A Letter From Geneologist R. J. Franz |
Going through some of the papers in our father's estate, in 1977, we came across this letter from R. J. Franz. This is what started us on our genealogical quest. A transcription of the letter follows. February 8, 1963 Have received your letter of Feb. 5. The information simplified the search very much. I can very easily give you the information you ask if the very simple form I write it in will satisfy your needs. I will show it in exactly the form it appears in the book. If any of your information suggests inaccuracy please let me know: Howard [Russell? illegible] Roll, third child of William Henry Roll and Sarah Shipman of Elizabeth, Union County, New Jersey. Other children: I - (no name) died in childhood William Henry Roll, fourth child of Jonathan Smith Roll and Lucinda Kidd; born Ovid, Seneca County, New York, died in Elizabeth, Union county, New Jersey as a result of a railroad accident and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Elizabeth, N.J. Jonathan Smith Roll, third child of Wesley and Ann Smith; Born 3-3-1828 near Westfield, Union County, N.J.; Died 3-10-1904 in Elizabeth, Union County, N.J.; Buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Elizabeth; Married 9-4-1851 Lucinda Kidd, daughter of Capt. Kidd, Born 1-16-1834, Died 12-6-1902 in Elizabeth, Union County, N.J. and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Elizabeth. They lived in Elizabeth, Union County, N.J. the greater part of their lives with the exception when they resided in Ovid, Seneca County, New York. During his life Jonathan Smith Roll followed the trade of a stonemason. Children: I - John - died in infancy Wesley Roll, ninth child of John and Mary Roll was Born 10-10-1801 Springfield, Union County, New Jersey, Died 10-3-1855 Westfield, Union County, New Jersey; Buried in Friends' Cemetery, Plainfield, Union County, New Jersey. Married 3-25-1824 Ann, only child of Jonathan and Elizabeth Brotherton Smith, of Scotch Plains, Union County, New Jersey, Born 12-6-1802, Died 5-4-1872 in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey, and is buried in Friends' Cemetery, Plainfield, Union County, New Jersey. Children: I - Eliza Jane Wesley Roll was a farmer by vocation and lived on the old Smith homestead lying on the old Springfield Road, Between Springfield and Scotch Plains. The property passed out of the possession of the family in the early seventies and is now (about 1920) the well known "Cook Farm". The original house in which his wife and his children prior to Charles W. were born, was torn down and the present one erected during the life of Wesley Roll. His land is intersected by the boundary between Fanwood and Westfield Townships. John Roll, first child of Isaac Roll, born 8-28-1765, died 1810 aged 45 years, his will is recorded in Book A Essex County Wills Pages 343-344, Married 12-13-1785 to Mary, born 8-21-1768 daughter of John Earl of Middleville, Essex County, New Jersey, Died at the home of her son Wesley Roll in Westfield, Union County, N.J. 1-31-1852 - both are buried in the old Presbyterian Church ground Springfield, New Jersey. She married after John Roll's death to Joel Searing. Children: I - William B 10-16-1786 Isaac Roll, first child of John Roll and Elizabeth, married Sarah, eighth and youngest child of James Cauldwell. They lived and kept a tavern for many years in Springfield, Union County, New Jersey. On July 4th, 1795 a number of the inhabitants of Springfield and its vicinity assembled at his house in celebration of the nineteenth anniversary of the American Independence. Isaac Roll is recorded as being the Collector of Springfield Township 1798-1801. His will was probated in 1809 and he is buried in the Presbyterian Church ground in Springfield, Union County, N.J. James Cauldwell father of Sarah wife of Isaac Roll, was one of the earliest settlers of New Providence (Turkey) Union County, New Jersey. He and his wife Mary emigrated from Ireland about 1732, when his son William was six years old and settled on Long Hill (New Providence) on lot #30 addition of the Elizabethtown lots which he drew. From traditions among the families his wife was Mary Gaston, sister of the father of Hugh Gaston of Peapack, Somerset County, New Jersey. Isaac and Sarah Cauldwell Roll had children: I - John John Roll was probably born on Staten Island about 1708. He should not be confused with John Rol, son of Peter Mangle Ral, who also appears in the early Dutch records of Staten Island, during the same period, and who was apparently about the same age. The only explanation of the compiler as to their being of the same name is that their parents evidently followed as a custom of naming their children after their grandparents. He is recorded as being among the second lot of settlers of Turkey, on Long Hill, Elizabethtown Township, Essex County, New Jersey (which in 1809 was changed to New Providence - now Union County) and that he settled between Springfield and Westfield near the mountains. The early settlement of New Providence proper was in 1736/8 and those who followed came within the next forty years. Family tradition states that he settled in New Jersey in 1742 and as he is referred to in the deed from his father for land in New Jersey dated 1754 as of Elizabethtown, it is evident that he removed from Staten Island to New Jersey prior to 1754. His home stood on the Southeast side of the first mountain the Eastern portion of Elizabethtown on the old stage route leading from the settlement of Elizabethtown to New Providence. The section of the road which runs by the old homestead location is no longer used and is washed out into deep gullies in some places as deep as twenty feet, and the homestead is now (1920) right in the heart of the woods with only a pile of stones to mark its location. The land is not (1920 about) owned by John B. Roll of Mountainside, Union County, N.J., one of his descendents [sic]. The home of Baltus Roll which is still standing is about a quarter of a mile up the old road and near the top of the mountain. His will, probated in 1782 and recorded in Liber 24, Essex County Wills, Folio 5 etc. #5507-5510, set forth the names of his children at the time it was signed in 1763 and designated his wife Elizabeth as one of the executors of his estate. As his son John only qualified apparently had either passed on before his death in 1782 or the infirmities of her age prevented her also acting as such. John and Elizabeth Roll had children: I - Isaac John Roll was the only child of Johannes Roll and Grittue. Johannes Roll was baptized as the son of Jan Mangelsen in the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, Albany, N.Y. on 1-27-1686, his sponsors being Geertruy Lansing and Johannes Lansing. He was one of the signers of the land petition presented by Mangle Jansen Roll in 1713 in which he is shown as John Johnsen Roll. Various evidence indicates that he left Canostigione, Albany County, N.Y. and settled in the Northern Division (now Port Richmond) Staten Island. Jan Mangelse(n) was an Indian trader who was in Beverwyck (the name of Albany until 1664). Albany County, N.Y. as early as 1656. The fact that he is shown in the early Dutch records of Albany, N.Y. as Jan Mangelse or Mangelsen indicates that he was Jan, son of Mangle, and as was the custom in that period, was without a surname. Jan Mangelse married a daughter of Peter Adriaensen Soegemackelyck [sic] (van Woggelum) by whom he had several children who are entered in the records of the Reformed Dutch Churches of Albany and New York under the name of Roll, variously spelled Rol, Rall, Ral, and Raal. Pieter Adriaensen van Woggelum, nicknamed Soogemackelyck ("So Easy"), the father-in-law of Jan Mangelsen, was a tavern keeper in Rennsselaerswyck in 1656. He was generally called "van Woggelum" probably after the village of that name near Alkmaar in the province of North Holland. Pieter and his brother, Jacob Adriaensen with their mother, were early settlers of Beverwyck; both were inn-keepers. In 1660, their mother, Anna Pieterse Soegemackelyck [sic] was a widow by the death of her second husband Barent Janse Bal; she died in December, 1669. Pieter Adriaense was apprehended by the revenue officer Johan de Dekkere, for refusing to pay the excise on his sales of wine, beer, etc. but escaped; he denied the right of the officer of Fort Orange to collect this excise in the Colonie [sic] where he lived and in this he was sustained by the Patroon. In 1664 he received a patent for a bouwery and home lot at Schenectady, which he sold in 1670 to Helmer Otten of thirty-five beavers. He had at least three children; Pieter Jan and a daughter who married Jan Mangelse. The date and place of the death of Jan Mangelse are unknown. That Jan Mangelse died before 9-4-1705 is indicated by the fact that on this date his don Mangle Jansen Roll and his wife Antje sold to Ryder Schermerhoorn three morgans of land at Niskayuna which Jan Mangelsen had obtained from Claes Jansen van Bockhoven under a contract of sale of Jan. 14, 1672/3 together with certain rights in land to [the] rear thereof which said Claes Jansen purchased from the Indians on March 4th 1681/2 and in which Jan Mangelsen had a share. Jan Mangelse and Tryntje (Catherine) van Woggelum had children: I - Antje (Ann) This ought to be enough to get you started, or perhaps it is all you need or want. Please note that the book says that your grandfather died as a result of a railroad accident whereas your information says it was caused by a fire engine. I should like to hear from you and particularly if you have information which can put in the book to make it more complete. You have given me your father's dates of birth and death. I would like to be able to get your mother's name and dates and when they were married, the dates, places, etc. if available of your father's brothers, [sic] dates and places attributable to you and your husband and children, if you have children. Yours truly, |