Mitch Rogers (Rodgers) [Gullah informant]

The settlement of Harris Neck, McIntosh County, Georgia, began when on September 2, 1865, Margaret M. Harris donated her land to Robert Dolegal (the name is also spelled as Delegal and Denegal), who she had formerly enslaved. According to Mrs. Harris' will, she had raised Robert and trusted him to take care of her and her mentally disabled son Bright Harris until their death in exchange for the lands. Mrs. Harris appears in the 1850 Census slave schedule as being the enslaver of 59 individuals. In the 1860 Census slave schedule, she appears as the enslaver of 66 persons. Robert Dolegal must have sold parcels of his land immediately after he took possession of it. In the Census of 1870, there were 87 African American households and 21 white households in Harris Neck.

Mitchell Rogers was born on August 15, 1880. On August 22, 1906, he married Nancy Holmes, with whom he had three children but only one daughter, Ella, survived. By 1910 the family lived on Harris Neck Road with Jonesville Road, and Mitchell was working at odd jobs while Nancy worked as a cook for a private family. By 1920 Mitchell and Nancy lived at South Harris Neck Road at Warbo, a locality at Harris Neck. He owned the farm in which he worked. Nancy was housekeeping. Ella was no longer living with them. Ten years later, things had turned to worst in Mitchell's life. He was divorced from Nancy and no longer owned his farm. He was renting a home for $2 a month and working at odd jobs to survive. After that, he disappears from the record, except that we know he was interviewed and photographed by Dr. Turner in the summer of 1933. Mitchell Rogers might not have survived to see the destruction of Harris Neck to build a military airport in 1942. The residents were given two weeks to move out. On July 27, 1942, all the community's houses were bulldozed and burned down.