The Origin of the Roll Family
Jan Mangels

Jan Mangels, ancestor of the Roll family in America, was born about 1635 in Utrecht, Holland.¹ One Jan Mangels was burgomaster² of Utrecht about that time, and may have been Jan, his father or grandfather.³ It is possible that his grandparents came from another European country. He may have immigrated about 1655 to New Netherlands from Hoorn in the province of North Holland, the Netherlands. Hoorn was one of the chambers of the Dutch East India Company, and a major seaport on the Zuider Zee.

Some Towns of the Netherlands
Map not to scale.

Jan's last name Mangels, or son of Mangel, resulted from the Dutch custom of using patronyms rather than surnames. Mangels is a abbreviated patronym derived from Mangelsen, meaning son of Mangel. Mangel was a Christian given name of long standing in Holland.⁴ Jan did not use his surname which was almost certainly Rol. Rol and Roll are variant spellings of the same surname.⁵ The Roll surname is documented for that period all over Europe, ranging from the Ukrane to Switzerland to Germany and Netherland, including the port of Hoorn in North Holland.

Jan was a fur trader at Beverwyck, now known as Albany, New York, by 1656.⁶ He married Tryntje Pieters Van Woggelum at Beverwyck in 1660. Tryntje was the daughter of Pieter Adriaensen Soogemackelyck Van Woggelum and a wife he married in the Netherlands. There is a family tradition that he married the daughter of Caniachkoo, Sachem of the Third Castle of the Mohawk.⁷ If this is true, it would have been a second marriage.

On October 26, 1661 Jan rented a house, lot, and garden in Rensselaerswyck from Johanes Clute.⁸ On January 14, 1672/3 he purchased land at Niskayuna from Claes Jansen Van Vockhoven described as "a certain parcel of land situated at Canastagione, comprising three morgens, extending from the kill of Ryck Claesz's land to the land which the seller keeps to himself, to wit, to a hickory tree whose top is bent down, as has been pointed out to the buyer. The aforesaid distance is the breadth of the parcel and in length it extends backwards so as to contain the said three morgens, which said parcel is a portion of the land that the seller bought of Harmen Vedder and Barent Reyndersz...."⁹

Jan was given a very large tract of land by three Mohawk sachems at Canastagione, now Niskayuna, near the present Schenectady, New York, in 1681 after the death of his father-in-law Caniachkoo.¹⁰ Todorasse signed the deed for his grandfather Caniachkoo.¹¹

"On this day the 4th of March 1681/2 appeared before their honors on the Court of Albany, the following Maquas chiefs, to wit, Rhode, sachem, (Sakamaker) of the first Castle, Sagoddiochquisax of the second Castle and Todarasse who takes the place of Caniachkoo, his grandfather, deceased, who in accordance with the declaration of the Maquas sachem to the proposition made the 2nd of this month, declared that out of good friendship and affection, they granted, conveyed and made over by way of gift to Jan Mangelse a certain piece of woodland on which some bushes (Stravellen) stand, lying near Canostagione on the other side of the river, extending up the river, beginning from the uppermost end of Ryk Claese's land where the tree is marked with the mark of Harme Vedder and Barent Ryndertse and stretches along the river over a certain kill named by them Otskondaraogoo, which they also together with the watercourse convey to him, and further on to a large black bark oak tree on which the mark of the grantors and the mark or name of Jan Mangelse have been put, and stretches northward up into the woods so far as said Jan Mangelse or his heirs shall have occasion to use the same whether for arable or pasture land as he shall think best; which they are the grantors, do free and unincumbered as they have possessed the same, with all appurtenances and dependencies thereto belonging, giving him herewith full power to do with and dispose of the aforesaid land and kill as he might do with his own patrimonial estate and effects, relinquishing said land henceforth, now and forever, conveying the same to Jan Mangelse, his heirs, succesors or assigns, promising nevermore to do nor cause anything to be done contrary hereto in any manner, with or without legal process. Thus done and confirmed with our signatures on the date above written in Albany. In the presence of us:

"Com. van Dyck
Dirk Wesselsz
Johs. Provoost
Jan Janse Bleeker
The mark X of Todarasse made with his own hand. The snake.
The Mark X of Rhode, made with his own hand. A woman.
The mark X of Sagoddiochquisax made with his own hand. The sun.
Interpreted by Aern's. Cornelise Viele
In my presence,
Ro't. Livingston, Secretary."¹²

Jan and Tryntje resided at Canostigione, a settlement in the county of Albany, on the north side of the Mangos River.¹³ Canostigione was known as Niskayunne in 1870.¹⁴

The earliest maps of the Mohawk Valley, made prior to the settlement of Schenectady in 1661-1669, show an Indian village at a bend in the Mohawk, about half the way between Schenectady and the Hudson River, called Nsarcane (Naskayunne).¹⁵

During February 1690, the French and Indians destroyed the settlement of Schenectady, about one-sixth of the settlers escaping to Albany, and at which time they also killed eight or ten settlers of Canostigione which aroused the whole country in alarm so that the people left their plantations and the majority of the Albany woodsmen returned to New York City.¹⁶

"Traditions and the early family records... indicate that due to the Indian depredations, Jan Mangels and [most of] his children... left Canostigione and the vicinity of Albany after the year 1690 and settled in New York City or its vicinity... "¹⁷

Jan Mangels moved to Staten Island and then to the North Ward of New York City before 1701.¹⁸

Jan Mangels died between 1703 and September 4, 1705, living in New York City with his son Mangle Janse Roll.

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1. Gahagan, Hannah M. Four Families, Cory, Culbertson, Smith, Gahagan. page 58. "The name Roll was an evolution from the original Dutch, which appears to have been Mangelse, or Mangle, or Mongle Roll, or Mongeroll."

2. Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary. Springfield, Massachusetts: G & C.Merriam Co., Publishers. 1961. "Chief magistrate of a...Dutch municipal town, corresponding to a mayor in the United States or England."

3. Gahagan, Hannah M. Four Families, Cory, Culbertson, Smith, Gahagan. Page 58. "Jan Mongeroll was born in Holland and was at one time Burgomaster of his native city, Utrecht." It is unlikely that Jan was a burgomaster, due to his age. Therefore, the burgomaster may have been Jan's father or grandfather.

4. Roll, I. Clifford. The Abraham Roll Family from the New Jersey Pioneers in Hamilton County, Ohio, Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin, 18:4, October 1960. Pages 285-286.

5. Beider, Alexander. Dictionary of Jewish surnames from the Russian Empire, Teaneck, NJ : Avotaynu, Inc., c1993. xxii, 760 pp. : ill. ; 29 cm. A scholarly work concerning the history and etymology of Jewish surnames. The area includes the Ukraine, Belorussia, Bessarabia, Lithuania, and Russia. A bibliography is included. "Rol (Kiev) {Roll} O: relay of horses [Yiddish]. Abbr: RL(?).... Roll (Kiev) O:, Abbr: see Rol."

Botting, Cecelia C. and Roland B. Botting. Comfort Families of America. Brookings,South Dakota. 1971. Page 6. "... Jan's children are entered in the records of the R[eformed] D[utch] Churches of New York and Albany under the name of Roll, variously spelled Rol, Rall, Rall, and Ral."

6. Virkus, Frederick Adams, ed. The Abridged Compendium of American Genealogy: First Families of America. A genealogical encyclopedia of the United States. Baltimore, Genealogical Pub. Co., 1968. Page 533.

Roll, I. Clifford. The Abraham Roll Family from the New Jersey Pioneers in Hamilton County, Ohio, Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin, 18:4, October 1960. Pages 285-286.

7. Roll, I. Clifford. The Abraham Roll Family from the New Jersey Pioneers in Hamilton County, Ohio, Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin, 18:4, October 1960. Pages 285-286.

Botting, Cecelia C. and Roland B. Botting. Comfort Families of America. Brookings,South Dakota. 1971. Page 6. "...Jan Mangelsz and his wife, who was a dau[ghter] of Adriansen Soogemackelyck [Von Woggelum]..."

8. New York State Library History Bulletin #10. Early Records of Albany, N.Y. v III "Notorial Papers, 1660-1696." Page 131.

9. New York State Library History Bulletin #10. Early Records of Albany, N.Y. v III "Notorial Papers, 1660-1696." Page 402.

10. Roll, I. Clifford. The Abraham Roll Family from the New Jersey Pioneers in Hamilton County, Ohio, Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin, 18:4, October 1960, Pages 285-286.,

Roll, Edwin D. The Roll Family, One Branch. October 1982. LDS Fiche 6018739.

11. Roll, I. Clifford. The Abraham Roll Family from the New Jersey Pioneers in Hamilton County, Ohio, Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin, 18:4, October 1960. Pages 285-286.

12. Fernow, B. Documents Relating to the Colonial History of New York. Albany, N.Y. 1881. Vol XIII. Page 572.

County Clerk's office, Albany, N.Y. Vol III of Deeds. Page 140.

Diefendorf, Mary R. Historic Mohawk Valley, N.Y. 1910. Page 51.

History Bulletin #9. New York State Library. Early Records of the City and County of Rensselaerswyck. v II. Page 151.

13. Munsell, J. Annals of Albany, N.Y. 1861. Vol IV. Pages 11-114.

14. Munsell, J. Collections of the History of Albany, N.Y., and Vicinity. Albany, N.Y. 1871. Vol. III. Page 166.

O'Callaghan, E.B. Documentary History of New York. Albany, N.Y. 1849 Vol. I. Page 302.

15. Reid, W. Max. The Mohawk Valley. Page 49.

16. O'Callaghan, E.B. Documentary History of New York. Albany, N.Y. 1849. Vol. I. Pages 308, 311.

17. Wilson, Richard Timbrook. Genealolgy of the Roll Family. Ridgewood, NJ. 1921. Unpublished manuscript. Library of Congress.

18. Virkus, Frederick Adams, ed. The Abridged Compendium of American Genealogy: First Families of America. A genealogical encyclopedia of the United States. Baltimore, Genealogical Pub. Co., 1968. Page 533.

Roll, Edwin D. The Roll Family, One Branch. October 1982. LDS Fiche 6018739.