From "The Story of the Rolls
by John Linden Roll
In the spring of 1828, William Roll, his brother, Jacob and the latter's son, Pierson Roll, arrived in Sangamon Town from New Jersey. William Roll became a farmer, his brother, Jacob, was the owner of a store, a grist mill and the Sangamon Town Postmaster and Pierson Roll became an extensive land owner.Two years later, John Roll followed his father, William Roll, to Sangamon Town with the balance of the Roll family, It was here that the younger Roll met Abraham Lincoln for the first time early in 1831 when he helped the latter build the flat boat that later became lodged on the Rutledge Dam at New Salem, Illinois. John made all the wooden pins for the boat, as in those days wooden pins were used in place of nails.
After Lincoln departed from Sangamon Town, life once more became dull and John Roll, like his friend “Abe”, left the village and made his home at Springfield, Illinois. It was at Springfield some years later that Mr. Lincoln made his first political promise, stating that when he became president he would give John Roll and office.
John Roll was one of the contractors on the Old State House in Springfield, while his brother-in-law, John F. Rague, was its architect. As a contractor, Roll made repairs at the Lincoln home in 1849 and in settlement for the work received “six walnut doors and cash.” The doors were made into furniture and souvenirs, which presently are in the author’s possession.
In 1854, John Roll’s son, William VanDyke Roll, was a school mate of Robert Lincoln at the Illinois State University. His two smaller children, Frank P. and John Linden Roll, were playmates of Tad and Willie Lincoln. When the Lincolns departed for Washington, they presented their dog ‘Fido’ to the Roll boys.
When Mr. Lincoln made his House Divided Speech in the Old State House, he said; “There is my friend, John Roll, etc. etc….” This friendship persisted to Lincoln’s untimely death, after which John Roll until his death in 1901 lived in reveries of his beloved hero of the ‘Flat Boat’ building days.
The Rolls, with one exception, your author, have followed their friends, the Lincoln’s, to the Great Beyond. John Linden Roll is the last of those Rolls that were so intimately associated with the Lincolns. His fondest possessions are the hundreds of souvenirs, pictures, clippings and tokens dealing with Lincoln.
I do hope this short biographical sketch gives you a small fraction of the pleasure that I derive in compiling it for you.
Sincerely,
John Linden Roll
From "The Making of Illinois
While at Old Sangamon, Lincoln captured the entire village with his entertaining stories and quaint jokes. It required only four weeks to build the boat, but in that short time the awkward, good-natured young man made friends who remembered him through life. A man named Roll, who helped young Lincoln upon the flat-boat, relates that in appearance “he was a tall, gaunt young man, dressed in a suit of home-spun jeans, consisting of a roundabout jacket, waist coat and breeches, which came to within about four inches of his feet and were generally stuffed into the tops of his rawhide boots. He wore a soft felt hat, which had at one time been black, but now, as its owner dryly remarked, “it had been sunburned until it was a combine of colors.”
Near the village was a whittling log where the “men folks” were in the habit of meeting at noon and after work was finished. The log had been peeled of its bark, and upon it the men sat and whittled as they talked, just as our grandmothers used to chat over their knitting.
Mr. Roll tells us, “So irresistibly droll were Lincoln’s yarns that whenever he’d end up in an unexpected way, the boys on the log would whoop and roll off.” During this month of story telling, the log became polished by frequent use, and thereafter, until it crumbled to decay, was known as “Abe’s log.”
From Past and Present of Sangamon County
page 470-473
The life history of John E. Roll, if written in detail, would present a history of pioneer conditions in Sangamon county in the early part of the nineteenth century. When Abraham Lincoln did humble work in this then frontier region of Illinois, John E. Roll became his business associate and friend and the tie of comradeship then formed between them only suffered by the death of the martyred president. For many years afterward Mr. Roll continued a resident of Sangamon county, an honored and esteemed citizen whose name is inseparably interwoven with the early annals of central Illinois. He was born in Green Village, New Jersey, June 9, 1814, and his parents, William and Mary (Eddy) Roll were also natives of that start. He was one of a family of nine children and he spent his boyhood days in his native state. He was a lad of ten years when LaFayette revisited this country, but throughout his entire life he retained a vivid recollection of incidents of that visit.
In 1830 Mr. Roll became a resident of this county. He came with his parents, who made an overland journey in a covered wagon, traveling through Mendham, Easton, Allentown, Harrisburg and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At the last named place the teams and wagons were sold and the family proceeded down the Ohio river to Louisville, Kentucky, on the steamer Highland. Again they embarked below the falls of the Ohio, at Huntsman, for St. Louis, where they arrived on the 4th of June, and crossing the Mississippi they walked over the prairies to Springfield, Illinois, where they arrived at four o'clock in the afternoon of the 7th of June. During the years of his early residence in Sangamon county there occurred an incident which made an indelible impression upon the mind of John E. Roll and made him one of the well known characters of Springfield of later days. In the spring of 1831 a tall, gaunt, ungainly young man made his appearance in Sangamo, coming from New Salem, Macon county, to build a flatboat for the firm of Offutt & Green. His name was Abraham Lincoln and he was the 'boss' of the construction of the boat, receiving fifteen dollars per month for his work. He employed to assist him John E. Roll, Walter Carman, John Seaman, a young man by the name of Cabanis and John Johnston, who was Lincoln's brother-in-law. Mr. Roll made the pins used in the construction of the boat, the work taking him about a month. During this time he and Mr. Lincoln became very warm friends, a tie that was never broken. When Mr. Lincoln left Springfield to enter upon his duties as president of the United States, he gave Mr. Roll his dog. A number of articles of furniture used in the Lincoln home also came into possession of Mr. Roll and in later years he has a very valuable collection of Lincoln 'relics.'
From History of the Early Settlers of Sangamon County,
Illinois
by John Carroll Powers
published in 1876
Born June 9, 1814, at Green Village, N.J. came to Sangamon county June 7, 1830., married Jan. 31, 1839, to Harriet Vandyke, who was born Jan. 29, 1815, in New York City. They had three living children in Springfield. William V., born November 6, 1839, Frank P., born March 7, 1852, and John L., born June 25, 1854, all live with their parents. In coming to Sangamon County, J.E. Roll walked from St. Louis with Clawson Lacy and Alfred Riley. While the family lived in Sangamo, Abraham Lincoln built the boat spoken of in his biography. He began in March, 1831 just as the deep snow went off. Mr. Roll made the pins for putting the boat together. They made a canoe to go with the boat as a yawl. John Seaman and Walter Carman (this was actually Waters Carman 1811-1878) got into it to take the first ride. It upset with them and floated away while they took refuge in a tree. Lincoln saved them by swimming to the tree with a log, having a long rope attached. After getting all on it, those on shore drew it in. J.E. Roll learned the trade of a plasterer and brick mason and for thirty years followed the business of building and dealing in real estate, having built about one hundred houses, on his own account, in Springfield. He has been in the boot and shoe trade for the last seventeen years. J.E. Roll and family reside in Springfield, Illinois.
Source unknown
When Mr. Roll came to this county he first lived in the town of Sangamo, which was then an enterprising little village, but not a vestige of it now remains. The following year he accompanied his parents on their removal to Springfield. He learned the trade of a mason and plasterer and a great many of the older houses of the city were built by him. He erected and owned more than one hundred houses which he sold as an advantageous opportunity for a sale occurred, and long after he had retired from this trade, he continued to deal in real estate, buying and selling houses and lands. In 1850 he established a boot and shoe business in Springfield and was one of the leading and enterprising merchants of the city until 1885, when he retired to enjoy the fruits of his labor. He possessed sound business judgment, diligence and persistence, and as his financial resources increased he made judicious investments in real estate, accumulating much valuable land and residence property. His business career was most commendable and exemplary and my well serve as a source of inspiration and encouragement to the young. When he was learning his trade he received but six dollars per month and as soon as he had completed his apprenticeship he started out for himself with a capital of but a hundred and twenty-five dollars. The word 'fail' seemed to have no place in his vocabulary. He brooked no obstacles that could be overcome by persistent, honorable effort, and his reliability and good workmanship won him a liberal patronage both when he followed his trade and later when he engaged in merchandising. His real-estate operations were also extensive and important, and he laid out two additions to the city known as Roll's additions.
In 1839 Mr. Roll was united in marriage to Miss Harriet Van Dyke, a native of New York city, and they had three sons: William V., deceased; Frank P., a resident of South Dakota; and John L., of Springfield. She died in 1880, after which Mr. Roll was again married, and the second wife died in 1900.
Mr. Roll had a wonderful genius for collecting relics. He had about thirty different pictures of Lincoln and he purchased every book or article that he found had any relation to his old time friend, and these he treasured above all his other relics. For many years he carried a" "watch that had been owned by Stephen A. Douglas and for which he paid a hundred and fifty dollars. Mr. Roll was respected by all who knew him. He held friendship inviolable and he delighted to gather around him congenial friends and discuss the early pioneer days of Sangamon county. He was a public-spirited man and took the deepest interest and delight in the advancement and improvement of the county and his cooperation was never sought in vain for any worthy object for the progress and welfare of the city and county. He died March 30, 1901, at his home at No. 612 Lawrence avenue, revered by young and old, rich and poor, for his good qualities. He had been a resident of the county for almost sixty-one years and his name is now on the roll of its honored dead.
Illinois State Journal March 31, 1901
Friend of Lincoln Dies
Roll -- Died at 8:30 o’clock Saturday night, March 30, 1901 at his residence, 612 West Lawrence Avenue, John E. Roll, aged 86 years, 9 months and 21 days.
In the death of Mr. Roll, Sangamon County loses on of its oldest settlers and one of the surviving few who were close friends of Abraham Lincoln. He was a good citizen and one who always took a pride in matters pertaining to the improvement of Springfield. Mr. Roll had been ill seven weeks and his death was not unexpected. The principal causes of his demise were the infirmities of old age.
Mr. Roll was born in Green Village, New Jersey, Jan. 9, 1814. He received a limited education in the village school. In May, 1830, his parents moved to Illinois, coming by wagon to Pittsburg, Penn., and thence by steamboat to St. Louis. From St. Louis he walked to Springfield, reaching this city early in June. His father bought a farm a few miles northwest of Springfield and here young Roll worked for some time at ordinary farm work.
In the spring of 1831, after the winter of the deep snow, he worked with Abraham Lincoln in Sangamo Town and assisted him in building the historical Lincoln flat boat. He and Lincoln became great friends and their friendship lasted until the death of the president. Mr. Roll worked for Rev. John G. Bergen, who was for many years pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, to which church Mr. Roll belonged, although he afterward became a member of the Third Presbyterian Church.
Mr. Roll learned the plastering trade with John F. Rague who was the architect and superintendent of the old state house. After completing his apprenticeship, he engaged in business for himself. One of his first contracts was for plastering the American house, afterwards one of the old landmarks of the city, which stood where the John Bressner store is now located. This was the beginning of a long, laborious and successful career as a contractor and builder. He erected and owned many dwelling houses and business houses.
After the close of Mr. Roll’s business career, he invested in several boot and shoe stores, but the venture proved unsuccessful and he lost a large amount of money which caused him to go into bankruptcy. Mr. Roll was twice married. His first wife was Harriet Van Dyke, whom he married in 1836. She was an invalid for many years and died in 1880. Four years later, Mr. Roll married Mrs. Sarah Case, who died in 1900. He is survived by two sons, Frank P. Roll of Dakota and John L. Roll of this city.
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