Richard Saltonstall Rogers (January 13, 1790 – June 11, 1873) was an early American shipping merchant and was possibly the inspiration for a character in

Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (né Hathorne; July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associat ...

's ''

The Scarlet Letter ''The Scarlet Letter: A Romance'' is a historical novel by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne, published in 1850. Set in the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony during the years 1642 to 1649, the novel tells the story of Hester Prynne, who concei ...

''.

Early life

Rogers was born on January 13, 1790, in

Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, located on the North Shore (Massachusetts), North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem was one ...

. He was a son of Abigail ( Dodge) Rogers and Nathaniel Rogers. He was educated at

Phillips Exeter Academy Phillips Exeter Academy (often called Exeter or PEA) is an Independent school, independent, co-educational, college-preparatory school in Exeter, New Hampshire. Established in 1781, it is America's sixth-oldest boarding school and educates an es ...

, from which he graduated in the year 1800. As a young man, he began to deal in business. Using the influence of his oldest brother, Nathaniel Leverett Rogers, who married the daughter of a prominent businessman in Salem, he acquired large amounts of cargo to be shipped to Russia. He spent several years in Russia, and dealt with the management of the affairs of his sister-in-law's family.

Career

In 1816, he served as the supercargo of the ship ''Friendship'', owned by Waite and Pierce, his sister-in-law's father's company. He traveled to

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, and

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

, India, along with several other destinations. Following his time on the ''Friendship'', he embarked on one journey upon the ''Tartar''. He then partnered with Nathaniel Rogers and his second oldest brother, John Wittingham Rogers, to form the Rogers Brothers company. Their company employed the ships the ''Tybee'', ''Clay'', ''Grotius'', ''Augustus'', ''Quill'', and ''Charles Daggett''. The brothers pioneered the

Zanzibar Zanzibar is a Tanzanian archipelago off the coast of East Africa. It is located in the Indian Ocean, and consists of many small Island, islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, referred to informally as Zanzibar) and Pemba Island. ...

and New Holland trades, and had their ships collectively travel over 120 times around

Cape Horn Cape Horn (, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which is Águila Islet), Cape Horn marks the nor ...

and

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( ) is a rocky headland on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A List of common misconceptions#Geography, common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Afri ...

. Later in life, he served as supercargo on the ship the ''Ianthe'', and worked with his brother-in-law, W.D. Pickman.

Political career

Rogers was, at certain points of his life, a member of the Common Council of Salem and the Legislature. He however disliked the methods of his colleagues. He was a Whig, and an enemy of the

Democratic-Republican The Democratic-Republican Party (also referred to by historians as the Republican Party or the Jeffersonian Republican Party), was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early 1790s. It championed l ...

, and was involved with Hawthorne's removal from the Boston Custom House. Hawthorne, in a letter to

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include the poems " Paul Revere's Ride", '' The Song of Hiawatha'', and '' Evangeline''. He was the first American to comp ...

, promised to "immolate" Rogers, along with several other political opponents, if he were successfully removed from his office. It has been suggested that Roger Chillingworth, a character in Hawthorne's novel ''

'', was based on Rogers.

Personal life

On May 14, 1822, Rogers married Sarah Crowninshield Rogers, daughter of

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

Jacob Crowninshield and Sally ( Gardner) Crowninshield. They had five sons and a daughter: * William Crowninshield Rogers (1823–1888), who married Mary Ingersoll Bowditch, daughter of Nathaniel Ingersoll Bowditch, in 1871. * Richard Denison Rogers (b. 1824), who married Martha Endicott Peabody in 1851. * Jacob Crowninshield Rogers (b. 1828), who married Elizabeth Putnam Peabody. * George Rogers, who died young. * Arthur Saltonstall Rogers (b. 1834), who married Annie Rodman Nichols in 1869. * Sarah Elizabeth Rogers, who died young. After her death in 1835, he married Elizabeth Leavitt Pickman Rogers, daughter of Massachusetts State Senator Dudley Leavitt Pickman, on March 17, 1847, with whom he had: * Dudley Pickering Rogers (1848–1873), who graduated from Harvard College in 1869; he died in New York City. * George Willoughby Rogers (b. 1850), a "man of leisure" who died of consumption in Salem; he married Josephine Frances Lord. * Elizabeth Pickman Rogers (b. 1853), who married Alfred John Pound, an English barrister. Rogers died on June 11, 1873, in Salem, at the age of 83. He is buried at Harmony Grove Cemetery in Salem.

Descendants

Through his daughter Elizabeth, he was the grandfather of Sir

Dudley Pound Admiral of the Fleet (Royal Navy), Admiral of the Fleet Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound (29 August 1877 – 21 October 1943) was a British senior officer of the Royal Navy. He served in the World War I, First World War as a battleship co ...

, a senior British Admiral during World War II.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, Richard Saltonstall 19th-century American merchants Businesspeople from Massachusetts People from Salem, Massachusetts The Scarlet Letter Massachusetts city council members Massachusetts Whigs Phillips Exeter Academy alumni 1790 births 1873 deaths Burials at Harmony Grove Cemetery 19th-century members of the Massachusetts General Court