Carved for John Rogers, who was born around 1647, this small and sunken stone exists in a relatively sparse part of the cemetery. A glazier (installed glass windows) by trade, Rogers appeared in Salem around 1675, unfortunately a few years after Salem’s struggling “Glass House” had gone out of business. Whether he acquired panes of glass locally or imported them, Rogers seemed to have found some measure of success. He married Elizabeth Baxter on Oct 29, 1674 and they lived in a house bordering the Common, although it is unclear if the two of them had children as none seem to have survived them. The Rogers did have a live-in servant for a time, who was called into court- along with a collection of other women- for "folding and frizzling their hair”, but these charges never went anywhere.
John Rogers’ impact on the community had less to do with his profession than the roles he was appointed to in local government. He was a constable for Salem as early as 1681; in 1690 Rogers was appointed to replace Jeremiah Neale as Marshall of Essex County, essentially making him chief constable for the area. Because of his rather common surname, it is unclear if John was any relation to Jeremiah Rogers, the Salem constable whose displeasure with the conditions of the jail would lead to him tearing down half of it on his own. John’s signature (or a “John Rogers” signature, but likely his) is found on a document confirming the search of John Proctor and John Willard for witches marks, under the supervision of Dr. Barton (a surgeon, if not a physician). A search by Rogers and other men would find no unnatural marks upon either Proctor or Willard, but the two would be convicted based on other evidence regardless.
Elizabeth Rogers died in February of 1714, which seems to have made John think harder about his own future. He adjusted his will to leave his property to his niece, Rebecca Putnam, on the condition that she would take care of him in his old age. Rebecca would not have to spend long caring for her uncle as John Rogers died November 30, 1715. He was 68, the same age his wife had been when she died, and the two are buried together in the middle of the Burying Point.