EDLEY W. ROGERS, editor of the Carlisle (Indiana) News, is a man of good southern stock, with a substantial strain of French Huguenot blood, and ancestral influences, with a strong individuality and a thorough practical training, have combined to make him a forcible and pithy journalist and a substantial all-around newspaper man. A native of Loogootee, Indiana, he was born on the 28th of August, 1885, and is a son of W. Q. and Margaret Olly (Pirtle) Rogers. The father was born in Adamsville, Tennessee, September 11, 1847, and the mother in Carlisle, Indiana, February 21, 1853, the latter being a daughter of William and Mary Ann (Ferree) Pirtle. The founder of the Ferree family in the United States was Madam Mary Ferree, who was a French Huguenot and fled from France with her children, one of her fellow voyagers being William Penn. It was in the colony of the great Quaker leader that Madame Ferree settled with her family, in 1708, and laid the foundation of the first Huguenot community in this section of the country. Later generations of the family located in Indiana and made their home near Paxton. Among the pioneers to this locality were Joel and Mary (Leeth) Ferree. Their son, Philip Copeland, married Margaret Trimble, and Mary Ann Ferree. a daughter by this union, became the maternal grandmother of Edley W. Rogers. The latter was born near Paxton, Indiana, September 8, 1830, and died February 25, 1907, as the wife of Isaac Newton Markee and the mother of Mrs. W. Q. Rogers.
Mary Ann Ferree was married twice, the first husband being William Linder Pirtle, to whom she was married when she was twenty years of age. Her husband, who was a son of Jacob and Lydia Pirtle, was a tanner, associated for a time with Isaac Shannon, and was a man of industrious and sterling character. He died in August, 1853, leaving Mary Ann and Margaret Olly, the latter being the mother of Edley W. Rogers, and still living. Another daughter of this family, Clara Jane, died in infancy. The second marriage occurred May 26, 1856, when Mary Ann Ferree became the wife of Isaac Newton Markee.
Mr. and Mrs. W. Q. Rogers were married at Vincennes, Indiana, but never resided there, going at once to Loogootee, where they still reside, and where the husband is engaged in the real estate business. The elder Mr. Rogers is a Republican, belonging to the Masons and Odd Fellows fraternities, and both he and his wife are active members of the Christian church. The second of their six children, Alba, died at the age of three years, the other members of their family being still alive are: William L., a grocer of Carlisle; Aimee Nora, living at home; Charles O., a resident of Seymour, Indiana, where he is employed as a freight conductor on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad; Edley W., of this sketch; and Halstead P. Rogers, a student of the Loogootee high school.
Edley W. Rogers received his education at Loogootee, his birthplace, graduating from its high school in 1902. He then completed the mastery of the printer's trade, which he had commenced two years before, and continued this as his steady employment until he removed to Carlisle. He was first employed on the Martin County Tribune and the Shoals Republican, and during 1905-6 was in partnership with his brother, William L. Rogers, at Beaumont, Kansas, where he was engaged in general merchandising. In November, 1906, Mr. Rogers went to Sullivan to assume a position on the Democrat and Times, and remained in that capacity until his purchase of a half interest in the Carlisle News, during April, 1907. His associate in the enterprise was H. T. Alumbaugh, who remained with him until April 6, 1908, when Mr. Rogers became the sole proprietor. His publication is a non-partisan, independent weekly newspaper, having a circulation of eight hundred copies. It is a clean, newsy, well edited journal, and reflects decided professional credit upon its able and popular proprietor. Its editor is a firm Republican in politics and, fraternally, is a member of Carlisle Lodge, No. 3, F. & A. M., at Carlisle, Indiana; Jerusalem Chapter, No. 81, R. A. M., at Sullivan; Sullivan Council, No. 73. R. S. M., at Sullivan; also of Carlisle Chapter, No. 185, Order of the Eastern Star, at Carlisle.