This post is number 7 in the series of the 52 Ancestors Challenge where we blog about a different ancestor for each week of the year.
Oliver Cromwell Roll (aka Ollie C. Roll) was of medium height and build with gray eyes and brown hair. His life was short t down by bronchopneumonia in the 1918 Influenza Epidemic. He lived long enough to marry my great grandmother Mabel Pittman and have one child, Olive A. Roll.
Ollie C Roll, 8 months old, 1884
Scan of a tintype photo
At 16, Ollie is working as day laborer, so is his 13 brother David; according to the 1900 Census. On his 1917 WWI Registration card, he lists his occupation as miner for Woolley Mines. I find it interesting that he and Mabel live on Olive Street in Evansville, Indiana with their daughter named, Olive.
Born to David W. Roll and Katherine Traylor Guy in 1884, most likely named for his father’s brother; Oliver C. Roll (1848-1926). He is the oldest son with five living siblings. He married Mabel on August 10, 1906. I do not have a copy of the marriage certificate. The record at FamilySearch.org cites a record showing Ollie’s last name as ROSE. It is most likely a transcription error.
My grandmother, Olive, was very fond of her father and greatly sadden by his death. Her family story is that she passed the flu virus on to her father that eventually claimed his life in 1918. After Ollie’s death, Mabel kept in touch with the Roll family throughout her life and so did my grandmother Olive.
Sources
Death Certificate – Vanderburgh Co Health Department certified copy issued October 2003 from the original record. The original source of this record is the book CH-5 on page 342 within the series produced by the Indiana Works Progress Administration.
WWI Registration Card
Marriage Certificate – “Kentucky Marriages, 1785-1979,” index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/F498-C8G : accessed 17 Feb 2014), Ollie Rose and Mabel Pittman, 10 Aug 1906.