Recommendation? Rogers, R.mfg.

[Miller '72]

I have been trying to research Rogers Manufacturing, axes, history of the company but have found nothing more than they were a New Hartford CT company, 19th century start (?) 20th century end (?).
I must not be cross referencing the proper materials to find Rogers. SJS Rogers.
Specifically I started to look into them because I love the weight and handle even abused look of the Very Best 78 I aquired, i wanted to learn about the #78, to see if they produced a Pulaski style axe during their years, and because they were a CT company.

Thanks for any direction or info

Miller

 

[Steve Tall]

An earlier thread here shows an axe head stamped R. Mfg. Co. with a label saying
S.J.S. Rogers
Rogers Manufacturing Co., New Hartford, Conn.

The company evidently still existed in 1959, according to a couple sources:

Ernest E. Rogers, 77, died Saturday. He was proprietor of the S. J. S. Rogers Axe Manufacturing company of New Hartford until he retired last year. He is survived by his wife, a sister and two sons, one of whom is Donald Rogers, financial editor of the New York Herald Tribune.
from The Bridgeport Post, Bridgeport, Connecticut, June 13, 1960, page 33


Another reference to the company appears in the
American Lumberman & Building Products Merchandiser, Volume 237, 1959

 

[Steve Tall]

Regarding the "78" stamp, here's another example, stamped "(78)" to the right of "R-MFG CO." and
"VERY BEST":

from https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-mfg-co-best-78-axe-42706481

Another 78 photo found online, from cooperhill:

 

[garry3]

For as long as this company was around there just doesn't seem to be much out there on it.
This is one I own. Not sure if the haft is original but vintage about 27" with a 3 1/2lb head.

 

[Miller '72]

SteveTall thank you, I was hoping to hear from you, unfortunately just as Garry 3 indicates, there just isn't much out there, found yet, to give us more.

Garry3
I have a very similar Very Best (78), the haft on mine looks very similar to yours.

Since this picture, I have started to file the edge and wipe the head a bit with a brass brush, WD and a little 3 in 1 just to keep it in the family.
I also just picked up a little BLO for this handle and the others I have.

I would like to head to New Hartford and try their town library...if I can get that time I will and report anything back.

 

[Miller '72]

Ok, so I have been doing a little more digging and have regrettably found very little.
What I did find tonight from
The New Hartford CT Historical Society mentions Collins but not Rogers Axe.

S.J.S. Rogers Axe Manufacturing Company New Hartford CT

https://newhartfordcthistory.org/researcharchives/colliers-in-new-hartford/

This article shares great information regarding a centuries old industry relating to the CT Axe industry, but no mention of Rogers.

Paraphrasing from...

[Colliers of New Hartford
By: Walter Landgraf & James Monroe Smith

•Colliers or charcoal makers were in great demand in Litchfield County, including New Hartford, from the mid-1700s to the mid-1930s. Colliers were also referred to as wood-cutters or coal makers.

•The writings of Sam Collins, who founded the Collins Company in (year), indicate that he encouraged the development of the puddling works in New Hartford because he would use the iron refined there for his own business.

The Region’s Contribution to the Revolutionary War

•In the early 1700s there was a forge in Collinsville (where the site of the Collins Company was later built). After this was destroyed by a flood in January 1770, Richard Smith built another one in what is now Colebrook (in a section of Colebrook known as Robertsville). These forges would become significant during the Revolutionary War, the time period for their first period of peak production. In fact, people working in forges were granted deferments from revolutionary war service.]

This now requires a stop in to my local library, their website tonight is not responding.

 

[Miller '72]

I have a few pictures unearthed from eBay of what appears to me as a Rogers purchase order from a CT hardware/hard goods store...
Is this and the other uncovered info making anyone else think Collins is somewhere behind Rogers? The handmade charcoal tempered arm holding the hammer?
In this 1903 P.O. Rogers lists himself as general manager.

A slightly different label on this axe here exampled in a previous post...

The mystery continues...

 

[Square_peg]

SteveTall thank you, I was hoping to hear from you, unfortunately just as Garry 3 indicates, there just isn't much out there, found yet, to give us more.

Garry3
I have a very similar Very Best (78), the haft on mine looks very similar to yours.

Since this picture, I have started to file the edge and wipe the head a bit with a brass brush, WD and a little 3 in 1 just to keep it in the family.
I also just picked up a little BLO for this handle and the others I have.

I would like to head to New Hartford and try their town library...if I can get that time I will and report anything back.

Whatever you do be sure to save that old knob end handle.

 

[Miller '72]

Whatever you do be sure to save that old knob end handle.

I will, I really like the knob end and swell to it, I intend to hold on to it for as long as possible. It's thinner which really allows my hands a better grip, hold and the knob end just screams pick me up, use me!

Miller ⚒

 

[Miller '72]

I had to sand off some roof type tar pitch, then run over slightly with a rasp for a good hold and one coat of BLO.
The handle on this Rogers just screams Thank you!
The rich color is great!
Before

After

 

[Miller '72]

Roger's started I believe in the 19th century making axes.
So close to Collins I always wondered the relationship due to location proximity and era of the axe. Roger's is such great steel.

 

[Miller '72]

Does this arm and hammer, the general manager of Roger's MFG listed as S.J.S. Roger's, and that this is a New Hartford company in the height of the axe era - neighbors with Collins - raise any curiosity with anyone else as to how close or not the company's were toward/with each other?

The lack of information available for Roger's has always baffled me and I have always been curious, if not suspect, did the two companies work and work well together or did they not play well at all together?

 

[Steve Tall]

Does this arm and hammer, the general manager of Roger's MFG listed as S.J.S. Roger's, and that this is a New Hartford company in the height of the axe era - neighbors with Collins - raise any curiosity with anyone else as to how close or not the company's were toward/with each other?

The lack of information available for Roger's has always baffled me and I have always been curious, if not suspect, did the two companies work and work well together or did they not play well at all together?

Okay, Miller, I think you're onto something.

 

[Miller '72]

Okay, Miller, I think you're onto something.

I could be...I could also be filling the void of information with my overactive imagination and fondness for the twisted non fiction and historical truths/inaccuracies...oh and i have a healthy distrust of authority

 

[Steve Tall]

A bunch of factors here don't really add up for me.

As shown on their letterhead, Rogers Mfg Co claimed to be manufacturers of scythes, scythe snaths, scythe stones, hay rakes, grass hooks, corn hooks, and axes. Pretty impressive. If only one company is manufacturing all these varied specialized product lines (from steel blades, to wooden snaths, to quarried whetstones), I'm thinking it would need a sizable operation.

Yet, I've found no mention of of this Rogers Mfg Co in The New England Business Directory and Gazetteer for any of the relevant years. (I haven't checked them all, but nothing has turned up yet.) The closest thing I found was a 1922 listing for a General Store in New Hartford run by Ernest E. Rogers. Remember him?

Ernest E. Rogers, 77, died Saturday. He was proprietor of the S. J. S. Rogers Axe Manufacturing company of New Hartford until he retired last year. He is survived by his wife, a sister and two sons, one of whom is Donald Rogers, financial editor of the New York Herald Tribune.
from The Bridgeport Post, Bridgeport, Connecticut, June 13, 1960, page 33

Here's the listing for the Rogers "General Store". Note that General Stores is defined here as "where is kept a general assortment of dry goods, groceries, agricultural implements, etc..."

So, my theory (and I reserve the right to be wrong) is that S.J.S. Rogers Mfg Co was a distributor with its own brands, and it sourced its goods from nearby manufacturers. Such as axes from Collins. I don't recall that Collins made scythes, but even closer than Collinsville was a scythe manufacturer named "Greenwoods Scythe Company" which was located in... New Hartford.

From another post:

=====

The brands "Red Racer", "Tip Top", "Queen of the Meadow", "Star of the West", "King of the Field", and "Western Dutchman" are attributed to the Greenwoods Scythe Company.
from A Treatise on the Law of Trade-marks and Analogous Subjects,
by William Henry Browne, Little, Brown, 1885 , p. 283
=====

One of Greenwoods Scythe Company's trademarks was "Our Best".

As pictured above in the letterhead, Rogers' scythe brand was called "Best of All".
Hmm...

 

[Miller '72]

A bunch of factors here don't really add up for me.

As shown on their letterhead, Rogers Mfg Co claimed to be manufacturers of scythes, scythe snaths, scythe stones, hay rakes, grass hooks, corn hooks, and axes. Pretty impressive. If only one company is manufacturing all these varied specialized product lines (from steel blades, to wooden snaths, to quarried whetstones), I'm thinking it would need a sizable operation.

Yet, I've found no mention of of this Rogers Mfg Co in The New England Business Directory and Gazetteer for any of the relevant years. (I haven't checked them all, but nothing has turned up yet.) The closest thing I found was a 1922 listing for a General Store in New Hartford run by Ernest E. Rogers. Remember him?

Ernest E. Rogers, 77, died Saturday. He was proprietor of the S. J. S. Rogers Axe Manufacturing company of New Hartford until he retired last year. He is survived by his wife, a sister and two sons, one of whom is Donald Rogers, financial editor of the New York Herald Tribune.
from The Bridgeport Post, Bridgeport, Connecticut, June 13, 1960, page 33

Here's the listing for the Rogers "General Store". Note that General Stores is defined here as "where is kept a general assortment of dry goods, groceries, agricultural implements, etc..."

So, my theory (and I reserve the right to be wrong) is that S.J.S. Rogers Mfg Co was a distributor with its own brands, and it sourced its goods from nearby manufacturers. Such as axes from Collins. I don't recall that Collins made scythes, but even closer than Collinsville was a scythe manufacturer named "Greenwoods Scythe Company" which was located in... New Hartford.

From another post:

=====

The brands "Red Racer", "Tip Top", "Queen of the Meadow", "Star of the West", "King of the Field", and "Western Dutchman" are attributed to the Greenwoods Scythe Company.
from A Treatise on the Law of Trade-marks and Analogous Subjects,
by William Henry Browne, Little, Brown, 1885 , p. 283
=====

One of Greenwoods Scythe Company's trademarks was "Our Best".

As pictured above in the letterhead, Rogers' scythe brand was called "Best of All".
Hmm...

Strong work SteveTall Sir!
Oh yes...Ernest. Slick family business, taking full advantage of very good locally made goods.
I had a hunch the scythe business was odd and the name plays and similarities all over the label...
I think we can only go where the information and facts lead us.
I may have had a hunch/suspicion of something larger and more corporately managed, perhaps even corrupt, but when the pieces start to fall together and point toward general store/hardware store...I begin to feel Roger's may have been a hardware line, a very good hardware line.
This informational of a general store, sheds a little light, certainly would explain a lot pertaining the lack of information and allow Roger's to fall into the Hardware lineup category. Slightly elevated hardware status simply due to the elusiveness, intrigue and quality.
Now...is that Collins steel?

 

[Steve Tall]

...Now...is that Collins steel?

Last I heard, S Square_peg was looking into the cost of an axe paternity test.

 

[Miller '72]

An earlier thread

The company evidently still existed in 1959, according to a couple sources:

Ernest E. Rogers, 77, died Saturday. He was proprietor of the S. J. S. Rogers Axe Manufacturing company of New Hartford until he retired last year. He is survived by his wife, a sister and two sons, one of whom is Donald Rogers, financial editor of the New York Herald Tribune.
from The Bridgeport Post, Bridgeport, Connecticut, June 13, 1960, page 33


Another reference to the company appears in the
American Lumberman & Building Products Merchandiser, Volume 237, 1959

Hardware store? Listed as an axe manufacturer of New Hartford in his obit?

I woke up, with the same questions lol!

 

[Steve Tall]

Hardware store? Listed as an axe manufacturer of New Hartford in his obit?

I woke up, with the same questions lol!

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https://newhartfordcthistory.org/researcharchives/

 

[EarlessVan]

Great thread, somewhat new to axe hunting, picked this up at a tag sale recently for a few bucks...
Rogers mfg co “Leader”
Thought it might add to the discussion