Dr. John W. Rollins - Son of Frederick Rollins?
Steven Weaver
am now hanging it out here in hopes that others reading it might be
able to tell us more...
John W. Rollins was reportedly born on 4 July 1822 in North Carolina.
The source for this date is unknown but it is certainly congruent with
his reported age of 27 in the 1850 federal census. An 11 November
1848 Cumberland County marriage bond for John W. Rollins and Martha
Anne Douglass is on file at the North Carolina State Archives. In
1850, 27-year-old merchant John Rollins resided in Cumberland County's
Northern Division. Residing in his household were 18-year-old Martha
A. and 7-month-old Silas A. Rollins. The couple had three more
children before John W. Rollins reportedly died on 2 October 1856 in
Cumberland County, North Carolina. The following year, his widow,
three surviving sons, and in-laws removed to Alabama.
Eight user-submitted family trees at Ancestry include John W. Rollins
but none identify his parents. I think it possible that he might have
been a son of Frederick Rollins and grandson of John Rollins of
Chatham County, North Carolina. Frederick Rollins died intestate but
there is some circumstantial evidence appearing to connect the two:
First, John W. Rollins married and lived in Cumberland County's
Northern Division (that is, present-day Harnett County which adjoins
the southeast corner of Chatham County where John Rollins settled and
of which Frederick Rollins was a lifelong resident). Several children
of James Rollins, son of John Rollins, removed to Harnett County so
such a migration is hardly unprecedented.
Second, an unknown boy who was born during the years 1821-25 resided
in Frederick Rollins' 1830 and 1840 households - John W. Rollins was
born in 1822.
Third, an otherwise unknown John Rollins was a buyer at Frederick
Rollins' 1844 estate sale. Strikingly, the only Rollins buyers at
this sale besides John were members of Frederick Rollins' immediate
family, namely his widow Rebecca and son Robert. If Frederick
Rollins' brothers James, Burwell, and William attended the sale, they
made no purchases - and none of them are known to have had a son named
John. Perhaps significantly, however, Frederick's brother Jesse who
removed to Tennessee did have a son whose initials were J. W.
Fourth, John W. Rollins had a son named Frederick and another whose
middle name was Avent (the surname of a prominent Chatham County
family into which one of Frederick's daughters married).
Fifth, John W. Rollins' mother-in-law was a daughter of Sion and Ann
(Dalrymple) Harrington (the Harringtons being another prominent
Chatham County family).
Sixth, Steve Mims reports the Rollins had a reputation among local
families for being well educated. Frederick Rollins was a minister
and a school district committeeman; his brother William was also a
minister. Two of Frederick's grandsons became St. Louis attorneys;
another founded a Durham, NC newspaper. If one of Frederick's sons
also became a physician as the title Dr. suggests, then one begins to
grasp how that reputation for education might have formed.
If anyone reading this can share more information with us about John
W. Rollins, please do so!
CHILDREN
01. SILAS ATLAS ROLLINS born 27 February 1850; married ADA DENNIS
02. FREDERICK A. ROLLINS born 2 November 1851; died 5 July 1854
03. JOHN CARSON ROLLINS born 3 August 1853
04. CHARLES AVENT ROLLINS born 22 June 1855
SOURCES
1850 Federal Census, Cumberland County, North Carolina (Northern
Division),
page 142
FURTHER RESEARCH
01. Check to see if John W. Rollins attended Jefferson Medical College
in Philadelphia - many southerners of this period did, including Dr.
Wesley Buchanan of Chatham County
02. Check both Cumberland and Harnett counties for wills or estates