Happy Birthday, Edmund!
Jennifer Moonsong
Central Division, General Manager
Jobe Publishing, Inc.
On May 5 it was Edmund Rogers 257th birthday. Edmund Rogers Is notably the most prominent of the early settlers who influence the history of Metcalfe County.
A revolutionary war soldier, a land surveyor and first cousin of General George Rogers Clark, Edmund was the founder of the county seat of Edmonton.
Rogers was born in Virginia in 1762 and came to Kentucky in 1783 to survey the land. In the spring of 1784 he started to survey the military district in Kentucky that way south of Green River including what is now known as Metcalfe County.
As the story goes Rogers felt that it was his fate that brought him to the place later named after him.
While serving Rogers fell into a creek while attempting to cross a log. He then went to the nearby home of John Shirley to seek help. While there he met Mary Shirley the daughter of John who he later married. The papers Rogers was carrying that day got wet and he returned to Pitman’s Station. On that trip he met a man with several warrants, and made an agreement with the stranger for the land named in the warrants, securing the land where Edmonton was later located.
That provincial journey is perhaps the cornerstones of what Edmonton has built on.
Jennifer Moonsong has been a journalist in South Central Kentucky for 12 years. She serves as the General Manager for the Metcalfe County and Monroe County, and is a regional features writer.
Edmund Rogers
