Rummaging through my attic recently, I came upon a battered, weatherbeaten little book, its title long worn off, its pages fragile with age.

It was called “Memoirs of the Rev. Ammi Rogers A.M., A Clergyman of the Episcopal Church,” published in 1832. Rogers’ words on the title page caught my attention: “…persecuted in the State of Connecticut, on account of religion and politics, for almost twenty years” and “Falsely accused and imprisoned, in Norwich Jail, for two years…”

A local reverend persecuted and falsely imprisoned? Intrigued, I found it to be a remarkable local story indicating that the famous Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision of 1973 was born right here in our own back yard.

Born in Branford in 1770, Ammi Rogers graduated from Yale College in 1790, and chose to serve the Episcopal church.

Interning under the Rev. Jarvis in Middletown, Rogers initially boarded with the mean-spirited Jarvis family, but soon left in disgust.

This greatly insulted Jarvis, and he committed decades to relentless, cruel retaliation.

Jarvis objected when Rogers was ordained a priest in 1794, and followed him to churches in upstate New York, attempting to sabotage his career and integrity at every opportunity, through outright lies and false documentation.

When Rogers’ wife died at only 26 years old, he returned with his three young children to his family in Branford, where he became rector of four Connecticut churches that prospered.

Then, at the annual convention in Hartford around 1801, Rogers publicly moved for complete separation of church and state, a most unpopular suggestion at the time.

The place went berserk, including Jarvis, now a bishop.

Jarvis forbade Rogers from preaching in Connecticut, but Rogers refused to stop, setting off a string of nine frivolous, consecutive lawsuits that made Rogers’ life very difficult.

But Rogers won every challenge, so Jarvis cohorts Colonel Jeremiah Halsey, Dr. Avery Downer of Preston and attorney James Lanman of Norwich, a U.S. senator and Connecticut state’s attorney, conspired to finally ruin Rogers.

Asenath C. Smith was a single woman in Preston who suffered a stillborn child out of wedlock, fathered by Dr. Downer. The conspirators, offering her a good life for helping the church, coerced Smith to swear an oath that the child was Rogers’, and was aborted by him.

Smith’s unscrupulous sister, Maria, of Groton, readily swore to the perjury.

Rogers was arrested, and a Court of Inquiry was held in Norwich, conducted by Justice of the Peace Farwell Coit, who was, conveniently for the prosecution, Lanman’s cousin.

The trial in 1820 was conducted by judge Asa Chapman, who, as a lawyer, had represented Jarvis when he sued Rogers nine times.

No surprise, the kangaroo court found Rogers guilty and sentenced him to two years in prison.

Rogers served his time in the Norwich jail, and upon release, having much documentation of his mistreatment, was granted a hearing to consider his case before the General Assembly of Connecticut in 1823.

Asenath Smith, her conscience tormented, publicly recanted her accusation. The General Assembly vindicated Rogers, restoring his character and integrity.

According to Rogers, within three years of his release from prison, poetic justice was served. Colonel Halsey and Dr. Downer became pathetic drunks, while James Lanman received a public whipping at Norwich Landing (Lanman was a well-known statesman, and I’ve not been able to corroborate that).

Judge Asa Chapman soon died from illness, and Asenath Smith left the country.

Smith’s devious sister Maria went to New York City to support herself “at the expense of her chastity.” She returned to Groton sickly and diseased.

The Ammi Rogers case led to Connecticut establishing America’s first anti-abortion law in 1821, leading the way for Roe v. Wade, enacted on Jan. 22, 1973.

My attic foray had provided another good reason to never judge a book by its battered cover.

John Steward lives in Waterford and can be reached at tossinglines@gmail.com, or visit johnsteward.online.