A Guide to the Papers of John E. Roller 1813-1916
A Collection in
The Special Collections Department
Accession Number 9478
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Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library
Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections LibraryUniversity of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4110
USA
Phone: (434) 243-1776
Fax: (434) 924-4968
Reference Request Form: https://small.lib.virginia.edu/reference-request/
URL: http://small.library.virginia.edu/
© 2002 By the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia. All rights reserved.
Funding: Web version of the finding aid funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Processed by: Jamie H. Cockfield
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
There are no restrictions.
Use Restrictions
See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.
Preferred Citation
Papers of John E. Roller, Accession #9478 , Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.
Acquisition Information
The University of Virginia Library purchased these papers from Mr. Harry Dupoy of Mt. Crawford, Virginia, on May 1, 1970.
Biographical/Historical Information
John Edwin Roller (1844-1918), a lawyer, businessman, and politician from Harrisonburg, Virginia, was born in Rockingham County, Virginia, in 1844 of parents of German and French Huguenot descent. At sixteen, he tried to join the Confederate Army but was told that he was too young. He therefore "attached" himself to the 1st Virginia Cavalry and saw action at the first Battle of Bull Run. He attended the Virginia Military Institute from 1862-1863 and was then stationed in Charleston, South Carolina, until late 1864, when he was transferred to the Richmond and Petersburg area.
After the Civil War, he attended Law School at the University of Virginia and was admitted to the Virginia Bar in 1867. He soon became recognized as one of Virginia's leading land lawyers. He served in the Virginia Senate from 1869 to 1873. In 1872, he was appointed Major-General of the Virginia Militia.
Nominally a Democrat, he broke with the party in 1886 over the question of the tariff, and with Republican support, he ran unsuccessfully for Congress that year. In 1888 he ran, again unsuccessfully, as the formal Republican nominee. A man of letters, his library of over two thousand books contained numerous works in German and French.
Scope and Content Information
The collection contains personal, business, and legal correspondence of Roller. There are notes, memoranda, testimony and other court materials, as well as clippings, maps, scrapbooks, maps, ledgers, and genealogy. Two decades of Virginia politics are well represented, especially the 1886 and 1888 Congressional elections. Among the correspondents are John Paul, Berkeley Minor, Alexander R. Pendleton, the American Protective Tariff League, the Anti-Saloon League of Virginia, and the Rockingham County Historical Society.
The first series consisting of correspondence, includes six boxes of outgoing business and legal correspondence in the form of letter press books, 1878-1914, with some letters to Theodore Roosevelt; six boxes of incoming correspondence, 1856-1916, arranged chronologically, dealing with Roller's business and legal affairs; and topical correspondence containing the correspondence of O.B. Roller, letters from the 1886 and 1888 election campaigns, personal correspondence, 1852-1914, and notebooks.
The second series, business materials, contains four boxes of business ledgers, 1813-1916, bills and receipts, cancelled checks, Excellsior Oak Bark papers, and miscellaneous envelopes.
The third series, consisting of legal materials, includes three boxes of case notes and legal memoranda, 1880-1916, court testimony from various cases, subpoenas, Docket of the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, 1870's-1890's, lawsuit books, a table of the Maryland family heirs, and the memo book of the Rockingham County Court.
The fourth series, four boxes of miscellaneous papers, consists of news clippings about the Mennonites, miscellaneous maps, a catalog of Roller's library, correspondence of the Rockingham County Historical Society, 1898-1901, newspapers, and scraps of paper.
The last series contains forty-nine scrapbooks and ledgers, concerning agriculture, business, Virginia politics, 1900-1908, literary materials, the Spanish-American War, copious material on Virginia genealogy, the Civil War, and a wide range of miscellanenous materials.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged in five series, including 1) Correspondence; 2) Business Materials; 3) Legal Materials; 4) Miscellaneous; and 5) Scrapbooks and Ledgers.
Contents List
- Box 1
Business and Legal Correspondence - Outgoing 1878 Jul 16-1882 Sep 274 Letter Press Books
- Box 1-A
Business and Legal Correspondence - Outgoing 1882 Sep-18864 Letter Press Books
- Box 2
Business and Legal Correspondence - Outgoing 1884 Jun 18-1888 Oct4 Letter Press Books
- Box 3
Business and Legal Correspondence - Outgoing 1892 May-1893 Nov 153 Letter Press Books
- Box 4
Business and Legal Correspondence - Outgoing 1893 Nov 15-1895 Dec 54 Letter Press Books
- Box 5
Business and Legal Correspondence - Outgoing 1896 Jul-1914 Dec3 Letter Press Books
- Box 6
Business and Legal Correspondence - Incoming 1856-1889ca. 180 items
- Box 7
Business and Legal Correspondence - Incoming 1890-1895ca. 200 items
- Box 8
Business and Legal Correspondence - Incoming 1896-1900ca. 250 items
- Box 9
Business and Legal Correspondence - Incoming 1901-1909ca. 230 items
- Box 10
Business and Legal Correspondence - Incoming 1910-1911ca. 300 items
- Box 11
Business and Legal Correspondence - Incoming 1912-1916ca. 150 items
- Box 11
Topical Correspondence of Colonel O.B. Roller 1902ca. 30 items
- Box 11
Topical Correspondence with Book Dealers ca. 1911ca. 20 items
- Box 12
Business Ledger 1813-1861
sale of supplies of Weaver and Carpenter
- Box 12
Business Ledger 1846-1861
account ledger
- Box 12
Business Ledger 1857-1858
notebook of supplies ordered
- Box 12
Business Ledger 1856-1862
lumber orders; also contains lectures on truss construction
- Box 12
Business Ledger 1891
cash book
- Box 12
Business Ledger 1815-1816
- Box 13
Business Ledger 1855-1862
accounts
- Box 13
Business Ledger 1881-1890
accounts
- Box 13
Printed Manuscript ca. 1878-1916ca. 200 items
bills and receipts
- Box 13
Printed Material ca. 1900
insurance policies and contracts
- Box 14
Cancelled Checks and Promissory Notes 1870-1916ca. 2500 items
- Box 15
Excellsior Oak Bark Company 1889-1905ca. 150 items
Letters, bills, and receipts
- Box 15
Miscellaneous Business Envelopes n.d.
- Box 16
Manuscript and Typewritten Case Notes and Legal Papers 1880-1916ca. 75 items
- Box 17
Printed and Signed Subpeonas and Judgements 1886-1892ca. 4 items
- Box 17
Argument Docket of the Court of Appeals of Virginia 1877, 1879, 1881, 1891ca. 4 items
- Box 17
Court Testimony in Miscellaneous cases n.d.Typed Manuscript Signed
- Box 17
Correspondence and manuscripts regarding the L.L. Shadwell Affair n.d.ca. 75 items
- Box 17
Stenographic Notebook n.d.ca. 2 items
- Box 18
Typed Letter Signed n.d.
Note on Legal Cases
- Box 18
Ledger - Lawsuit Book 1872-1875
- Box 18
Notebook of Law Lectures 1880
- Box 18
Notebook n.d.
Table of descent of Maryland Heirs
- Box 18
Ledger 1856-1860
Memorandum Case Book of Rockingham County Courthouse
- Box 19
Maps n.d.3 items
City Planning Maps
- Box 19
"The Incidents of the Retreat to Appomattox" by John Roller n.d.Typed Manuscript
- Box 19
News clippings regarding the Mennonites n.d.ca. 200 items
- Box 19
Tariff Speech for the GOP by John E. Roller 1908Typed Manuscript
- Box 19
Miscellaneous Maps n.d.
- Box 19
Miscellaneous Indices n.d.ca. 7 items
- Box 20
Correspondence of the Rockingham County Historical Society 1898 Mar-1901 MarLetter Press Book
- Box 20
Historical Sketch of the Exhibit ExLibris , by General Roller n.d.notebook
- Box 20
Catalogue of the Library of John Roller by room, bookcase, and shelf n.d.notebook
- Box 21
Miscellaneous Newspapers dates not providedca. 20 items
- Box 22
Printed Pamphlet n.d.
Miscellaneous
- Box 22
Miscellaneous Fragments of Letters and Correspondence n.d.60 items
- Box 22
Unidentified Photographs n.d.75 items
-
Citation to John E. Roller on the Tricentennial of Jamestown's Founding 1907oversize folder
- Box 23
Scrapbooks, with notes on American and European history, and the American Revolution n.d.2 scrapbooks
- Box 24
Scrapbooks - Oil Industry n.d.
- Box 24
Scrapbooks - German-American n.d.
- Box 25
Scrapbooks - Curios and Book Notices n.d.
- Box 25
Scrapbooks - Political Materials ca. 1900-1908
- Box 26
Scrapbooks of Poetry Clippings n.d.2 scrapbooks
- Box 27
Scrapbooks - Literary Materials n.d.
- Box 27
Scrapbooks -Families of Virginia and Maryland (Genealogy) n.d.
- Box 28
Scrapbooks -Families of Virginia and Maryland (Genealogy) n.d.2 scrapbooks
- Box 29
Scrapbooks -Families of Virginia and Maryland (Genealogy) n.d.2 scrapbooks
- Box 30
Scrapbooks -Farming and Agriculture n.d.2 scrapbooks
- Box 31
Scrapbooks - Cabell Family ca. 1900-1905
- Box 31
Scrapbooks - Ex-Confederates Visit to Canton, Ohio to see the McKinley Scrapbook ca. 1896-1897
- Box 31
Scrapbooks - Texas Industry and Farming n.d.3 scrapbooks
- Box 31
Scrapbooks - Presidential Campaigns 19084 scrapbooks
- Box 32
Scrapbooks - Civil War n.d.
- Box 32
Scrapbooks - Farming and Agriculture n.d.
- Box 33
Scrapbooks - Civil War n.d.2 scrapbooks
- Box 34
Scrapbooks - Miscellaneous n.d.
- Box 35
Scrapbooks - Texas Real Estate, House Plans, Railroads in West Virginia, etc. ca. 1910
- Box 35
Scrapbooks - Miscellaneous n.d.
- Box 36
Scrapbooks - Miscellaneous n.d.2 scrapbooks
- Box 37
Scrapbooks - Historical and Literary n.d.2 scrapbooks
- Box 38
Scrapbooks - Miscellaneous n.d.2 scrapbooks
-
Oak Extract Company Ledger 1905oversize ledger
-
Business Ledger 1909-1910oversize ledger
-
Business Ledger 1904-1911oversize ledger
-
Business Ledger 1911oversize ledger
-
Business Ledger 1904-1910oversize ledger
-
Business Ledger 1906-1911oversize ledger
-
Rockingham School Tax Ledger 1871-1874oversize ledger
-
Ledger with a list of books, probably the library of General Roller n.d.oversize ledger
-
Scrapbook of Miscellaneous Poetry n.d.oversize scrapbook
-
Scrapbook concerning the Spanish-American War n.d.oversize scrapbook
-
Scrapbook of Miscellaneous Newspaper clippings n.d.oversize scrapbook
-
Scrapbook concerning Texas Agriculture ca. 1910oversize scrapbook
-
Scrapbook concerning Texas Agriculture ca. 1910oversize scrapbook
-
Scrapbook of Pictures and Cards n.d.oversize scrapbook
-
Scrapbook of Pictures and Cards n.d.oversize scrapbook