Jan Mangels
The First American Roll Ancestor
c.1615-c.1705

Jan Mangels traded with the Mohawk for beaver pelts.

In New York State, the forty square miles between Albany and Schenectady are known as the Pine Bush. When the continental glaciers melted, the waters formed Lake Albany. Eventually the lake drained, leaving a delta of granite pebbles and sand. The delta sands, swept by the wind, formed dunes. Plants later stabilized the drifting dunes and formed a pine barren. This was the land the Roll ancestor Jan Mangels (or Mangelese) chose for his home.

"The background of...[the] Roll [family begins]...[in] the mid-1600's when Jan Mangelese came to America from Hoorn or Purmerend in Dutch Holland. He was a trader to the Mohawk Indians in Beverwyck, or the Colonie Renssalaerswyck (Albany, N.Y.). Jan Mangelese married the granddaughter of Caniachkoo, Sachem of the Third Castle of the Mohawk Nation. Her parents were Pieter Adriaensen Van Woggelum and a Mohawk Indian princess...Her name is not known.* Where she is listed in the records she is known as the 'wife of Pieter.'

"Jan Mangelese was favored by the Indians and was deeded 2,000-plus acres of land by the three tribal chieftains, Rhode - Sachem of the First Castle, Saggoldioohquisac - Sachem of the Second Castle and Todarasee, representing his grandfather, Caniachkoo - Sachem of the third Castle, deceased, all of the Maquasa Sachems. This land was described 'given out of their good will and affection, as a gift.'

"It was a certain tract of woodland where some briars were, near Canastagione on the other side of the river [Mohawk] to the uppermost end where the tree is marked, across the creek, called by them, Oiskondaraogoo, to a Great Black Bark Oak Tree where they have placed their mark and the name of Jan Mangelese, and stretching as far northward into the woods as Jan...or his heirs would have occasion to use it as either field or pasture.

"Jan Mangelese filed a petition to colonize, but it was never answered by the [English] queen, so the land was lost to his heirs."**

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* No evidence exists than Jan Mangels married anyone other than his Dutch wife. Her name is unknown, and they were married in the Netherlands.

** Kennedy, Mrs. T. Lynn Roll. News-Times, Hartford City, Indiana; Wednesday, June 22, 1983; page 8.