[3] He was the eldest son of a farmer, John T. Rogers, and Sarah Brown, the daughter of a Presbyterian minister.
[1] During his apprenticeship, he sustained a serious leg wound that rendered him unable to continue working.
[2][6] In 1817, he exhibited at the American Academy of the Fine Arts for the first time, subsequently showing each year until 1824.
[2] In 1825, Rogers was one of the founding members of the National Academy of Design[1] along with Samuel F. B. Morse, Asher B. Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright and others "to promote the fine arts in America through instruction and exhibition.
[10] Together, they were the parents of two daughters and four sons, including:[1] Rogers, who contracted tuberculosis in 1825, died in Bridgehampton, New York on December 6, 1844.