Rodgers, Elijah & Zipporah Ann Horton

Tim’s 2nd-great-grandfather, Elijah Rodgers, son of Jacob & Mahala (Bedford) Rodgers, was born 4 October 1834 in Guysborough, Nova Scotia, and died 19 June 1925 in Provincetown, Massachusetts. He married 15 December 1863 in Toby Cove, Nova Scotia, Zipporah Ann Horton, who was born 22 February 1838 in Cook’s Cove, Nova Scotia, and died 6 March 1920 in Provincetown, daughter of Charles & Eliza (Hanley) Horton.

Elijah was a fisherman and Zipporah was a homemaker. In the spring of 1873 Elijah may have been part of the rescue efforts to assist the passengers of the shipwrecked RMS Atlantic, which ran onto rocks off the coast of Nova Scotia.

Quite remarkably, Zipporah was 50 years old when she gave birth to her last child. A couple of years later, c. 1891, the couple and their younger children emigrated from Nova Scotia to Cape Cod, joining Elijah’s younger brother Neadom, who had arrived in Provincetown many years earlier, in 1858. Their oldest son George had already joined his uncle Neadom in 1883. Elijah & Zipporah resided at 72B Commercial Street in Provincetown. No. 72B Commercial St. is actually located on Rodgers Court (now Ericsson Ave.), a grassy lane between Commercial St. and Tremont St.

In the summer of 1911, Elijah & Zipporah survived a deadly heatwave that killed more than 2,000 people in the northeastern states.

Elijah & Zipporah lie buried together, along with their son Charles, and with their daughter-in-law Adelaide (Williams) Rodgers, wife of their son Neadom, in Gifford Cemetery in Provincetown. Elijah died of heart disease.

Elijah & Zipporah were the parents of eight children, all born in Guysborough:

1. Alice Rodgers, born c. 1864, died 2 July 1870, age 6. Buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Guysborough, next to her grandmother, Mahala (Bedford) Rodgers.

2. George Lincoln Rodgers (Tim’s great-grandfather), born 1 January 1865, died 16 July 1939 in Fall River, Massachusetts. He married (as his first wife) 18 February 1891 in Provincetown, his first cousin, Mary Jane Rodgers (Tim’s great-grandmother), who was born 7 June 1867 in Boston, Massachusetts, and died 10 July 1916 in Somerville, Massachusetts, daughter of Neadom & Hanorah (O’Brien) Rodgers.
George married (as his second wife) c. 1918, Mary Etta (Cushing) Simmons, who was born about c. 1867, and died 21 January 1938, daughter of John Walter & Deborah (Sampson) Cushing and widow of Mark L. Simmons. George lies buried with his second wife and her first husband in Mayflower Cemetery in Duxbury, Massachusetts.

3. Harvey Rodgers, born 24 November 1872, died 16 November 1952 in Port Madison, Washington. He married 24 November 1914 in Seattle, Washington, Bertha Nyman, who was born c. 1874 in California, and died 31 May 1945 in Seabold, Washington, daughter of Frank & Elizabeth (O’Rourke) Nyman.

4. Charles Edward Rodgers, born 12 November 1873, died 6 May 1893 in Provincetown, age 19.

5. Capt. Neadom Oscar Rodgers, born 20 January 1876, died c. 1953 in Provincetown. He married (as his first wife) 8 October 1908 in Provincetown, Adelaide Williams, who was born there 20 September 1875, and died there 24 October 1918, daughter of John & Marian (Campbell) Williams. Addie died of pneumonia, probably a victim of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic.
Neadom married (as his second wife and as her second husband) 11 December 1923 in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, his brother’s widow, Lillian Udavilla (Stanley) Rodgers, who was born 23 January 1885 in Grand Manan, New Brunswick, and died 18 September 1979 in Provincetown, daughter of Job and Catherine (—) Stanley, and widow of William Rodgers.

The following is from the Building Provincetown 2020 website, 72B Commercial Street, by David W. Dunlap

From 1995 to 2018, the old Nickerson compound on either side of Ericsson Avenue was under the common ownership of Robert E. McCamant and John W. “Jack” Croucher, residents of 72 Commercial Street. This lot, No. 72B, includes a sweet little three-quarter Cape. The property was owned for many years by the Rodgers family, who may have given their name to Rodgers Court, as Ericsson Avenue used to be called.

Capt. Neadom Oscar Rodgers (1875-1953), a native of Guysborough, Nova Scotia, who skippered Cormorant in the early 20th century and then worked for Atlantic Coast Fisheries, lived here for much of his life. His first wife was Adelaide A. “Addie” (Williams) Rodgers (1875-1918), whose death at 43 of bronchopneumonia was “deeply deplored by the people of Provincetown,” The Advocate said. His second wife, Lillian Udavilla (Stanley) Rodgers (1885-1979), was the widow of Neadom’s brother, William Rodgers (1878-1920). Neadom and Lillian were wed in 1923. She was active in the Centenary Methodist Church, welcoming the Girls’ Choir, the Choir Mothers, and the Willing Workers groups to this house. Lillian’s daughter Louise (1912-1934) shared this home with Neadon, who was both her uncle and step-father. She died at 22 of lung cancer.

Steven M. Ballerini and his husband, Colin K. Bohrer, of San Francisco, bought 72B Commercial Street in 2018 from McCamant and Croucher. The next year, they began a “restoration to bring her back to her former glory,” in Ballerini’s words. He said their guides through the process were John Dowd, of 112 Commercial Street, and John Derian, of 396 Commercial Street — both of whom have applied a respectfully light touch to the restorations of their respective Provincetown homes, leaving many of the historical quirks and charms in place.

An especially important feature at 72B Commercial is a beehive bread oven in the main fireplace, which suggests that the house was constructed in the mid-18th century. (Ballerini believes it may have been built in 1748.) The only other beehive ovens I know of in Provincetown are at the “Oldest House,” 72 Commercial Street, and in the former Martin House at 157 Commercial Street.

6. William Wallace Rodgers, born 14 December 1878, died 13 January 1920 in Provincetown. He married (as his first wife) 24 January 1900 in Provincetown, Lizzie Ellsworth Newcomb, who was born there 5 November 1883, and died before 1906, daughter of John O. & Christina (McKinnon) Newcomb.
William married (as his second wife and as her first husband) Lillian Udavilla Stanley, who was born 23 January 1885 in Grand Manan, New Brunswick, and died 18 September 1979 in Provincetown, daughter of Job & Catherine (—) Stanley.

7. Edna Elizabeth Rodgers, born 5 November 1884, died 15 October 1967 in Provincetown. She married 22 November 1904 in Provincetown, Samuel Thomas Rich, who was born there 6 September 1882, and died 2 August 1979 in Hyannis, Massachusetts, son of Caleb & Julia Ann (Freeman) Rich.

8. Osela Charles Rodgers, born 20 June 1888, died 20 June 1968 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He married 22 August 1917 in Portland, Maine, Sylvia Frymire, who was born 8 July 1894 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and died in January 1983 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Last Revised: 21 August 2026