RODNEY ROGERS. 



395 



RODNEY, C^SAR (1728-1784), a signer of the 

 Declaration of Independence, was born at Dover, Dela- 

 ware, Oct. 7, 1728. From his grandfather, William 

 Rodney, an early settler of that State, he had inherited 

 a large estate. In 1 750 he was sheriff of Kent co. ; for 

 many years he was a member of the colonial assembly, 

 and its speaker from 1769 to 1774. Here he zealously 

 advocated a measure forbidding the importation of 

 slaves, which was negatived by only two votes. In 

 1765 he was sent as a delegate to the Stamp-act con- 

 gress at New York, and, on repeal of the obnoxious 

 act, was one of three commissioners appointed to pre- 

 pare an address of thanks to the king. When the tax 

 on tea was proposed in the British Parliament of 1767, 

 he was again one of three to frame an address to the 

 kin;;, in which resistance to oppression was foreshad- 

 owed. When the colonies entered into correspondence 

 regarding common defence, Rodney became president 

 of the Committee of Safety for Delaware. In 1774 

 popular meetings were held at Dover and Newcastle to 

 demand the assembling of a convention, whereupon he, 

 as speaker, summoned the representatives of the peo- 

 ple to meet at Newcastle Aug. 1 . Here he was made 

 chairman, and he was further sent as a delegate to the 

 Continental Congress of that year, where ne was on 

 the committee that drew upa statement of the colonies' 

 grievances and rights. In 1 775 he was re-elected to the 

 Congress, and made at first colonel, and then brigadier- 

 general, of the State militia. In 1776 he was con- 

 Btant]y employed in patriotic activities. Being warned 

 by friends, when the vote on the Declaration was immi- 

 nent, he rode with all speed to Philadelphia, and was 

 the nieans of casting Delaware's vote for independence. 

 Failing in re-election to Congress, he went directly to 

 Trenton, where Lord Stirling made him post-com- 

 mander, but soon left to join Washington at Morris- 

 town. Returning home in 1777, he suppressed an in- 

 surrection in Sussex, and, when the British advanced 

 into Delaware, he put himself at the head of some 

 militia and annoyed the enemy's flank, with the view 

 of cutting them off from their fleet. For his services 

 here he was promoted major-general. In December 

 he was re-elected to Congress, but did not take his 

 seat, owing to his having been, in the meantime, 

 chosen President of Delaware, a post he held for four 

 years. In 1782 and in 1783 he was re-elected to 

 Congress, but on both occasions declined, as he had 

 done re-election to the presidency of Delaware in 1782. 

 He had long suffered from cancer of the face, and died 

 from it at Dover, June 20, 1 784. 



His nephew, C^SAR AUGUSTUS (1772-1824), states- 

 man, was born at Dover, Delaware, Jan. 4, 1772. lie 

 graduated at the University of Pennsylvania, studied 

 law. was admitted to the bar in 1793, and practised in 

 Wilmington. From 1803 to 1807 he was a prominent 

 member of Congress, taking Jefferson's side, and from 

 1807 to 1811 he was U. S. attorney-general, under both 

 Jefferson and Madison. During the war of 1812 with 

 England he commanded an artillery corps which 

 served on the Canadian frontier. In 1817 he went to 

 South America as a member of the commission to re- 

 port upon the propriety of recognizing the newly 

 formed Spanish-American republics, which course he 

 strenuously advocated. In 1821 he returned to Con- 

 gress, and in 1822 was made U. S. senator. In 1823 

 Rodney was appointed minister to the Argentine 

 provinces, and while discharging the duties of this 

 position died at Buenos Ayres, June 10, 1824. With 

 I. Graham he published Reports on the United Prov- 

 ince* of South America {London, 1819). His memory 

 is still highly cherished in the Argentine Republic for 

 the excellent counsel and other aid which he rendered 

 at a critical time. 



ROE, EDWARD PAYSON (1838-1888), author, was 

 born at Windsor, N. Y., March 7, 1838. From his father 

 he inherited a taste for horticulture which clung to him 

 through life. He studied at Williams College with a 

 view to the ministry, and after a year at Auburn 



Theological Seminary became in 1862 chaplain of the 

 Second New York Cavalry, whence he was transferred 

 by Pres. Lincoln to the chaplaincy of Fortress Monroe 

 hospitals. After the war he accepted a call from the 

 Presbyterian church at Highland Fulls, and here 

 gathered materials for his Nature's Serial Story. In 

 1S74 lie removed to Cornwall-on-Hudson, and in this 

 beautiful retreat, surrounded by fruits and flowers, 

 most of his books were written. On the burning of 

 Chicago, in 1871, he felt irresistibly drawn to visit the 

 scene. Here, when sitting on the steps of Robert 

 Collyer's church, his first story, Barriers Burned 

 Away, began to take form in his niind. It had sn!e 

 of 69,000 copies, and, encouraged by the unforeseen 

 success, he now devoted himself to literature, and soon 

 realized an income larger than any otlier American 

 writer. His 16 works, mostly novels, have had a sale 

 of 750,000 copies. Among his best-known works of 

 fiction are: Opening of a Chestnut Burr; Near to 

 X'l/in-i's Heart; A Knif/ht of the XIX Century; 

 He Fell in Love icith his Wife. His horticultural pro- 

 ductions are : Culture of Small Fruits ; Steoeu with 

 Small Fruits; Plaji and Profit nf a Garden. On 

 July .9, -1888, he suddenly succumbed to neuralgia of 

 the heart. Roe was pre-eminently a writer for the 

 people, with whom he was in fullest sympathy, and 

 whom it was his aim to elevate as well as to please. 

 His style is simple, direct, and, though somewhat sen- 

 sational, ever permeated by a strong feeling of morality. 

 It has been said of him that he never wrote a line ha 

 could not preach. 



ROEBLING, WASHINGTON AUGUSTUS, engineer, 

 was born at Saxenburg, Pa., May 26, 1837. He is the 

 son of the famous bridge-builder, John Augustus 

 Iloebling (1806-1869), for whom see ENCYCLOPAEDIA 

 BRITANNICA. After graduating at Ilensselaer Poly- 

 technic Institute in 1857 he began work under his 

 father at Pittsburg. In 1861 he enlisted in a New 

 York artillery company and served in the Army of the 

 Potomac. He was appointed on the staff of Gen. Mc- 

 Dowell, and later on that of Gen. Pope, and engaged 

 as military engineer, bridge-builder, and aeronaut. 

 After rising to the rank of major in April, 1864, and 

 winning higher brevets, he resigned in January, 1865, 

 and resumed work with hi.s father, who was then en- 

 gaged on the railroad suspension bridge at Cincinnati. 

 Of these Washington soon took nearly entire charge 

 till its completion in 1867. In the next year he studied 

 in Europe the system of pneumatic caissons for founda- 

 tions, and on the death of his father, July 22, 1869, 

 hf was called to finish his plans for the construction 

 of the famous Brooklyn bridge. After a severe attack 

 of caisson fever in 1872, he endeavored, while still so 

 weak as to be unable to leave his room, to continue 

 his superintendence of the bridge, but was compelled 

 in 1873 to recruit his heakh by a visit to Europe. On 

 his return he resumed work and finally completed the 

 bridge in 1883. He has since been engaged chiefly in 

 conducting at Trenton, N. J., the wire manufactory 

 established by his father. 



ROGERS, CHARLES, Scotch author and antiquary, 

 was born at Dunino, Fife, Scotland. April 18, 1825. 

 He was educated at St. Andrews and was ordained in 

 the established church in 1846. He was chaplain of 

 Stirling Castle from 1855 until 1863, and succeeded in 

 arousing such national interest in behalf of that early 

 residence of Scotch kings that he was able to effect its 

 complete restoration and to erect monuments to Wal- 

 lace and the Bruce. He also induced Dean Ramsay to 

 take the lead in the movement for the erection of a 

 statue of Dr. Thomas Chalmers in Edinburgh. The 

 urbanization of the Royal Historical Society in 1865 

 in London was due to his efforts, and he was its secre- 

 tary until 1881. Much of his time has been devoted 

 to genealogical investigations. His principal works 

 are: Scotland Social and Domestic; Monuments and 

 Inscriptions in Scotland; A Century of Scottish Life; 

 JYaits and Stories of Scottish People. He also com- 



