Located "at the foot of the covered bridge"
Mills Samuel Rogers Was Involved With:
- c. 1810 - Built woolen mill, Dam, Sawmill in [Forksville] "at the forks of Loyalsock Creek"
- 1816 Mill washed away in flood
- 1817 Samuel & Jonathan built Woolen Factory in Muncy. Also a grist mill, plaster mill, and sawmill.
- 1826 fire destroyed the woolen mill. After the fire Jonathan and Samuel dissolved their partnership, Samuel bought out Jonathan's share, and Jonathan went back to Forksville where he built another woolen factory.
- 1827 Samuel built a new three story brick factory on Muncy Creek - it consisted of a corn, plaster, and sawmill, as well as a cloth factory.
- 1841 - Samuel moved to "Hightown Union County", where he managed the White Deer Woolen Mills
- 1845 White Deer Woolen Mills burned
- 1846 Samuel Moved to Briar Creek Columbia County where he leased a mill with his sons Richard & Jeremiah
- 1854 Samuel Retired and returned to his farm in Muncy. There his sons, Richard & Jeremiah, built a woolen mill in 1854. "Richards son's Geroge, Samuel and Judson continued that business through another generation of woolen mill workers."
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John Wesley Rogers and his wife, Anna with a huge cast iron pot from the dye factory in their lawn in Forksville
During the War of 1812 the Rogers brothers had lucrative government contracts to supply Kersey cloth for the army uniforms as previously noted. To expand on this story, it is reported that they had used several teams to transport their fabrics to Philadelphia and bring back raw material and merchandise–a six-weeks round trip. Brothers Richard and David were the chief teamsters and were on the road both winter and summer. They each had a heavy Conestoga wagon with a team of eight horses. There were few bridges on the creeks and rivers that had to be crossed and none at all on the Loyalsock. Between Hillsgrove and Forksville, a distance of nine miles, they had to ford the Loyalsock Creek 16 times. The horses were never blanketed and seldom enjoyed the luxury of a stable. We might assume that living conditions for Richard and David while on the road were not much better than that of their horses.
In 1816 the Rogers’ sawmill and factory were swept away by a ravaging flood of the Loyalsock Creek. This flood was so devastating that the only remnant ever found was a large dye kettle used for dyeing the blue Kersey cloth.
The Rogers of Forksville (from left): John W., Fred M., and William H. Rogers with dye kettle
It was discovered several months after the flood in a deep hole about a mile below the Forks which became known as the “Dye Kettle Hole.”
The old dye kettle itself was hauled by oxen teams to the new woolen factory below Forksville. Today it is housed at the Sullivan County Historical Museum in Laporte, Pennsylvania.
In 1817 Samuel and Jonathan bought property on Muncy Creek near the borough of Muncy in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania where the enterprising brothers built a frame building to house a new woolen factory. They also built a grist mill, plaster mill and sawmill all of which were operated in connection with the woolen mill.
In 1826 the woolen mill was destroyed by fire. After this disaster Samuel and Jonathan dissolved their business relations, and Samuel bought out Jonathan's interest. Jonathan returned to the Forks where he established another woolen factory that same year. He operated that factory until his death in 1830.
After the fire, Samuel immediately turned his attention to building an even larger, 3-story woolen factory on Muncy Creek, this time of brick. The Muncy Mills consisted of a corn, plaster and sawmill as well as the cloth factory. He was engaged in that operation from about 1827 until 1840.
Samuel suffered his most devastating loss on December 17, 1836 with the death of his wife, Mary. She had punctured her wrist with the tongue of a Jew’s harp. Although the wound itself was seemingly minor, it apparently became infected and resulted in her death.
In 1841 Samuel moved to Hightown in Union County, Pennsylvania where he managed and operated the White Deer Woolen Mills for about five years. A news clipping, dated September 27, 1845 from an unidentified newspaper, notes “a fire at Samuel Rogers woolen factory at the mouth of White Deer Creek totally consumed the factory. The machinery was insured by Lycoming County Mutual in the amount of $1800.” I can find no other record of this second fire, but the account in the newspaper is most likely correct and would account for Samuel’s move to Brier Creek, Columbia County, Pennsylvania in 1846.
There he leased a woolen mill with his sons, Richard G. and Jeremiah A., and continued the business for another eight years until his retirement in 1854. He returned to his farm at Carpenter’s Run in Muncy Township, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania where he owned 1800 acres of timberland on Bear Creek. At the east and south branch junction of this creek, Samuel’s sons, Richard and Jeremiah, built a woolen mill in 1854. Richard’s sons, George, Samuel and Judson, continued that business through another generation of woolen mill workers.
Although most of the literature review about Samuel deals with his woolen mill endeavors, there are also references that give us clues about his other interests and his personality. Several sources refer to him as a highly esteemed citizen. It was also noted that he was a close observer, thoughtful, kind-hearted, and possessed good judgment. He had a massive frame, but it was his social abilities that commanded respect and attention.
He was the originator and one of the first directors of the Lycoming Mutual Fire Insurance Company, an institution organized in 1840. In a few years it had developed into one of the foremost mutual fire insurance companies in the whole country. After Samuel’s personal experience with fire loss, it is hardly surprising that he would be the director of a fire insurance company.
Samuel Rogers, (assume this to be Samuel, Jr. rather than Samuel, Sr.) along with Powell Bird and a William King, played a major role in the establishment of the first school in Lycoming/Sullivan County. These three were district trustees in 1816 when widow Sarah Huckell conveyed a small plot of land at Forksville for a schoolhouse. A July 4th celebration was held by the local settlers to begin clearing the land, and the school was officially opened on December 1, 1816. Moses Rogers, Samuel's youngest brother at the age of 10, made biographical history as the bearer of water to the school construction workers.
Samuel was a member of the Baptist Church as were most of the other English families on the Loyalsock. He was one of the chief organizers of the First Baptist Church established at Muncy Creek. Although it appears he had been a Baptist all of his life, he was not baptized into the church until April 25, 1823 at the Rogers’ factory at Muncy. Samuel is credited with organizing the first Sunday School in the Muncy Valley and frequently served as moderator of the Northumberland Baptist Association.....
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" The Rogers Woolen Mill was built in 1810 near the abutment of the covered bridge at Forksville by Samuel Rogers. It may have employed ten men, and prospered during the war years (1812 to ‘14).
The delivery of the finished product, blue Kernsey cloth for the U.S. service uniforms, required six weeks by Conestoga wagon.
This plant was destroyed by a flood in 1816. A new mill was built two miles down the Sock in 1826, by Samuel and Jonathan Rogers and was sold the same year to John Ostler. This mill prospered during the war among the States and was operated intermittently until 1885.
Obsolete spindles, a loom and carding machines were still in place when the old building was torn down in 1916.
The only relic now left of this pioneer industry is an old dye kettle on the lawn of the Rogers home in Forksville. This kettle rolled nearly two miles down the Sock in the 1816 flood and for ten years rested in a deep hole, still known as the old dye kettle swimming hole. It was dragged from its muddy bed by oxen, for use in the second mill.
Most of the flax and wool used was grown locally." - From Sullivan County Industries
All that could be found after the flood was single log imbedded in the gravel of the creek. And, several months later, the dye kettle was found in a deep hole in the Loyalsock. It was pulled out by a team of oxen, and used as a flower pot at the Rogers home.
