Editing Rogersville, Tennessee (section)

===Joseph Rogers===
[[Image:Joseph Rogers.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Joseph Rogers (pioneer)|Joseph Rogers]] founded Rogersville on land granted to him by his father-in-law after his marriage to Mary.]]
Joseph Rogers (August 21, 1764 – November 6, 1833) was born near Cook's Town, [[Kingdom of Ireland|Ireland]], the son of James Rogers and his wife, Elizabeth Brown. He traveled to the area, by then known as the State of Franklin (which had been carved out of [[Washington District, North Carolina|far west North Carolina]]), by 1785. During a stay at a tavern adjacent to [[Amis House (Rogersville, Tennessee)|Colonel Thomas Amis' home]], Rogers met the colonel's daughter, Mary Amis, whom he wed, on October 24, 1786. Her father ceded the lands near Crockett Spring to his son-in-law— the same land that Colonel Amis had purchased from the heirs of David Crockett.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

When North Carolina considered where to establish the county seat for its new Hawkins County, Rogers successfully lobbied to have the government located near his home. He volunteered his tavern, which had been established about 1784–85, as the first county courthouse, where it was finally established in 1787. With the help of other local settlers, Rogers laid out a plan for the town, and the town of Rogersville was chartered by the [[North Carolina General Assembly]] in 1789. The plan included a [[public square]], deeded to the town government, which would host the town's public well and a county courthouse.

In November 1792, Rogers was appointed the first [[postmaster]] at Rogersville. The town's second post office, built by Rogers c. 1815, still stands at the corner of east Main Street and south Hasson Street.

Rogers was the father of fourteen children with Mary. He died on November 6, 1833, at Rogersville, and is buried in Rogers Cemetery. His wife, Mary, died a month later.