rly
settlers of the township, removed therefrom to the woods of Dunbarton,
and settled anew in a section named Montelony, from an Irish place in
which he had once lived.[A] This was before the settlement of the
township, when its territory existed as an unseparated part only of the
public domain. He may, quite likely, have been attracted hither by an
extensive beaver meadow or pond, which would, with little improvement,
afford grass for his cattle while he was engaged in clearing the rich
uplands which surrounded it.

[Footnote A: New Hampshire Gazeteer, 1833, p. 121.]

Six years only after his removal (1755), he was unintentionally shot by
a neighbor whom he was going to visit; the latter mistaking him for a
bear, as he indistinctly saw him passing through the woods. This
incident was the foundation of the story said to have been told by his
son, some years after, in a London tavern. The version given by Farmer
and Moore is as follows, viz.:[A] "It is reported of Major Rogers, that
while in London, after the French war, being in company with several
persons, it was agreed, that the one who told the most improbable story,
or the greatest falsehood, should have his fare paid by the others. When
it came to his turn, he told the company that his father was shot in the
woods of America by a person who supposed him to be a bear; and that his
mother was followed several miles through the snow by hunters, who
mistook her track for that of the same animal. It was acknowledged by
the whole company that the Major had told the greatest lie, when in
fact, he had related nothing but the truth."[B]

[Footnote A: Historical Collections, by Farmer and Moore, vol. 1, p.
240.]

[Footnote B: The Great Meadow and the site of the elder Rogers' house is
easily accessible to any person possessed of a curiosity to visit them.
They are in the South-Easterly section of Dunbarton, some six or seven
miles only from Concord. The whole town is of very uneven surface, and
the visitor will smile when he reads upon the ground, in Farmer and
Moore's New Hampshire Gazeteer, that he will find there but "few hills,
nor any mountains." He soon learns that the declaration of its people is
more correct when they assure him that its surface is a "pimply" one.]

As the largest part of Roger's fame rests upon his achievements in the
ranging service of our Seven Years' War, we must recall for a moment the
condition of things in the British Colonies and in Ca