In 1743, a name appears among the early grantees of land in the Welsh Neck which was destined to be prominent in the history of Marlboro - Nicholas Rogers, a Welshman.  He died in 1759, but left a son Benjamin, who lived on the west side of the Pee Dee, a few miles below Cheraw - an ardent Whit, of excellent character, and held in high esteem by his neighbors.  Of his sons, mention may be made of two as prominent citizens of Marlboro.  Of a third, Nicholas, we have heard, but know nothing.  A daughter married a Mr. Pearson, and lived some miles above Cheraw.  John Rogers, a son of the first Ben, married Miss Mary Griffin, and lived and died at what is now known as the Dr. McLeod place. 

  He was a member the Legislature, 1808-1809.  The fruit of this marriage was three sons, and as many daughters.  The first of these daughters married Dr. Francis Lee, and went West.  Another was the first wife of Gen. McQueen, who was a lawyer at Bennettsville, and a member of Congress for several terms, and resigned his seat when the State seceded from the Union.  A third daughter, Miss Martha, a lady of splendid form, fine character, and superior intellect, became the first wife of Dr. Alexander
McLeod, a native of North Carolina, a successful popular physician, a member of the Secession Convention, the father of several sons, and a daughter who became the wife of Capt. C. M. Weatherly.  The sons of Mr. Rogers were John M., Benjamin and Robert.  John was talented and
popular; elected to the Legislature in 1828, but in the midst of his career of promise he was stricken in death.  Robert, also, was a noble, brilliant young man, just grown, when, by an accidental shot from his own un, he was instantly killed.  Hardly any young man in the community was more beloved, or could have been more sincerely mourned.  The other son, B. N. Rogers, married Miss McQueen, of Chesterfield.

     The good man left a family of sons and daughters to mourn his departure to a better state.

     Another son of the first Benjamin Rogers was Col. Ben, who resided in Brownsville.  By his first marriage he became the father of nine daughters, and nine sons were given him as the fruit of a second marriage with Mrs. Wickam, who also had a daughter by her first marriage.  This daughter first married John C. Ellerbe, of Marion, and after his death she became the second wife of Dr. B. K. Henagan.  Most fondly does the writer remember the manly form of Col. Ben Rogers, as the neighbor of his father and a friend to all the boys; universally respected, full of energy and push, even in his old age.  He was an early sheriff of Marlboro, a Colonel of Militia, a State Senator, a patron of schools, a friend of the churches, and beloved by his servants.  He was young in years when the struggle with the mother country came on, but with the ardor of youth and the enthusiasm of an impulsive spirit he drew his sword in the cause of liberty, and to his dying day his face beamed and his eye kindled with an ardent devotion to his country's weal.  He was killed at last by a falling tree, the felling of which he was himself directing for plantation purposes.  Noble, polite, generous, public spirited, grand old man, we saw him buried, and it is a sad, yet precious privilege, occasionally, to visit his tomb at old Brownsville, where he sleeps between the bodies of the two women whom he loved with the tenderness and devotion that was the admiration of all who knew him in his hospitable home.

     His first born son, whom we called "Major Ben," sleeps in that same consecrated plat of ground.  He was for awhile in command of the "Lower Battalion" of Marlboro militia.  A man of calm, cool temperament, highly respected by his neighbors, they induced him to stand for a seat in the State Legislature in 1846, and he was elected and served; but he would consent no more to ask his countrymen to send him to Columbia, preferring the enjoyments of his own comfortable, hospitable home to the turmoil and excitement of political life.  B. B. Rogers, courteous friend, successful planter, his death made a sad void in the community.

  "Where are the nine?"  One only at this writing remains above the earth, Col. John Rogers, of Florence.  His silken hair of snowy white proclaims him an old man.  Like most of his brothers, he is remembered as a splendid specimen of manhood, the pride of his parents, the soul of politeness, the life of his circle.  When he shall rest in the tomb the last of his generation will have gone.  But another generation is already upon the scene, doing credit to the name they bear.  The present Sheriff of Marlboro (1890) bearing the family name, Ben, is the first born of Maj. B. B. Rogers and Miss Elizabeth Allison, a beautiful woman, the youngest of four sisters.  The others were Eliza, who became the second wife of Maj. Rogers; Catharine, who first married John Irby, and after his early death, became the wife of John G. Bethea; Caroline, who married Charles Brown, and became the mother of Mrs. T. L. Crosland.

  Mrs. Allison was Miss Betsy Whittington, and first married a Mr. McTier and had two sons, William and Robert, and a daughter, Mrs. Henry DeBerry, who, for a long time, lived at Parnassus.  Both McTier and Allison are extinct names in Marlboro.  There was a young son, Tom Allison, whose
death is his brilliant boyhood profoundly grieved the hearts of his comrades and kinsmen.

     The Sparks name is to be set down as one of the earliest in this region.  Four brothers, Daniel, Charles, Samuel and Harry, are said to have come from Virginia to the Pee Dee.  Harry, a noted Whig, was killed by a band of Tories in the swamps of Three Creeks.  Daniel, the eldest brother, settled at first not far from and on the east side from Bennettsville, but afterwards moved to Red Hill.  He married Miss Martha Pearce, a lady of fine character, who lived to old age, retaining both her mental and physical vigor in a marked degree.  Full of good works, she ultimately sank into the grave lamented by all.  Three sons and four daughters blessed the lot of this pair.

     Samuel, who spent his four-score years and more in Marlboro, first married Miss Allison, and had a son, Charles, who died young.  His second wife was Miss Ann Harry.  Two children were born to them, the late Capt. A. D. Sparks, and Mrs. Keitt, whose brave husband, L. M. Keitt, poured out his life's blood upon the red soil of Virginia in the late war.

     One sister of Mr.Sparks married John Crosland of Marlboro.

  Another (Lucy) first married Alex Stubbs and afterwards Thomas Stubbs, and a daughter, Mrs. E. W. Goodwin, was the fruit of the latter union.  A third sister married William Pouncy, as stated elsewhere in these pages.

  Martha, the other sister, died unmarried.

     The Crosland family is another of those which dates back to near the middle of the last century.  Edward Crosland, an orphan boy, of Virginia, thrown upon his own resources, developed an enterprising, adventurous spirit.  He came to Carolina about 1760, and united himself with a party of kindred spirits in the central part of the province, and traveled extensively in North Carolina, went across the mountains into Kentucky, from thence to the Ohio river, down that stream to the Mississippi and thence to New Orleans.  Returning to South Carolina Mr. Crosland married a daughter of Samuel Snead, and settled near the boundary line.

  Subsequently he came to Marlboro and settled not far from Gardner's Bluff and reared a large family.  His sons were John, Samuel, Daniel M., Israel, David, George, Philip and Dr. William and several daughters.

  A number of his descendants are now numbered among the respected citizens of the County, while many more have yielded to the inexorable law of destiny, and have gone to people other more western States and build up other communities towards the setting sun.

     Another name no longer found in Marlboro is entitled to mention, not only because of the part the family bore in the early history of the country, but because the blood has coursed in veins that have borne other names and made honorable records on history's page.  In 1758 Thomas Ayer came to the Pee Dee.  A native of Ireland, he spent some time in Virginia before coming to Carolina.  It is said that he settled on the east side of Pee Dee river a little below Hunt's Bluff, set up a trading establishment and made money.  An ardent Whig, he risked life and fortune in the cause of liberty.  Lewis Malone, the father of the late Gen. L. M. Ayer, of Anderson, and Mrs. Judge A. P. Aldrich, was a son of the grand old Irish patriot.  So also was the venerable Hartwell Ayer, who lived at the place where J. B. Breeden recently died.  Hartwell Ayer had a son, William, who left a family near Fayetteville, N. C., and three daughters, Mrs. Long of sainted memory, Mrs. J. B. Breeden and  Mrs. Marshall; noble women of noble deeds, farewell!

     There were a number of other families that settled on the Pee Dee about the middle of the eighteenth century, who contributed their full quota to the civilization and opening up of the country, and have left their impress upon its welfare, but in most instances the names of become extinct, although in some cases the blood flows in their descendants of other names known here are honorably borne in adjoining counties or distant States.  Bishop Gregg has done a good work in recording them in his history.  His name, among them, is worthy of enduring remembrance, alongside such as Murphy, Hicks, Wilson, Lide, Robertson, Allison, Bedgegood, Lewis, Luke and others as worthy of mention.  Pioneers in a new land, they lived in troublous times, and the hardships of subduing an unbroken forest to cultivation, opening roads, building bridges, erecting churches and school-houses, and preparing the way for liberty, prosperity, education and religion to take root and thrive in the new world as it had never done in the old - is never to be forgotten by a
grateful posterity.