• Last updated: June 20, 2002
• We now have over 36,000 ancestors and descendents in our database!
• 6/20/02 - More ROLL Reunion page updates: The 1,172 person GERMAN-RUSSIAN ROLL genealogy web page is now up and running. We added four ROLL cousins who emigrated from SOUTH RUSSIA. Georg (1863-1926) and Margaret (1868-1926) ROLL HERNER traveled in October, 1891 via Hamberg, Germany to New York on the ship "First Bismarck" from Speier, South Russia to Richardton, ND with her single "sister", Marian ROLL. Some say Marian was not her sister, but a cousin. Other traveling families include the MARTINs, and MÜLLERs. Marian ROLL REICHERT (1872-1942) arrived with the HERNERs and, in 1893, married Ambrose REICHERT (1866-1951) who had emigrated to North Dakota the previous year. Two ROLLs sailed to Argentina, South America before settling in the USA: 1) Jacob John ROLL (1853-1916) with wives Maria BOPP and Elisabetha RISSLING lived in the Spokane, Washington area. 2) Two of Franz (1852-1933) and Magdalena (1858-1933) ROLL FEININGER's daughters, Marianna and Katharina, arrived from Cuardroche Provinsio la Pampa, Buenes Aires, Argentina, South America to Bismarck/Mandan, North Dakota area in 1902.
• 2/7/02 - Significant updates have been made to the ROLL Reunion page. One of the three rumored "lost ROLL sisters", Monica ROLL SCHAFF , was found in Odense, Morton, ND. She married Jacob SCHAFF and died in 1903 at the young age of 28. Her four daughters married into the BOEHM, HELBLING, SCHMIDT, and VETTER families. Her family emigrated in 1900. Please view the full SCHAFF Family Tree Chart for more details.
  We think Joseph ROLL [FETT/ROLL] , who emigrated in 1911 to the Flasher/New Salem, Morton, ND area and married Emelia ERHARDT and Barbara KUNTZ, is a step-nephew to Monica and her 3 emigrant brothers. Their children's spouses include CONNOR, DUSCHERER, ERHARDT, FERDERER, RESSLER, SCHAFER, TABISON, and TOPPING.
  We are in the process of gathering their genealogy tree information and selecting ROLL Reunion Team Leaders.
  The Worldwide ROLL Surname Project web page construction is continuing at a fast pace. The database should be on-line soon.
• Subscribe to the ROLL 2010 reunion Listserve (includes full rules and instructions) by sending an email to reunion@@rollintl.com. Include the word "subscribe" in the subject line. This ROLL listserve is restricted to only relatives interested in sharing and receiving information regarding our ROLL reunion in 2008. This is a great way to send emails to your ROLL relatives. Make sure to tell all your family members with Internet access to subscribe!
  
• The ROLL Reunion date has been changed from the summer of 2002 to 2008. The main reasons for the alteration:
  1. We overestimated the time needed to properly organize this large event. We were not able to suitably determine the number of people attending the reunion, so we did not know the size of facility to rent, or the amount of food to order. We will make a more valid attempt to request everyone to send in their Address Sheet form. In the near future, we will post all the relatives who sent in their forms, including the number of attendees in their party and the number of orders for tapes, videos, and T-shirts.
  Since this reunion required a large number of Bismarck/Mandan hotel reservations, there was not enough time for everyone to reserve a room. To assure availability, rooms must be reserved ONE YEAR in advance!
  The September 11th terrorist attack helped created an unfavorable travel environment and an economic slump, which could financially hamper an excellent turnout. This has also delayed Mitch Roll's trip to the Ukraine to finalize the documentation of the ROLL family.
  New and exciting information had been uncovered about additional ROLL families that need to be included in the ROLL genealogy book. Extra time will be needed to complete this research.
• Dear ROLL Relatives,
  To celebrate a century of American citizenship, the ROLL 2008 Family Reunion Committee is preparing a reunion for the families of the three ROLL brothers (George, Sebastian, Monica, Joseph, and Joseph [FETT/ROLL]) who came to North Dakota over 100 years ago. The five "emigrant ROLL children" had a total of 54 known children/step-children of which 43 married and had their own families. The Reunion Committee members are the volunteers and representatives/Team Leaders of each of the 43 emigrant ROLL children's children. You can find your Team Leader and contact information in the Team Leader List section which includes all their contact information.
  Each of the 43 Team Leaders is responsible for gathering all the dates and places of their respective family's births, marriages and deaths. We need each individual family member to fully cooperate to make this a complete and accurate book for generations to come. Please note that all birth, death, and marriage dates/locations are by law already available to the general public, but it takes a lot of time to request a copy of each document from the government. Our first scheduled target date to have all the forms/database completed and submitted to the book publisher was January 31st, 2001. Our second target date is June 1, 2002.
  Copies of the forms with detailed instructions are available for viewing and downloading on the forms page.
  Remember, the life-spring blood that flows through you flows through all of us!
• The reunion will be held on the July 4th, 2008 weekend (Thursday, July 3rd to Sunday, July 6th) in Bismarck, North Dakota at either the Ramada Inn or the Bismarck Civic Center.
  
  
  We are expecting over 1,000 relatives to attend. As a Gulf War Veteran would say, "this is the mother of all ROLL reunions."
  The first ROLL Reunion 2008 organization meeting was held on July 12, 2000 in Bismarck. Team Leaders were assigned for all the ROLL descendents.
• An heirloom quality ROLL genealogy book titled, The Living History of the German-Russian ROLL "Fame" Family is being prepared for the family reunion. The book will include a full genealogy tree, pictures of our ancestors, and places where they lived.
• We have completed about 60% of a video documentary of the ancestral ROLL farms and towns in North Dakota, South Russia and Germany going back to 1698.
• We will be using the Address Sheet form to find out how many people plan to attend the reunion, and how many ROLL genealogy books, video documentaries, and T-shirts they are interested in purchasing. We do not know the prices yet, but expect the books to be in the $30 to $50 range and the videos will range from $10 to $20. Once a final price has been determined we will contact each household to get the final total and request prepayment. You can order the books, videos, and T-shirts even if you do not plan to attend the reunion. They can either be sent to you (you pay the shipping costs) or they can be picked up at the Bismarck reunion. Also in the plans are to build a ROLL address/phone book (and database) so you can meet your relatives when traveling!
• We are looking for the following 4 pictures of each family:
  1. The wedding picture of each child of the 5 emigrant ROLL children (George, Sebastian, Monica, Joseph, and Joseph [FETT/ROLL]). If there is no wedding picture, then we would like to have a picture of the couple as close to their wedding date as possible.
  2. A picture of the parents (hopefully as a couple) in their elder years.
  3. A family group picture when the children were young. We would like to have the parents in the picture if possible. If there is no group picture, we will accept youth-aged pictures on each child individually.
  4. A family group shot when the children were adults. Parent wedding anniversary pics are ideal. If there is no group picture, we will accept adult-aged pictures on each child individually.
     Check out the pictures in the Organization Overview section to see which pictures we are missing of your family. There is no need to send us duplicates. Make sure to review the names, dates and pictures, and let us know about any errors.
We owe enormous gratitude to Diane (ROLL-BURNS) HEIDECKER. She has been working on the 3 emigrant ROLL brother's genealogy for over 20 years! Diane has shared all her work with us.
• In July, 2000, Mitch Roll toured and videoed the North Dakota homesteads (farms), towns and cemeteries of the ROLL ancestors.
• In June, 2000, Mitch Roll visited the old ROLL ancestral towns in Germany. He took many videos and pictures and acquired history books on these towns. Next summer he will travel to the Ukraine (South Russia) to do the same.

FAMILY PICTURE UPDATE - (UPDATED JULY 30, 2001)

Frank ROLL (1898-1972) & Barbara STROH RICHTER ROLL

Barbara ROLL (1906-1993) & Adam STOCKERT (-1963)

We still have not receive the following Team Leader Pictures:

Family Pictures Needed:

Elder couple picture (George ROLL's pic is still needed)

Family portrait when children were young

Family portrait when children were adults

Elder couple picture

Wedding picture

Family portrait when children were young (child-Carl Zentner)

Family portrait when children were adults

Wedding picture

Elder couple picture

Family portrait when children were adults

Elder couple picture

Family portrait when children were young (children & step-children)

Family portrait when children were adults

Wedding picture

Elder couple picture

Family portrait when children were young (child- Bill Wilmart)

Family portrait when children were young

Family portrait when children were young

Family portrait when children were adults

Family portrait when children were adults

Wedding picture

Family portrait when children were young

Elder couple picture

Family portrait when children were young

Family portrait when children were adults (need more adults)

Family portrait when children were adults

Elder couple picture

Family portrait when children were adults

Wedding picture

Elder couple picture

Family portrait when children were young

Family portrait when children were adults

Family portrait when children were young

Family portrait when children were adults (need an "older" adult pic)

Elder couple picture

Family portrait when children were young

Family portrait when children were young

Wedding picture

Elder couple picture

Family portrait when children were young

Wedding picture

Elder couple picture

Family portrait when children were adults

Elder couple picture

Family portrait when children were young

Family portrait when children were adults

Wedding picture

Elder couple picture

Family portrait when children were young

Family portrait when children were adults

Elder couple picture