Robert Campbell Rodgers was born in Ireland, the son of Robert Rogers (c.1780-1857) of Londonderry. Upon leaving Ireland, he landed first in Philadelphia where he took a job as a bookkeeper. Robert became a naturalized citizen around 1842 and settled in Stafford County, Virginia around 1848. The elder Robert Rogers joined his son in Stafford after his wife’s death in Ireland. The younger Robert married Mary Keith Briggs (c.1816-1895) of Stafford and ran a store on what’s now the Verizon Telephone Company’s parking lot on Warrenton Road.

The Rodgers family owned the farm on which now stands Hartwood Elementary School. Both Robert and his father died in Stafford County. The Rodgers family were cousins to the Irvines who lived at nearby Hartwood.

Following the War Between the States, Robert submitted a claim to the Southern Claims Commission asking to be reimbursed for $1,918 worth of wood and corn taken from his farm by the Union army. His claim was rejected. In 1865, Robert C. Rodgers was overseer of the road “from Richland Hill to D. S. Coakley’s Store.” From 1873 until at least 1881, he was registrar for the Hartwood Precinct.