Barbara Newhall Follett was born 4 Mar 1914 in Hanover, NH, to Roy Wilson Follett (1887-1963) & Helen Thomas (1885-1970).
Her father was a literary editor, critic and university lecturer. She had a half sister from her father's first marriage Grace Follett as well as her younger sister Sabra Follett.
Barbara started writing her own poetry at age 4, she started writing her first book at age 8, The Adventures of Eepersip later titled The House Without Windows. Her sister Sabra was the first women to go to Princeton University.
She married in 7 July 1934 to Nickerson Rodgers (1908-1980)
They had many adventures together, from sailing to Spain, walking the Appalachian Trail from Katahdin to Massachusetts's border. They also walked in Mallorca and the Swiss Alps.
According to Nickerson on the 7th of Dec 1939, Barbara left the apartment after a quarrel with only $30 on her, to never to be seen again.
He did not report her missing for two weeks, saying he was waiting for her to return. Four months later after notifying the police, he requested a missing persons bulletin to be issued under her married name of "Rogers" so it went unnoticed by the media until 1966.
In 1952 thirteen years after her disappearance, her mother Helen began insisting that Brookline Police investigate the matter more closely. She suspected Nickerson did something to her daughter and she wrote "All of this silence on your part looks as if you had something to hide concerning Barbara's disappearance. You cannot believe that I shall sit idle during my last few years and not make whatever effort I can to find out whether Bar is alive or dead, whether, perhaps, she is in some institution suffering from amnesia or a nervous breakdown."
Barbara's body was never found, and the police did not find any evidence of foul play. In 2019 David Mills a writer published his theory that the body was found but not identified correctly. After his investigation of missing persons cases he discover that she was found in 1948 but was misidentified as another missing individual, Elsie Whittemore. He explains the body being found on Pulsifer Hill, half mile from a farmhouse where Barbara and Nickerson had a long standing rental agreement, The possessions found with the body were consistent with Barbara's belongings. The local police there were unaware of her disappearance and had no record of it. The cause of death was suicide, a bottle containing barbiturate residue found at the scene, a substance she was known to be taking.
What a sad story, I feel so bad for her mother living that long with never knowing the truth about her daughter. Nickerson remarried to Anne Bradley in 1944 and they had a daughter. He filed for a divorce from Barbara 11 Feb 1944, document below.
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