Tombstone Tuesday - Rogers' Plot Riverview Cemetery Trenton, NJ

Dr. Elmer H. Rogers 

Born 10 Nov 1858 Bucks County, PA

Died 11 Apr 1907 Mercer County, NJ

Mary Olivia (Bowers) Rogers

Born Jul 1864 Maryland

Died 10 Apr 1934 Mercer County, NJ

I was very happy when I discovered the burial place for my husband's great-grandfather Dr. Elmer H. Rogers.  I also discovered at the same time that his great-grandmother, Elmer's wife, Mary Olivia (Bowers) Rogers was buried at the same cemetery.  I set both of them up in Find-A-Grave and requested pictures of the headstones.  The picture you see is what I received.  The person who took the picture is also the cemetery historian - Riverview Cemetery is a very old, large cemetery with over 14,000 burial sites.  He pulled the lot card for Dr. Rogers and reported to me that there were five burials in his plot and supplied the death years for the additional burials, Dr. Elmer Rogers, his wife Olivia, their son Ellerslie (1895), daughter Helen (1897) and daughter Olivia R. (1940).  I already knew about Ellerslie having discovered his death in an old newspaper, but did not know where he was buried so was excited about this find.  Helen, I did not know about, as she was born about 1892 and died in 1897 so was never shown in any census, that I had previously found.  I did go back and find a small obituary in an old edition of the Trenton Evening Times and then later found her listed in the 1895 New Jersey State Census.  I was able to find daughter Olivia's obituary in Trenton Evening times - she died in 17 Jan 1940 at age 42 of a heart attack.

Sadly, Elmer is the only one whose name is etched on the stone.  There are no smaller stones for his children.  The cemetery historian told me that the lots were purchased with "annual care" and have been in arrears since 1934 which would be the year Mrs. Rogers died.  For the small fee of $2479 the lots could be placed in "perpetual care" and the names of the remaining family etched on the stone.  Evidently, even though Dr. Rogers was quite wealthy at the time of his death, he did not prepare for this circumstance.  It saddens me that there are no markers for the other members of this family.  I'll just add this to my list of things to buy when I win the lottery!