Rutha (Bishop) Rogers

Rutha Bishop was born on March 6, 1885, in Estill County, Kentucky, to Elias Bishop and Delilah “Lila” Babb. She was raised in the hills of eastern Kentucky, in a rural Appalachian farming community where life was shaped by the seasons, the land, and the strength of family.

In 1900, at just fourteen years old, Rutha was living at Millers Creek in Estill County in her father’s household. Census records show she was attending school and could read and write — a meaningful detail in a time when education in rural areas was not always guaranteed for young girls. Those early years would have been filled with chores, church gatherings, kinfolk, and the steady rhythm of country life.

On April 24, 1901, at the age of sixteen, Rutha married Hezekiah “Izzie” Rogers in Powell County, Kentucky. The marriage took place at her father’s residence, marking the beginning of her life as a wife in the Rogers family. Like many young brides of her generation, she stepped quickly into the responsibilities of homemaking and motherhood.

Children came often and close together. By 1910, Rutha had given birth to five children, four of whom were living at the time of that census. Over the years, she would become the mother of a large family, raising sons and daughters in Powell and Estill Counties. Photographs from the early 1900s show a young Rutha standing beside her husband and children — her mother, Delilah, sometimes nearby — a reminder of how tightly woven those families remained.

Her life, however, was not untouched by sorrow. One child had died before 1910, and in October of 1918, her young daughter Malia Rodie Rogers passed away at just two years old in Powell County. The loss must have been devastating.

Only weeks later, tragedy struck again.

The year 1918 brought the Spanish influenza epidemic to Kentucky, sweeping through rural communities with frightening speed. According to her death certificate, Rutha became ill following childbirth and suffered from septic poisoning complicated by influenza. She was reportedly ill for about twenty-five days.

Rutha Rogers died on December 8, 1918, in Estill County, Kentucky. She was just thirty-three years old.

She was laid to rest on December 9, 1918, at Furnace Cemetery (also known as Wireman) in Estill County — the same Kentucky soil where she had been born and raised.

Her passing left behind a grieving family and young children who would grow up with only memories, photographs, and stories to remember her by. Yet through them — through generations — her life continues to echo.

Rutha’s story is one of quiet strength: a farm girl turned young bride, a mother many times over, a woman who endured both hardship and loss in a changing world. Though her years were few, her legacy remains woven through the Rogers and Bishop families of Kentucky.