Martha Rogers Leaming Papers
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No requestable containers
Scope and Contents
This publication is a twenty-three page firsthand account of frontier and pioneer life in the middle and trans-Mississippi West. Written by Martha Rogers Leaming, A True Story provides a personal and historical perspective on early settlement experiences. Produced by a little-known press in a small northwest Louisiana town, the book appears to have been printed by a family member, suggesting a limited and possibly private circulation.
In addition to the text, the volume includes two photographs of the author's Roundtree family ancestors, which are laid in alongside genealogical notes. These materials contribute to the work’s value as both a personal memoir and a genealogical record, offering insight into the lineage and historical context of the Roundtree family.
Dates
- Creation: 1931 December
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Due to the nature of certain archival formats, including digital and audio-visual materials, access to certain materials may require additional advance notice.
Conditions Governing Use
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Biographical / Historical
Martha Caroline Rogers, was born on December 4, 1846, in Edmondson County, near Brownsville, Kentucky. While her father enslaved a single family, her grandfather, Jesse Roundtree, held one hundred people in bondage on his plantation estate. When Martha was three years old her parents moved to Missouri, traveling overland, accompanied by her grandparents, fifty of their one hundred slaves, and two other Kentucky families, the McClungs and the Braxtons. Her parents and grandparents settled in Lexington, Missouri, circa 1850 and then moved to nearby Warrensburg two years later.
About 1859, her father failed in business due to the negligence of his partner, sold everything to pay his debts, and resolved to start over in Austin, Texas. The family traveled overland through Missouri and Indian Territory and stopped at Round Rock, sixteen miles from Austin. Her father, after inspecting Round Rock, was severely disappointed in the place and decided to return home. On their return journey they were caught in a blizzard, a "Texas Norther." In 1860, the family stopped in Bentonville, Arkansas, for nearly a year. The author states that despite her family's close association with slavery, her parents were Union supporters who were "averse to slavery." Her father's anti-slavery views were anathema in Arkansas and the family returned to Warrensburg in November 1860. Once the war broke out, the family moved from Warrensburg to nearby Sedalia, where they would be under the protection of Union troops. Martha relates several of the stratagems employed by her mother to hide valuables and food from Bushwhackers.
Martha began attending a young ladies' seminary in Jefferson, and in 1863, at sixteen, she traveled from Sedalia to Warrensburg to attend a Fouth of July Celebration. Here she met Lt. Rush G. Leaming of La Porte, Indiana, serving with the Seventh Missouri State Calvary. The couple married two years later in 1865. The couple lived for thirty-five years in Sedalia, then moved to Holdenville, Oklahoma, where she wrote this reminiscene at age eighty-four.
Extent
.88 Linear Feet
Language of Materials
English
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The University of Alabama Libraries acquired the Martha Rogers Leaming Papers from Michael Brown Rare Books in 2022.
Processing Information
Processed by Courtney Tutt, March 2025.
- Title
- Guide to the Martha Rogers Leaming Papers
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Finding aid created by Courtney Tutt, March 2025.
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the The University of Alabama Libraries Special Collections Repository