John Rankin Rogers
| John R. Rogers | |
|---|---|
 |
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| 3rd Governor of Washington | |
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In office January 11, 1897 – December 26, 1901 |
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| Preceded by | John H. McGraw |
| Succeeded by | Henry McBride |
| Member of the Washington House of Representatives | |
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In office 1895–1897 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
September 4, 1838 Brunswick, Maine |
| Died | December 26, 1901 (aged 63) Washington |
| Political party | Populist / Democrat |
| Spouse(s) | Sarah L. Greene (1840-1909) |
| Profession | druggist, educator, farmer |
John Rankin Rogers (September 4, 1838 – December 26, 1901) was the third Governor of the state of Washington. Elected as a member of the People's Party before switching his affiliation to the Democratic Party, Rogers was elected to two consecutive terms in 1896 and 1900, but died before completing his fifth year in office.
John R. Rogers was born September 4, 1838 in Brunswick, Maine.
Rogers went to Boston as a youth and apprenticed as a druggist, then moved south to Mississippi in 1856 to manage a drug store for four years in Jackson. He moved north to Illinois in 1860, where he farmed and worked was a school teacher and druggist. He married Sarah Greene in 1861 and together they had five children.
In 1876 the family relocated to Kansas to farm and Rogers was later an editor of the Kansas Commoner for several years in Wichita, and was an organizer within the Farmers' Alliance. Rogers moved to Washington in 1890 and settled in Puyallup, where he operated a drug store.
Rogers was elected to the Washington House of Representatives in 1895 as a Populist, and governor the following year. As governor he supported the "Barefoot Schoolboy Act" which he had first sponsored while in the state legislature. The Act provided a mechanism of state funding to equalize support for free public education between counties which had a large tax base and those without. Rogers was a conditional supporter of the Single Tax Movement associated with Henry George.
John R. Rogers authored many books, pamphlets and articles that followed a Populist and Arcadian Agrarian spirit. Growing up in New England when Jeffersonian ideals were talked about frequently was a strong influence on his political future.
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