Roeller-18.jpg

Roeller farms in the North Collins-Eden area

Privacy Level: Open (White)
Date: 1850 to 1960
Location: Erie, New Yorkmap
Surname/tag: Roeller
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Georg Peter Röller, his wife Barbara née Singer and family emigrated from the Alsatian Rhineland in Germany to America in 1846, settling in Erie County, New York. The family name was americanized to 'Roeller'. This page describes the farms held by Georg Peter and his sons in the North Collins-Eden townships area. The North Collins-Eden area in question as it appears today is shown in the image entitled 'General area of Roeller farms', with what is called today Sisson Highway going north from Langford, NY in North Collins township and crossing into Eden township to continue towards the town of Eden, with Clarksburg road branching off to the northeast toward Clarksburg. The various Roeller farms were located in the area of the junction of Sisson Highway and Clarksburg road, initially on the North Collins side of the township boundary and later on the Eden side, which sometimes creates confusion.

Contents

Georg Peter Röller's original farm

The Georg Peter Röller family appears to have first settled a 28-acre farm in North Collins along what is today Sisson Highway between Langford and the township line with Eden, or possibly along Clarksburg Road, as indicated by the red circle in Likely location of Roeller farms in 1855. The map shown in Likely location of Roeller farms in 1855 was published in 1855 so is based on a survey done in the previous few years and so might have been done before Georg Peter had settled there, explaining why his name does not appear. The general location is based on how Georg Peter's family was listed in the 1855 New York State census (as Peter Ralah, with wife Barbara and sons Peter and Michael). The table below lists the households on the census pages immediately preceding and following the Peter Ralah record, so are assumed to be in the same neighborhood.

Households in 1855 Census listed near George Peter Röller
Dwelling No. Name Birthplace Occupation Yrs in North Collins Owns land In Survey Map
73 George P. Sipple Germany Merchant 12 Y Y
74 Gabriel Houck Germany Butcher 5 Y N
75 Sylvester Haperer Germany Shoemaker 2 Y N
76 Andrew Benjamin Germany Blacksmith 2 N N
77 Matt Lockus Germany Waggonmaker 1 Y N
78 Andrew and John (father) Nano Germany Farmer 21 Y Y
79 Mary Myshite Germany [blank] 3 Y Y
80 Alma Whittamore Hast? Farmer (son) 24 Y Y
81 Louis Shinggler Germany Farmer 4 Y Y
82 Anthony Coon France Farmer 20 Y Y
83 Jacob Rotsal Germany Farmer 20 Y Y
84 Murdas Coon Germany Farmer 20 Y Y
85 John Shaller Germany Farmer 20 Y Y
86 Lewis Gardner Germany Farmer 21 Y Y
87 Knotts Told Germany Farmer 20 Y N
88 Charles F. Ottenbacher Germany Physician 4 Y N
89 Peter Conrax France Blacksmith 1 Y N
90 Louis Poullain France Mason 18 Y N
91 Peter Ralah Germany Farmer 7 Y N
92 Joseph Naber Germany Shoemaker 3 Y N
93 Adam Haperer Germany Farmer 21 Y N
94 George Young Germany Farmer 20 Y Y
95 George Harmon Germany Farmer 20 Y Y
96 George P. Unger Germany Farmer 18 Y Y
97 Martin Haperer Germany Farmer 21 Y N
98 George Minichaem Germany Farmer 15 Y Y
99 Sheram Young Germany Farmer 20 Y N
100 John Gear Prusia [sic] Farmer 18 Y N
101 Nicholas Roesser Germany Farmer 20 Y Y
102 John Zahm France Farmer 14 Y Y
103 Peter Bloch France Farmer 20 Y Y
104 Andrew Roeller Germany Cabinet Maker 7 Y N
105 Simon Lindsley Germany Farmer 1/12 Y N
106 Michael Matthias France Farmer 2 Y N
107 John Mandershite Germany Carpenter 2 Y N
108 Joseph Jennings Niagara Co., NY Farmer 32 Y Y
109 Jakob Mosel Germany Farmer 3 N N
110 Theodore Stickney Erie Co. NY Cooper 27 Y N
111 Uln M. White Erie Co. NY Farmer 26 Y N
112 Simone Lewis Erie Co NY Farmer 37 Y N
113 Johnathan Townsend Jr Mass Blacksmith 15 N N
114 Robert Seatt Tioga Co., NY Farmer 32 Y N

A good number of the household names match those on the 1855 map, but there are also many missing and vice-versa. Several households are tradesmen who probably lived in or near the Langford village, and the others are all farmers. Quite a number do not appear on the map and vice versa, which reflects the map's exclusive focus on landowners, but also may indicate a fairly dynamic land market (also seen in the short durations of residence recorded for many in the table). It is interesting to note the predominance of German and French immigrants among the households.

Georg Peter Röller died in 1857 and is buried in the Dittman cemetery together with a number of the Roeller family members; the cemetery is located in the triangle just at the junction Sisson Highway and Clarksburg road. As of 1860, Georg Peter's son George Peter 'G.P.' was continuing to work the farm while living with his brother Andrew. G.P married that year and by 1865 had moved to farm at another site farther south in the township. Land records will need to be examined to determine the fate of Langford farm.

Andrew Roeller's farms

Georg Peter's eldest son, Andreas or Andrew, married |Maria Bloch. Maria was the only child of Peter Bloch, so Peter may have been happy to have Andrew join him to farm on nearby Clarksburg Road, still in North Collins. It may also have prompted Peter to purchase an additional 50 acres from the Holland Company in 1853.[1] The 1855 survey map shows two houses next to P. Bloch's name, so presumably the second one is where Andrew and Maria lived, as indicated by the green arrow in Likely location of Roeller farms in 1855. This is consistent with the same farmhouse being indicated as Andrew Roeller's in the 1866 survey map[2]. The land purchased by Peter Bloch was in range 8, which would have extended westward only halfway to Sisson Highway. Given these locations, all births and deaths in the Roeller family from 1850 to 1866 are assumed to have taken place in North Collins township.

Andrew's wife Maria died in 1865, and he then married the widow Sally Janes who owned a 50-acre farm on Sisson Highway parallel to Andrew's farm on Clarksburg Road, but just on the Eden side of the North Clinton-Eden town line. The location of Sally's house is shown clearly in the 1866 survey map in Sally Janes farm location, and the boundaries of the farm are shown in the 1880 survey map in Sally Roeller farm location. Andrew and his sons moved and joined Sally in her house, which remained in the family for the next two generations. Given the location of the farm, the children Andrew and Sally had together are assumed all born in Eden township. Sally's farm was valued at $2,500 in 1870. By 1870, he appears to have sold off his Clarksburg Road farm. (The land ownership map of 1880 shows Andrew's former farm on Clarksburg road in North Collins now owned by S. Linster Jr. and Peter Bloch's farm occupied by Peter Prim.) Sally maintained ownership of her land, which was to be inherited by Sally's daughters by her first husband. Andrew acquired the land to be inherited by the two daughters in 1886 (see documentation from that transaction posted on Andrew's wikitree page). Over the following 30 years, the farm expanded to include an additional 77 acres from the Adam Dittman plot to the south and another 108 acres owned by the wife of Andrew's son Andrew Martin. By 1909, Andrew's son John owned the former Dittman plot and the original Sally Janes plot was under the deceased Andrew Martin's name, which presumably was operated jointly with his wife's land. Andrew continued to live with his son John's family until his death in 1908.

The Enumeration District Map of Eden for the 1940 US Census[3] shows John Roeller owning 127 acres having consolidated the original Sally Roeller plot together with the Dittman plot. The farm was being operated by his son-in-law Roy Allanson and daughter Edna while John lived in Eden town. This farm passed to Roy and Edna after John died in 1950. They sold the farm when they retired in about 1960. The 1940 map shows Andrew Martin Roeller's widow maintaining ownership of her 68-acre Arlen plots. It is not clear who owns the adjacent plot of 45 acres to their east.

A photo of the farm (attached here as the image entitled 'John Roeller's farm) probably from the late 1890s or early 1900s shows how the farm was thriving with modern farm equipment.

Andrew M. Roeller's farm

One of Andrew's other sons, Andrew Martin, married Margaret Arlen from the neighboring northside farm on Sisson Highway in 1895. Thus for a while, the brother Andrew M. and John, were operating farms side by side on Sisson Highway. Andrew M. died young in 1902 and his widow continued to live on their farm for many years.

G. P. Roeller's farm

Andrew's brother George Peter, often referred to as G.P., was working on his parents' farm in 1855 and had joined his Andrew on his farm by 1860. G.P. married in 1860 and established his own farm on Kaiser Road in the very southeast corner of North Collins township where his mother and his brother Milton had joined him by 1865. G.P.'s interests soon gravitated to Eden where he took over a hotel in 1875 and soon bought a 92-acre farm just north of Eden town where he established orchards and poultry production in addition to the usual crops and livestock activities.

The farm house on Sisson Highway

The farm house where Sally Jane lived, and later John Roeller and then his daughter Edna and her husband Roy Allanson, was located on a larger plot originally bought by the Janes family. Sally's husband Carl owned the 50-acre section that Sally inherited. The house does not appear in the 1855 survey map, but appears to have been built in the early or mid 1850s and so was likely built by Carl's family or by Carl himself before he married Sally. All of Sally's children were probably born in that house, as were John Roeller's daughter and grandchildren.

Land ownership records in the two townships will need to be researched to confirm many of the details outlined above.

Farm activities

Agricultural schedules are available for the 1860-1880 censuses. These depict the composition of the Roeller family farms as the typical mixed farming system of the day of crops and livestock. The farms were initially relatively small and appear focused more on subsistence, producing Irish potatoes, feed for their small livestock holdings including work horses, and a bit of dairy and wool production. As the farms grew, the production specialized more in dairy production while diversifying into apple production.

Ancestry.com. U.S. Census Non-Population Schedules, New York, 1850-1880 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

Name: Andrew Roeller
Post office: Langford
Township: N. Collins
County: Erie
Enumeration Date: 19 Jul 1860
Type of Schedule: Agriculture
Source Citation: Census Year: 1860; Census Place: Collins, Erie, New York; Archive Collection Number: A12; Roll: 12; Page: 17; Line: 11
Farmland owned:
Improved: 15 acres
Unimproved: 15 acres
Value:
Farmland: 900
Farm equipment: 55
Livestock numbers
Horses: 2
Milch cows: 2
Swine: 1
Total value: 200
Crops
Rye: 10 bushels
Indian corn: 5 bushels
Oats: 30 bushels
Peas and beans: 2 bu
Irish potatoes: 150 bu
Other products
Butter: 200 lbs
Hay: 3 tons
Value of animals slaughtered: 20
NOTE: Andrew, his father-in-law Peter Bloch, and George Peter are all next to each other in the list, suggesting their farms were contiguous. Peter Bloch had 50 acres, 1 horse and 1 milch cow
Name: Geo. P. Roller
Post office: Langford
Township: N. Collins
County: Erie
Enumeration Date: 19 Jul 1860
Type of Schedule: Agriculture
Source Citation: Census Year: 1860; Census Place: Collins, Erie, New York; Archive Collection Number: A12; Roll: 12; Page: 17; Line: 13
Farmland owned:
Improved: 25 acres
Unimproved: 3 acres
Value:
Farmland: 1000
Farm equipment: 50
Crops
Oats: 75 bushels
Peas and beans: 1 bu
Irish potatoes: 150 bu
Buckwheat: 10 bu
Other products
Butter: 150 lbs
Hay: 3 tons
Value of animals slaughtered: 20

Ancestry.com. U.S., Selected Federal Census Non-Population Schedules, 1850-1880 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

Name: Rew [Andrews] Roeller
Enumeration Date: 3 Aug 1870
Place: Eden, Erie, New York, USA
Schedule Type: Agriculture
OS Page: 15
Line Number: 27
Source Citation: Census Year: 1870; Census Place: Eden, Erie, New York; Archive Collection Number: A22; Roll: 22; Page: 15; Line: 27; Schedule Type: Agriculture
Farmland owned:
Improved: 35 acres
Wood-land: 15 acres
Other unimproved: [blank]
Value:
Farmland: 2,500
Farm equipment: 150
Wages paid: 50
Livestock numbers
Horses: 1
Milch cows: 5
Sheep: 1
Swine: 2
Total value: 450
Crops
Indian corn: 60 bushels
Oats: 100 bushels
Wool: 5 lbs
Irish potatoes: 60 bushels
Other products
Butter: 500 lbs
Hay: 12 tons


Ancestry.com. U.S. Census Non-Population Schedules, New York, 1850-1880 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

Name: Andrew Roellar
Township: Eden
County: Erie
Enumeration Date: 12 Jun 1880
Type of Schedule: Agriculture
Source Citation: Census Year: 1880; Census Place: Eden, Erie, New York; Archive Collection Number: A42; Roll: 42; Page: 22; Line: 3
Farmland owned:
Improved: 20 acres
Pasture: 2 acres
Wood-land: 16 acres
Other unimproved: [blank]
Value:
Farmland: 2,300
Farm equipment: 250
Livestock: 425
Cost of fertilizer: 10
Wages paid: 10
Weeks of hired labor: 2
All farm production: 940
Grasslands:
Mown: 18 acres
Not mown: 15 acres
Hay: 18 tons
Livestock numbers
Horses: 2
Milch cows: 7
Other cattle: 1
Calves dropped: 7
Sold living: 7
Butter: 708 lbs
Sheep: 2
Lambs dropped: 3
Sheep and lambs sold living: 3
Clip/shorn fleeces: 2
Clip/shorn: 10 lbs
Swine: 3
Poultry, barnyard: 22
Eggs produced: 75
Crops
Indian corn: 2 acres, 30 bushels
Oats: 5 acres, 163 bushels
Rye: 1 acre, 9 bushels
Beans (dry): 2 bushels
Irish potatoes: 1 acre, 80 bushels
Orchards
Apple: 2 acres, 40 trees, 80 bushels
total value: 34
Forest products
Wood cut: 16 cords, $16

Sources

  1. Lot 8, range 8 of Township 7 on 12 Sep 1853, 'n m pt'. Cited in Erasmus Briggs. 1883. History of the original town of Concord, pp. 710, 715. Accessed 10 Jul 2022 Archive.org
  2. Ancestry.com. U.S., Indexed County Land Ownership Maps, 1860-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Original data: Various publishers of County Land Ownership Atlases. Microfilmed by the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
  3. Accessed in the U.S. Enumeration District Maps and Descriptions, 1940 collection at Ancestry.com. appears to still be under copyright by the Niagara Frontier Planning Board, 1936, so is not reproduced here.




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This is a great page, Thomas! My Black/Schwarz 2 great grandfather had a farm in nearby Derby. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Nicholas_Black_Farm
posted by Mark Weinheimer
Thanks Mark! Yours is neat, too! I am in the process of transcribing and translating my ancestors' records in Alsace and the German Pfalz, so really enjoyed his book! BTW, my grandparents retired to Derby after they lost their barns to arson -- fires started by a troubled boy they were fostering.
posted by Thomas Randolph