Roger T. O'Gara, who at the time of his demise was one of the most respected had highly esteemed citizens of his community, was born near Lake O'Gara, was a gentleman born in the old country, and was kept in college by his father until the age of twenty-two. His grandfather, who was one of the landed gentry, took part in the ill-fated rebellion o f1798, and on the collapse of that uprising was stripped of his possessions and for a time had a price set on his head.

Bartholomew O'Gara imigrated in 1850 to the United States, and settled in Providence, Rhode Island, where his sons found work in the print mills of Governor Spriggs, while he secured a clerical position in the office. In 1854 he pressed on to the west, where there were greater opportunities, and settled in Juneau County, Wisconsin. He came on to Nebraska in 1872, several years after his son had settled in Cedar County.

    In Wisconsin, Roger passed from youth to manhood, working on the farm in summer and in the pineries during the winter season. In 1868, he turned his footsteps westward, and became a resident of Cedar County, Nebraska, September 23, settling on a tract of land three miles north of where Coleridge now stands, filing on a homestead there.  He later purchased other lands on Lawn Ridge, and his wife was the first white woman to inhabit  that part of the county. His first act to plant trees, and the groves to set out are the largest and fines on that notably beautiful ridge, in a fine farming county.

    Mr. O'Gara was a highly educated man, and most of his learning was self taught.  When a youth in the mills he kept a book at hand, and while others were idling or doing worse, he was storing his mind with useful knowledge. In the pineries of Wisconsin, while others were drinking and carousing, he was adding to his mental store.  The superintendent over the lumber gangs helped him over many mathematical difficulties, and enabled him to acquire a much higher education than young men on the frontier usually enjoy.  He realized he had a long line of high minded ancestors for an example, and a character to sustain. On coming to Nebraska, he taught school for several years, and was then appointed to fill out the term of the first county superintendent of schools, and for fifteen years efficiently filled that position to the satisfaction of his constitutes, and the delight of W. W. Jones, the State Superintendent, who paid him the tribute of saying that at the end of this incumbency, December 31, 1887, the schools of Cedar County were the best organized of any in the state.

    Mr. O'Gara sustained a severe injury a short time after settling in the county. He was descending into a well, one hundred and thirty feet deep when the rope, which was spliced near the middle, parted and let him drop sixty-five feet, injuring his spine and fracturing several bones. That he recovered is almost a miracle, and that he could endure the long drives necessary in visiting every district in the county, evidence a fortitude beyond that vouchsafed the average man. A runaway during his years of office added further to his injuries and suffering,which he bore with christian fortitude and patience.

    After filing on his homestead in 1868, Mr. O'Gara broke part of the raw prairie and returned to Wisconsin for a helpmate in his frontier home. He was married in Wisconsin in 1870, to Miss Bridget Hayes, a native of Ireland. Her father, Michael Hayes, came with his family to America in 1843, and settled first in New York, coming later to Juneau county, Wisconsin. His ancestors were also implicated in the Irish rebellion in 1798, and lost all their possessions by confiscation; he died at the age of eighty in Wisconsin.

    Mr. O'Gara died on his farm west of Laurel July 19, 1906; the wife and mother passed away August 11, 1900, after suffering as an invalid for twenty years. Six of their children grew to maturity; Patrick, Anne, Peter Frances, Margaret Francis, William H., and Gilbert.