born in Germany, died in Pennsylvania, British American Colonies
08 Gens. (AC: Rbt Fox, 1911)
Hij is getrouwd met Anna Maria.
Zij zijn getrouwd tussen rond 1705 en 1720 te Germany, hij was toen 11 jaar oud.
Kind(eren):
John Johannes Roland | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1720 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Anna Maria | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Biography
More notes: 1994-95 A letter to John Frye and Rowland Genealogists from George P. Rowland, Jr.
For a longtime I have been suspicious of the first three generations of our Rowlands in this country. Things just did not make sense. Finally I postulated that they were not supposed to. Finally they did. Now, if there is proof, I will give the source, if I forget it, I will say so. If I think it is so- I will say so.
There were two Rowland families in Lancaster Co., up to 1750, one was a large family of about 13 children in Earl Township, who listed himself as a yeoman. He had four children by his first wife., the rest by his second. His name was Jacob, he died in 1764.
The other was a John Rowland who died in 1763. I call him Hannes to indicate a "come over person" and to have one less John to deal with. (The above deaths and wills in Fulton and Mylin Intestate Records, Lancaster Co., PA) Hannes always referred to himself as John Rowland Weaver of Leacock Township. The Jacob, son of Hannes, was my Great, great, great grandfather. More notes: 1994-95 A letter to John Frye and Rowland Genealogists from George P. Rowland, Jr.
For years I could find no "come over" date for the Rowland family, and in the Hannes Will there is NO mention at all of either son. English law at that time did not allow foreigners to will land to their family, so most of the residents of the colonies divided their land to their sons, usually at or soon after their marriage. So land purchases are more likely to be the more accurate in locating father-son relationship.
So on 10 March 1760 Hannes sold land to Jacob his son. The third line of the document reads as follows: "John Rowland, Senior of Leacock township and his wife Mary sell to Jacob Rowland his son, land etc." The Senior in the preceeding sentence indicates the existance of a junior and the absence of the two sons in the will no longer matters. You see that this puzzle has very small pieces. The actual purchase of this land took place in Philadelphia and the 200 acres are recorded in Platt book, Volume 7, page 519, date 5 May 1752 in the Philadelphia Court House. It would have been much easier, and more easily seen if done in Lancaster. Last, a copy of the original sale of land to John (Hannes) Roland carries no date, nor mention of a price. Unfortunately, Hannes never knew that the papers of this deal were locked in a secret file until 1833 in Pennsylvania. So we just don't have a come over date, BUT we do have a much more decideable one, namely, the flight from Euphrata.
I am not sure but it seems accurate that Captain John Rowland, Jr. had not appeared on the scene on November 20, 1736. Last, No Rowland in our family has ever "been sent back" either before or after the Revolution and the only result from withholding the names of Hannes sons, Jacob and John Jr. from his will was to make a two hundred year Genealogical mistake that is alive and well.
From Lancaster County Deed Book M Volume 1 Page 331: " JOHN ROWLAND TO JACOB ROULAND THIS INDENTURE made the thirteenth day of June in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and fifty two and in the twenty-fifth year of the reign of our sovereign Lord George the second of Great Britain, France and Ireland King Defender of the faith to between John Rouland Senior of Leacock township in the county of Lancaster and Mary his wife of the one part and Jacob Rowland his son of the same township and county of the other part witnesseth that the said John Rowland Senr. and Mary his wife for and in consideration of two hundred and fifty pounds lawful money of the province to them in hand paid by the said Jacob Rowland the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged and the said Jacob Rowland his heirs and assigns forever hereafter fully discharged and acquit thereof have granted bargained sold aliened demised released and confirmed and by these presents do grant bargain sell alien demise release enfeoffe and confirm unto the said Jacob Rowland and to his heirs or assigns all that certain tract of land or plantation situate lying and being in Leacock township in county of Lancaster aforesaid bounded and described as follows vizt. beginning at a white oak marked for a corner of land of John Rowland Junr. and thence extending north one hundred and forty nine perches to a post in the line of land of John Line Junr. and thence by the line of land of George Line past two hundred and ten perches and a quarter of a perch to a post in the corner of George Lines land and thence by the same south two hundred and fifteen perches and a half of a perch to a post in the line of land of Phillip Scott and thence by the same north eighty three degrees west twenty nine perches and a half of a perch to a post and thence by land of the said John Rowland Junr. north fifty four perches and three quarters of a perch to a post and north eighty eight degrees west one hundred and eighty one perches to the place of beginning containing two hundred acres and the usual allowance of six acres per cent for roads etc. It being part of a larger tract granted in fee to the said John Rowland by the honorable proprietor by pattant bearing date fifth day of May in the year of our Lord 1736 duly executed and recorded in the roles office for the city and county of Philadelphia in Patt."
Book A. Vol 7 Page 519 refferance thereunto being had may more fully and at large appear all and singular the said demised lands hereditaments and premises together with all and singular the buildings improvements houses out houses orchards fields meadows woods waters ways rents issues and profits of or belonging to the same and the true copies of all deeds evidences and insurances whatsoever concerning or in anywise relating to the same and all and singular the estate or estates reversion and remainder seizen and delivery actuall and loyall possession use liberty property claim or demand of or belonging to the above mentioned and described plantation or tract of lands hereditaments and promises hereby granted bargained and sold or intended so to be with their appurtenances to him the said Jacob Rowland his heirs and assigns to the only proper use and behoof of him the said Jacob Rowland his heirs and assigns to have and to hold for ever and the said John Rowland and Mary his wife for them their heirs executors admrs. or assigns do covenant promise and agree that they the said Jacob Rowland his heirs or assigns in the sure quiet and peacible possession of the herein demised premises with their appurtenances against all manner of persons shall and will warrant and forever defend and shall make and execute or cause so to be made and executed all such further and other reasonable acts deeds devices or assurances either in law or equity whatsoever as by the said Jacob Rowland his heirs or assigns or as by his or their council learned in the law shall be reasonably advised devised or required in witness whereof the said John Rowland and Mary his wife have hereunto set their hands and seals respectively the day and years first above mentioned. Hans Rowland (SEAL) Mary Rowland (SEAL (her mark III) Sealed and executed in presence of Michael Gross Hans Witmore James Bickman cReceived the day of the date of the above indenture of and from the above named, Jacob.
Lancaster County Will Book C, Volume 1, Pages 25-26:
I John Rowland of Leacock Township in the county of Lancaster being of perfect mind and memory thanks be given unto God therefor but calling unto mind the Mortality of my Body and knowing that it is Appointed for all men once to dye, do make and ordain this my last Will and Testament in the following manner and form. Imfoumis it is my Will and I do order that in the first place all my Just Debts and funeral Charges be paid and Satisfied.
Item, I give devise and bequeath to Ann Mary my loving Wife the Sum of Fifty pounds of Good and Lawful Money of Pennsylvania and one Compleat Feather Bed together with all the Household Goods that she had at the time we was married.
Item, the Remainder and Residue of my Estate I order be equally divided between and Among my four Daughters namely Franica the wife of Hans Witmer, Catherina the wife of Wendel Seipers, Mary the wife of Joseph Grebill, Ann the wife of Jacob Funk, so that the Division be made Equall with what each of them hath received in my lifetime according to a Book by me made and keapt for that Porpas and I Likewise constitute make and order Ann Mary my said Wife to be my only and Sole Executrix of this my last Will and Testament and I do hereby Utterly disallow revoke and disanull all and every other former Testaments and Legacies and Executors by me in any ways before this Time Named willed and bequeathed relesying confirming this and no other to be my last Will and Testament.
In witness whereof I have hereunto let my hand and Seal this twenty seventh Day of January in the Year one thousand seven hundred and fifty six. 1756 (This is typed with the exact grammar, spelling, capitalization and punctuation as found on the will. NRR)
John Roland SEALSigned, Sealed Published and declared by the said John Rowland the Testator as his last Will and Testament in the Presence of us (First two names cannot be read- third name is Adam Diffenbough and fourth name is Emanuel Carpenter.)Lancaster County: On the seventh Day of December Anno Domini 1763 before me the Subscriber Personally Appeared Adam Diffenbough and Emanuel Carpenter two of the subscribing Witnesses to the within Will and on their Solemn Affirmation According to Law did declare and say that they were Present and Saw and Heard John Rowland the Testator within Named Sign Seal publish pronounce and declare the within writing as and for his last Will and Testament and that at the doing thereof he was of Sound and well disposing mind memory and understanding to the best of their Knowledge observation and belief.
Edward Shippen M.D.
Be it remembered that on the seventh Day of December Anno Domini 1763 Before me the Subscriber the last Will and Testament of John Rowland late of the County of Lancaster Yeoman deceased was proved in due form of Law and Letters Testamentary thereon were granted to Mary Rowland the Executrix therein Named she being first duly Qualified well and truly to Administer the Estate of the decedent and to Exhibit a true and perfect Inventory therof into the Registers Office at Lancaster on or before the seventh Day of January next and to render a true and Just Account of her Administration on the said Estate when thereto lawfully required. Given under the Seal of the said Office of me.
Edward Shippen. Dep. Dir
History of Land Transfers of John Roland's original land: (NRRowley, September 1999)
May 5, 1736 John (Hans) Roland/Mary bought original land 250 acres
June 13, 1752 John (Hans) Roland sold to John Roland, Jr. 50 acres
June 13, 1752 John (Hans) Roland. sold to Jacob Roland 200 acres
no date John Roland sold to Andrew Gilbert 5 acres
Nov. 3, 1768 Jacob Rowland sold to John Roland 200 acres
March 23,1797 John Roland, Jr. dies: At this time he has 245 acres
John wills to son, George Roland 145 Acres
John wills to son Samuel 50 acres
John wills to son John 50 acres
April 5, 1797 Samuel sells to brother George
George Roland now has 195 acres
John Roland still has 50 acres
Notes from George P. Rowland, Jr.: In Brumbaugh's History of the Brethren, re the Conestoga Congregation:- organized in November of 1724 by Peter Becker. Conrad Beisel was chosen minister. Membership:- Joseph Shafer, John Mayer and Wife, Henry Hoehn and Wife, Veronica Frederick. The first meetings were held on Mill Creek, they soon moved to the house of Rudolph Naegele in Earl Township. In 1728 Beisel withdrew to Ephrata (Cloisters) with many members. Remainder ministered to by Becker until 1734 when they formed an independent congregation. Philip Roland (son of Jacob of Earl) was named in this group. In 1747 Joseph Greybill and wife were added to this congregation. (Joseph was the first owner of Agreed in Peace, in Hagerstown, MD
In a transcribed Christmas tape of George P. Rowland in 1990 he states:
I'm pretty sure that the two Rolands, Hannes Roland of Leacock, and Jacob Roland of Earl, were brothers... They did not use the "W" in their names, they were both Mennonites.......they were both Mennonites. They named their sons, and their daughters, with the same names, more or less, and there's a record of a tradition of weaving. I know in our branch of the family, from Hannes of Leacock, there were at least four generations of professional weavers. And there were weavers mentioned in the other Roland family, the Earl family. Possibly they were brought here, recruited by the Penns in Europe, and brought here because there was a dire need for weavers in the early colony. That is one possibility. Now, the strange part of it is, that in both of the descendants in this family there is a complete ignorance of the come-over date. The girl in the family, who was seven years old when they came over, and probably two years older than Jacob the Patriarch, she knew the date and the date came down in the girl's family. Where they came from and when they came. Now, the men in the family would be the one who controlled, er, owned the land. And it's a possibility, a reason, why the girl (Feronica Roland, daughter of Hannes Roland) would know and the men who knew once, but didn't mention it, is the fact that they may have come over in a non-English boat...therefore, being "wet-backs," as we'd call them now a-days. If they were caught they'd be subject to transportation back, in addition to losing their land. They would be banished because they were here illegally and they were afraid of this. Both of them were very careful about...well, Jacob of Earl only took, he swore allegiance, the Oath of Allegiance about two years before he died. And Hannes, when he bought land didn't buy land directly from the Penns. He paid a higher rate and bought land as a second purchaser from another owner. Therefore, didn't have to give any information as to how he got there, because he bought the land in a private sale so if you add everything together...there's a good reason why we don't know when and where they came from, but the sister knew perfectly well...and the story came down in their descent. Anyhow, that's the big story this year and you can write it down. WE CAME IN 1727. We're not on the ship lists which started in 1727 and I'm highly suspicious that the ship didn't stop in Philadelphia, and that we came on a clandestine ship...probably French.
Notes for ANN MARY //:In an E-Mail from (XXXXX@XXXX.XXX) The wife of John Roland is Mary Ann (?)
In an Email from Ferne Baldwin a Brethren researcher at Manchester College on August 16, 2000:
I can add only a little -- Johannes Roland his wife and one to three children came to the colonies in 1726 or 27 .. he was said to be a weaver..and were part of the Conestoga congregation (German Baptist Brethren) and were involved to some degree with the Ephrata schism... probably did not join..Mary and her husband Joseph Grebill daughter of John Roland also became involved some way is the conflict between Israel Eckerlin, the Prior, and Beissel.. The Grebills moved to Maryland and bought land there sometime about 1746-50..Her brother, Jacob, followed and many Rolands followed inmigration to the West...I found a Joseph Krebiel and wife were baptized at Conestoga in 1747.. so, if this is the same individual they moved to Md. after that date...no month given. Ferne Baldwin, Manchester College.
In an Email from David Roland, dated 7-20-2000, he writes:
Here is what I have for Hans in 1728. I forget the primary source but Jane Evans Best described the scene in a January 1993 Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage article about the Beissel schism in the Conestoga Brethren Congregation:
"In 1728 Conrad Beissel published his treatise on the Sabbath which was printed by Andrew Bradford in Philadelphia. 'It caused much tumult and so all those who belonged to the community from near and far began observing the Sabbath [Saturday].' During the fall of 1728 the group was almost equally divided, and those who disagreed with Beissel 'held a meeting, the first day at Hansel Landis' place, then at Hildebrand's, at Hohn's, at Daniel Eicher's, AT HANS ROLAND'S, and at Luy's. Daniel Eicher and Hildebrand presided at many of these meetings.' "My current sense is that Hans and family came in 1726 or 1727. As you probably know, by 1727 William Penn's agents had been so successful in attracting German-speaking immigrants to Pennsylvania that the Pennsylvania Proprietary Legislature passed an Act requiring ship captains to furnish the authorities at Philadelphia with a "List of Immigrants" (males over 16 only) and proof that they had permission from the British Crown to settle here. Since Hans does not seem to show up on any of the 1727, 1728 or later lists (until Jay's 1738 find), I'm guessing he came before the lists were required. I'm intrigued by Han's association with Landis, Hildebrand and the others in the 1728 Beissel dispute. I have tried to note the whereabouts of the other men and all seem to have been around the Lancaster area or in Pennsylvania for one to four years before the fall of 1728. This makes me think that Hans had been in Conestoga for a while and perhaps had prior friendships with some of the men, perhaps even in Germany or Switzerland.
What is especially interesting is that Hans is the only one of the men mentioned for whom no prior reference seems to exist. This is one of my current lines of research by the way. It may not prove any more fruitful than some my other dead ends but seems worth a try. Incidentally, if you are wondering about the Beissel/Brethren dispute, Brethren historian Don Durnbaugh says that what Hans and the others could not accept was Beissel's "emphasis upon personal revelation above Scripture, celibacy above marriage, Judaizing tendencies above Christian [DR note: I think this principally means worshiping on Saturday instead of Sunday], and adulation of a human leader above reverence for Christ. "In any case, by the fall of 1735 the first of Ephrata's communal buildings had been completed and Beissel and his followers were living there. Interestingly, our Hans must not have completely severed his relationship with Beissel because it was not until November 1736 that he left Ephrata. My guess is that Hans was not one of the brothers or sisters at Ephrata but a "householder," living with his family outside the compound and helping with weaving, milling or whatever he did. The difficult and probably somewhat unreliable Chronicon Ephratense says Hans left Ephrata in a refusal to accept celibacy, and there may be some truth in that. On the other hand, the resourceful Hans bought his 250 acres in Leacock Township (quite a distance from Ephrata in those days) in May 1736, six months before the report of his Ephrata departure, which suggests that he had planned to leave for some time. As for Hans' post-Ephrata religious status, I don't have a clue. He doesn't show up in any later Conestoga Brethren lists that I have found. Did the family become Mennonite? It is possible that they were Mennonite in Europe, by the way, and became Brethren in Conestoga because there were no Mennonites close enough to form a worship group. Many of the early Pennsylvania Brethren seem to have had Mennonite roots. Maybe Hans and his children went in different directions. Son Jacob and daughter Anna (m. Jacob Funk) after all went to Hagerstown as Mennonites we think. By the time of the Revolution son John Jr. was in uniform, not a common occurrence among Mennonites I'm told.
I also found a description of "Roland's Mill": .... "Theodorus Eby .....settled on Mill Creek, two miles southwest from the present site of New Holland, where they with their own hands constructed the first grist mill in this region, from the trees and stones in the forest on the land which they had afterwards patented to them. The place was known, in order of succession, as Eby's, Ryan's, Roland's, and now for many years Hoober's mill. It is quite close to Zeltenreich's Reformed Church, lying between the Upper Conestoga and the Pequea settlements." I think that the passage is taken from the "Eby Report".