.

What is certain is that their children were left without either parent.

Remembered at Wireman Cemetery

Hezekiah is also remembered on the Wireman Cemetery page, where both he and Rutha appear among the burials connected to this branch of the family. Their shared family stone bears the simple names still remembered by kin: Father Izzie, Mother Ruth, and Daughter Rhoda, all marked as having died in 1918.

The Children Left Behind

Years later, court records named the surviving Rogers children and documented Albert Rogers — Uncle Albert — as their legal guardian.

Legal guardianship did not necessarily mean that all of the children lived under Albert’s roof. Family memory tells that several were taken in by Ben Bishop, that Lila went to live with Creed Bishop, and that Benny is believed to have lived with Hezekiah’s brother Marcus D. Rogers.

That part of the family story is still being documented child by child, but it remains one of the most important pieces of what the epidemic cost this household.

Pieces of a Life

Hezekiah did not leave behind a long written biography. What remains are pieces: a boy in his parents’ farming household, a young man marrying Rutha Bishop, a farmer raising children in the Kentucky hills, a draft registration, an old family nickname, a remembered ride on horseback, a little boy carrying candy, a family stone at Wireman Cemetery, and court papers showing what became of the children after their parents were gone.

Those pieces may be scattered, but together they preserve the life of Hezekiah “Izzie Carl” Rogers.