At 10:25 PM 01-23-1998 -0500, you wrote: >Hello Martha, > > Don't know if you remember me, but wrote to you a few times several years >ago. Never did really get started on the Roll history, and have just recently. > > Had no idea you were still working on it, until I contacted William Henry >Roll recently, and he gave me your address. When I started, I seemed to find >a page missing from the copy I had made, and so went to the Library where >the copy you had sent was, but it had disappeared. So I commenced retyping >your material, and have added a little. I made some changes in format as I >retyped it, and hope you don't mind. > >Just received several pages you had sent over the Rol-L list, and will be >comparing them shortly. > >I look forward to hearing from you. > >Hansel L Haycox > Dear Hansel and Other Members of the Roll List, I have heard recently that there is an old copy of Martha's work (1980's?) at the Westfield public library in New Jersey, along with some other interesting stuff about the Roll family. If anyone is in that area and would be willing to make copies, I would be happy to reimburse for costs and any other expenses. My father, David Hedges Roll, Sr. (deceased), had given his genealogy collection to a library back in the 1970s or 80s. Wish he hadn't done that. Now I can't find the library. Do libraries throw things like that away? Do you have the software to handle a GEDCOM? These are files that can be used to transfer genealogical information in a way that almost all genealogy programs can use. I would be glad to send you my GEDCOM. I also have a couple of other GEDCOMs people have sent me that you might like to have. They have said I could share. If you don't have the software to handle a GEDCOM, I could either send you the shareware to do it with. Or I could send you the web address of a site where you could download the software. Shareware is software that you get and can try out before you pay for it. The program I use, Brother's Keeper, cost $49, I think. This particular program does not ~expire~ if you don't pay, as some of the other shareware programs do. There are other genealogy programs, some perhaps better. If you're not using genealogy software, you need to consider the idea. It has made my work much easier. Data is easier to access and transfer to others. Martha has sent me a large volume of information about my Roll line. I'm working on adding it to my files. This will add about 50% to my database! Did I mention that I'm new to genealogy? I'm working on another page for my web site about Jan Mangels, you wouldn't happen to have information about him? I have some documentation about him if you need it. Martha didn't send me pages from her collection before John Roll (1708 -1782)/Elizabeth Sickles-or-Strickhauser (the pronunciation of Sickles and Strickhause are so similar, I wonder if they are variant spellings of the ~same~ name.) I don't think she has those pages in he computer database, and so they're not easy to send. If you have anything from before that time, do you have it in a form that's easy to send by email? The documentation I have will not appear in the database on the web. Selected information, however, will be included on the site in the biography section. I'm about to put up another page on my web site about Jan Mangels. I have him born in Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherland about 1635. But don't have anything beyond a secondary source on that. I have a Jan Mangels burgomaster, chief magistrate or mayor, of Utrecht. Again only a secondary source for this. This can't be our Jan, he would be too young for such a noble position. I wonder if this was his father or maybe grandfather or other relative or perhaps an unrelated person? I too have found a Roll family in Switzerland (Martha has a Swiss Roll family), and I have corresponded with a lady descended from a Swiss Roll family. I have found a Jewish Roll family in the Ukrane. I have discovered that this Jewish surname Roll (also Rol) originally came from the Yiddish word for "team of horses." Possibly Jan Mangels' ancestors (1400s) were forced to convert to Christianity, as happened especially in Spain. These people were called "Moranos," and frequently continued to practice their religion in secret at the risk of the death penalty. In 1492 all unconverted Jews were expelled from Spain. Many "conversos" went as well. I have heard rumors about the Roll family being from all over Europe; this would be consistant with a Jewish background. Well, it's a thought any way...speculation. I wonder if Jan Mangel's family may have come to the Netherlands from some other place. I would be glad to hear from you. ~Sometimes~ my response time to correspondence is slow, due to the growing stresses of teaching 7th, and 8th grade; I've been teaching 30 years. But I always answer mail. Please let me know if I can be of any help to you. Sincerely, William Henry Roll [email protected] _________________________________________________________________ William Henry Roll Blythe, California [email protected] The Roll Family Genealogy Windmill http://members.aol.com/whroll "A thousand candles have burned themselves out; yet I read on."