Will rogers biography indian territory history

Will Rogers was America's Cowboy Philosopher.

Will Rogers was the #1 radio personality, he was #1 at the movie box office, he was the nations #1 most sought after public speaker, he was the #1 most read newspaper columnist, he wrote books, traveled the world and gave liberally to charities around the world.  Will Rogers was beloved by all.

​

William Penn Adair Rogers was born on election day, November 4, 1879 in a log-walled, seven-room house, known as "the White House on the Verdigris River," in Indian Territory.

​

His parents were Clement Vann Rogers and Mary America Schrimsher Rogers. They lived on a sprawling frontier ranch near what later would become Oologah, Oklahoma. Will Rogers' human nature, wisdom and humor were nurtured on the sprawling frontier governed by Cherokee Indians.

​

By the time of his birth, the pain of civil war and the rigors of frontier conquest had dissolved the challenge of carving civilization onto the rich and bountiful plains.  

Clement Vann Rogers, Will's father, was a Cherokee senator and a judge who helped write the Oklahoma Constitution. Successful in agriculture and banking, Clem founded a ranch fenced by rivers, spread across miles and home to thousands of Texas Longhorns.

​

Mary America Schrimsher Rogers, Will's mother, descended from a Cherokee chief, easily mastered modern society, music, literature, etiquette and good humor. A mother of eight, Mary Rogers understood righteousness under God’s laws and performed countless charities.

​

The Rogers family was loving and close. Four children died in their youth, with Will and his three older sisters surviving to adulthood. The Rogers' famous "White House on the Verdigris River" was more than a home. It was a meeting place for commerce, government and community socials. There was sadness with funerals, but gaiety with parties, weddings and christenings.

When not learning on his mother's la

American humorist and entertainer (1879–1935)

For other uses, see Will Rogers (disambiguation) and William Rogers (disambiguation).

William Penn Adair Rogers (November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935) was an American vaudeville performer, actor, and humorous social commentator. He was born as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, in the Indian Territory (now part of Oklahoma), and is known as "Oklahoma's Favorite Son". As an entertainer and humorist, he traveled around the world three times, made 71 films (50 silent films and 21 "talkies"), and wrote more than 4,000 nationally syndicated newspaper columns. By the mid-1930s, Rogers was hugely popular in the United States for his leading political wit and was the highest paid of Hollywood film stars. He died in 1935 with aviator Wiley Post when their small airplane crashed in northern Alaska.

Rogers began his career as a performer on vaudeville. His rope act led to success in the Ziegfeld Follies, which in turn led to the first of his many movie contracts. His 1920s syndicated newspaper column and his radio appearances increased his visibility and popularity. Rogers crusaded for aviation

The youngest of eight children, William Penn Adair Rogers was born on November 4, 1879 at Rogers Ranch in Oologah, Indian Territory (what is now Oklahoma). His parents, Clement Vann Rogers and Mary Schrimsher, were partly of Cherokee descent.

While growing up on the family ranch, Will worked with cattle and learned to ride and lasso from a young age. He grew so talented with a rope, in fact, that he was placed in the Guiness Book of World Records for throwing three lassos at once. One went around the horse’s neck, another circled around the rider, and the third flew under the horse, looping all four legs together.

Will attended several schools during his childhood, including Kemper Military School in Boonville, Missouri from 1897 to 1898. He dropped out in the 10th grade to become a cowboy. In 1902 and 1903, Will traveled in South Africa with “Texas Jack’s Wild West Show,” in which he played “The Cherokee Kid” and did roping tricks. He also traveled in Australia and New Zealand with the Wirth Brothers Circus. Back in the United States in 1904, Will appeared at the World’s Fairs in St. Louis and New York City. Will extended his career in entertainment, touring vaudeville circuits in America, Canada and Europe from 1905-1915. In November 1908, Will married Betty Blake, with whom he had four children (Will Jr., Mary, Jim and Fred). Betty was a loving and supportive wife to Will until his death.

During his years in the vaudeville circuits, as well as his time with Ziegfeld Follies in 1917, Will’s act evolved from the exhibition of his lasso skills that had launched his career to the development of his own unique. Will had always regretted quitting school, and enjoyed talking to people and reading. These two interests became the basis for his humor, which focused on intelligent and amusing observations about people, life, the country and the government in simple language that his audience could understand. Soon, audie

St. Louis County Library Foundation’s Favorite Author Series and Left Bank Books are pleased to host Steven Watts, University of Missouri Professor Emeritus in American History, for a discussion and signing of “Citizen Cowboy: Will Rogers and the American People.”

The event will take place on Monday, November 18, 7:00 p.m. at the Clark Family Branch, 1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63131. Books will be available for purchase and signing from Left Bank Books. 

“Citizen Cowboy” is a probing biography of one of America’s most influential cultural figures.

 Will Rogers was a youth from the Cherokee Indian Territory of Oklahoma who rose to conquer nearly every form of media and entertainment in the early twentieth century’s rapidly expanding consumer society. Through vaudeville, the Ziegfeld Follies and Broadway, syndicated newspaper and magazine writing, the lecture circuit, radio, and Hollywood movies, Rogers built his reputation as a folksy humorist whose wit made him a national symbol of common sense, common decency, and common people. 

Though a friend of presidents, movie stars and industrial leaders, it was his bond with ordinary people that endeared Will Rogers to mass audiences. Making his fellow Americans laugh and think while honoring the past and embracing the future, Rogers helped ease them into the modern world and they loved him for it.

Steven Watts is a historian and writer who has charted the sweeping evolution of American culture in a number of highly praised books. His biographies of major figures—Henry Ford, Walt Disney, Dale Carnegie, Hugh Hefner, John F. Kennedy, and now Will Rogers—has explored the shaping of a modern American value-system devoted to consumerism, self-fulfillment, leisure, and personality. Watts’ books have led to involvement in a number of media projects, including several films for PBS, the History Channel, and documentary venues in Germany and Brazil. 

Watts is Professor Emeritus at the Univers