At 09:29 AM 11-14-1997 -0600, you wrote: > Thanks for the offer. I'm interested in the names and dates that you >can come up with from the cemetery records. I have a lot of missing pieces >to the records, such as dates or a name even if it happens to be a middle >name. I do my best to enter a full name or a full date. I don't like >initials or just year dates, althought I have a lot of it, I still try to >add the little things. If it's not too much trouble, I wouldn't want you to >go to a lot of trouble just to help add a few dates or whatever to the >genealogy. > My thoughts on the Roll/Rall spellings and pronunciation is very simple. >Lynn (Roll) Kennedy told me that to misspronounce the name were fighting >words when she grew up. If you do any business around Marion, Grant Co., >Indiana or Blackford Co., Indiana, and your name is Roll, it will be >pronounced Rall. However, I use the way it's spelled and the generations >before me did also. Same line of the family, so I think that at least, one >generation just got tired of correcting people and some were firm. Also >with the spelling, it was likely the same reason when someone pronounced the >name Rall, Census takers and others spelled it as it sounds. I have no >proof, just my thoughts. > I remember an interesting story someone wrote to me many years ago. A >single lady went into a bank in Cincinnati and asked for a loan. Being a >single woman and the early 1900's also was not good for this type of thing >but because her name was Roll, she got the loan. Evidently, in Ohio, the >Roll name is well known and well respected. > I received hundreds of letters from family members on their line of the >family. A lot of people have been connected to the records but a lot have >not been. I have a very large notebook of not-connected Roll's. A lot of >it may only be missing a generation to put it into one book or the other. >When I connect someone, I send them pages of the work. I still get cards >from some of these people. I worked on our genealogy for years and sent out >genealogy to other people as I found their ancestry, but could not get our >own. I had it back to William Alexander & Lucy Ann Elizabeth (Cummings) >Roll and had it forward to Jacob & Betsey (Mills) Roll. A second cousin in >California sent the missing link. William Alexander Roll parents were: >Joseph & Nancy (Bennett or Barnet) Roll. I was so thrilled to finally make >the connection, I sent a full copy of what I had at the time. You wouldn't >believe the letters I received that asked how we pronounced the name. > Sorry to carry on. When it comes to Genealogy, I am a long winded >person. >Best wishes, >Martha > Martha, Wonderful information! Even if it's not my line (and some of it is my line), I'm interested. Stay "long winded." This is what makes a list interesting, I think. We dont't have to be stuffy like some genealogy lists I know. Thanks, Martha. My ROLLs used the "o" pronunciation of ROLL. They were probably the ones that gave in to the common English pronunciation of the ROLL surname. Yes, ROLL is a British surname too. Some British nobles had the surname. ROLLO, the first Duke of Normandy, was a viking. I wonder if there is a connection here to the British ROLLs? (see P.S. below) -Bill P.S. I sent this reply just to Martha, but meant to send it to the entire list. Sorry for the duplicate, Martha. Nancy, we probably need to set the list preference to "reply to list." I think this would be beneficial. -Bill _______________________________________________________________ William Henry Roll Blythe, California [email protected] The genealogy of the ROLL, MANGEL and VAN WOGGELUM families on the World Wide Web at http://members.aol.com/whroll "A thousand candles have burned themselves out; yet I read on."