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Start Over Collection Roller Family Papers 1828-1974
Virginia Historical Society

Roller Family Papers 1828-1974

Includes correspondence, account books and loose accounts, commonplace books, and miscellaneous materials documenting the close relationship between members of the Cabell and the related Micklem and Eubank families, especially among the women. Prominently represented are Elizabeth Willis (Eubank) Cabell of "Inglewood," Nelson County, Va., who maintained a large household made up of her immediate family, her husband's sister, children who attended the school run by her son and daughter, and summer boarders; and her daughters, Mary Caroline Cabell, a teacher who ran the school at Inglewood; Lucy Brown (Cabell) Roller, who married John Edwin Roller of Harrisonburg, Va., and had an active domestic and social life; and Margaret Etta (Cabell) Matthews, who married an Anglican missionary and lived with him for several years in Liberia; and Elizabeth Henry (Roller) Bottimore, of Richmond, Va., and Glens Falls, N.Y., daughter of Lucy Brown (Cabell) Roller, who maintained an extensive social correspondence with friends, many of whom lived in or frequently travelled to foreign countries. In general the correspondence concerns domestic activities, including courtship and marriage, the births of children, illnesses and deaths, problems with servants, and the procurement of clothing and other household articles; the running of the Inglewood school and the work of other family members, split between teaching and the law; and social activities in Nelson County, Harrisonburg, and Richmond, Va., among the Cabell and Roller families and a wide network of friends and relations. Also included are the papers of John Edwin Roller, a Harrisonburg, Va., lawyer and active member of the Republican Party, largely concerning his plans to run for the Virginia House of Delegates in 1872 and his relationships with his wife, her daughters, and his daughters from his first marriage.
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Roller Family Papers 1828-1974

Includes correspondence, account books and loose accounts, commonplace books, and miscellaneous materials documenting the close relationship between members of the Cabell and the related Micklem and Eubank families, especially among the women. Prominently represented are Elizabeth Willis (Eubank) Cabell of "Inglewood," Nelson County, Va., who maintained a large household made up of her immediate family, her husband's sister, children who attended the school run by her son and daughter, and summer boarders; and her daughters, Mary Caroline Cabell, a teacher who ran the school at Inglewood; Lucy Brown (Cabell) Roller, who married John Edwin Roller of Harrisonburg, Va., and had an active domestic and social life; and Margaret Etta (Cabell) Matthews, who married an Anglican missionary and lived with him for several years in Liberia; and Elizabeth Henry (Roller) Bottimore, of Richmond, Va., and Glens Falls, N.Y., daughter of Lucy Brown (Cabell) Roller, who maintained an extensive social correspondence with friends, many of whom lived in or frequently travelled to foreign countries. In general the correspondence concerns domestic activities, including courtship and marriage, the births of children, illnesses and deaths, problems with servants, and the procurement of clothing and other household articles; the running of the Inglewood school and the work of other family members, split between teaching and the law; and social activities in Nelson County, Harrisonburg, and Richmond, Va., among the Cabell and Roller families and a wide network of friends and relations. Also included are the papers of John Edwin Roller, a Harrisonburg, Va., lawyer and active member of the Republican Party, largely concerning his plans to run for the Virginia House of Delegates in 1872 and his relationships with his wife, her daughters, and his daughters from his first marriage.

Series 10.1.: Correspondence, 1870-1916 Box 15-18

Correspondence of Gen. John Edwin "Ned" Roller, chiefly falling into two periods, 1870-1872, concerning Roller's plans to run for election to the Virginia House of Delegates, and 1895-1916, concerning his marriage in 1896 to Lucy Brown Cabell, and after, concerning his family life. Many correspondents from the earlier period give details of political sentiment on the local level (see William Withers Adams, William B. W. Brooking, Henry B. Harnsberger, Henry Marcellus Keyser, John Marshall McCue, William Merry Perkins, E. D. Pettit, Charles Summerville Rohr, Lawrence Royster, Ezra Eugenius Stickley, William Harrison Triplett, John Richard Wingfield, Charles Junius Woodson, and others). Non-family letters from the later period are typically letters of congratulations on his marriage.
Letters to Lucy Brown Cabell during their courtship discuss the objections of Roller's teenage daughters to their marriage, the age difference between Roller and Lucy, and Lucy's father's objections to the proposed marriage settlement. Letters after their marriage are chiefly exchanged while Roller is traveling on business and during Lucy's annual visits to her family at Inglewood, Nelson co., and discuss their children and domestic issues.
Letters to Roller from daughters Frances Lewis (Roller) Grattan and Margaret Stuart (Roller) Cannady Ogilvie Merryman concern their attendance at Woman's College, Frederick, Md. (now Hood College), in particular social activities and financial needs. Letters from Roller to daughters Elizabeth Henry (Roller) Bottimore, Anne Woolston (Roller) Pyle, and Lucy Cabell Roller contain family news and fatherly advice while they are away visiting Cabell relatives.
Also included is scattered correspondence with Roller's brothers, Oliver Brown Roller, Peter Samuel Roller, Robert Douglas Roller, and William Wirt Roller, largely concerning the financing of their respective educations. Oliver attended the Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Va. Peter attended Augusta Military Academy. Robert attended the Episcopal Theological Seminary of Virginia.

  1. Series 10.: John Edwin Roller (1844-1918) papers, 1835-1918

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