Jan Manglese, ancestor of the Roll family

In New York State, the forty square miles between Albany and Schenectady are known as the Pine Bush. When the continental glaciers melted, the waters formed Lake Albany. Eventually the lake drained, leaving a delta of granite pebbles and sand. The delta sands, swept by the wind, formed dunes. Plants later stabilized the drifting dunes and formed a pine barren. This was the land the Roll ancestor Jan Mangels (or Mangelese) chose for his home.

"The background of...[the] Roll [family begins]...[in] the mid-1600's when Jan Mangelese came to America from Hoorn or Purmerend in Dutch Holland. He was a trader to the Mohawk Indians in Beverwyck, or the Colonie Renssalaerswyck (Albany, N.Y.). Jan Mangelese married the granddaughter of Caniachkoo, Sachem of the Third Castle of the Mohawk Nation. Her parents were Pieter Adriaensen Van Woggelum and a Mohawk Indian princess...Her name is not known. Where she is listed in the records she is known as the 'wife of Pieter.'

"Jan Mangelese was favored by the Indians and was deeded 2,000-plus acres of land by the three tribal chieftains, Rhode - Sachem of the First Castle, Saggoldioohquisac - Sachem of the Second Castle and Todarasee, representing his grandfather, Caniachkoo - Sachem of the third Castle, deceased, all of the Maquasa Sachems. This land was described 'given out of their good will and affection, as a gift.'

"It was a certain tract of woodland where some briars were, near Canastagione on the other side of the river [Mohawk] to the uppermost end where the tree is marked, across the creek, called by them, Oiskondaraogoo, to a Great Black Bark Oak Tree where they have placed their mark and the name of Jan Mangelese, and stretching as far northward into the woods as Jan...or his heirs would have occasion to use it as either field or pasture.

"Jan Mangelese filed a petition to colonize, but it was never answered by the [English] queen, so the land was lost to his heirs."

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 son 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)
II - Mangle Janse
III - Tryntje (Catherina)
IV - Pieter (Peter)
V - Johannes (John)

Jan (Mangler, Mangelsen, Manglesee) Manglese (descendants are known as Roll), an early indian trader, at Beverwyck (Albany) as early as 1656. Purchased tract from indians near Schenectady, NY in 1681. Settled New York City. A taxable inhabitant in the list of voters for the North Ward in 1701. Married a dau of Peter Andriaensen Von Voggelum.

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