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Showing posts from December, 2022

Trivia Related to the James Roger Family

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Trivia Related to the James Roger Family By Kim Black, December 2022 While researching James and Hamish Roger, I stumbled upon a very interesting factoid.  The steamship SS State of Nebraska had carried some significant passengers by the time the Roger family made their way to America in 1897. Before we get to that, though, you might be interested in the origins and specs of the ship.  It was built in 1880 at Glasgow by London & Glasgow Co. for the State Line.  In 1891, it was taken over by the Allan Line of Liverpool, England.  The ship was 385.2 ft. from stem to stern and 43.3 ft. wide.  James and family boarded in Glasgow, picked up additional passengers in Moville, Ireland and disembarked at the Port of New York.  The State of Nebraska made many Trans-Atlantic trips before being decommissioned. SS State of Nebraska James Family on the Passenger List of the SS State of Nebraska Below is an image of the deck of the SS State of Nebraska.  This image gives a sense of how small the

Hamish Roger Biography

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WHO WAS HAMISH (HAY-mish)? By Kim Black, December 2022 HAMISH - the Anglicized form of Sheumais or Seumas. Seumas (SHEH-mes): The Scottish Gaelic form of James. Assuming our readers have been following the James Roger diary entries, they (you) are then well familiar with the name Hamish. James, almost daily, mentioned Hamish's comings and goings. Arguably, the Roger family vicariously satisfied any longing for adventure they may have had through Hamish. He came and went by way of the train that stopped in Greenville, regularly pursued various forms of available work, and moved around Massachusetts often due to job location(s) as well as dissatisfaction with his "digs". After a good deal of research, I strongly believe Hamish was the youngest son of James and Margaret Roger. When two family members share the same name in any given household, somebody is going to acquire a nickname. It appears the Roger family was no exception and young James became Hamish. As you