The Rollins Family
Including Descent from the Allen, Williams, and Mosley Families
Any corrections or further information is welcome. The research into this and other families is ongoing. This is started with the earliest ancestor of this line of the Rolling family that has been found so far. Sources can be found on the Links and Sources page.
Generation One
John Rollins was born about 1775 and died in St Helena Parish, Louisiana in 1831. On 15 March 1810 in Amite County, Mississppi he married Mary "Polly" Boothe. She was the daughter of Joseph M. Boothe who was born in 1768 in Virginia and died in 1824 in Amite County, Mississippi. Joseph's father was Daniel Boothe, Jr (b. 1730 Virginia d. abt 1802 North Carolina) and his mother was Pricilla Tapley. In 1827 John Rollins and Mary Boothe settled in St Helena Parish, Louisiana. He aquired land there and built a home. John and Mary's children were:
1. William Rollins b. abt 1814. [See Generation Two.]
2. John De La Fletcher Rollins
3. Mary Ann Rollins
4. David Dixon Rollins
Generation Two
William Rollins married Mary Allen who was born in about 1816 in St Helena Parish, Louisiana. Her father was Nathaniel Allen (b. 15 Nov 1784 in Georgia d. 9 Jan 1852 in Jasper County, Texas) and her mother was Penelope Williams (b. abt 1790 d abt 1833 St Helena Parish). Nathaniel was an early Texas settler, going there after the death of his wife. He also fought in the War for Texas Independence. Penelope Williams' father was Stephen Williams, who was born in North Carolina on 9 May 1760 and died in the Jasper County, Texas area in 1839. Stephen enlisted in the army at the age of 18 during the American Revolution. After the war, he settled in Louisiana, and fought in the War of 1812 there. Later, he settled in Texas and fought in the War for Texas Independence. He was buried on his property in 1839, but in the 1930s his body was re-buried in the Texas State Cemetery in Austin. William Rollins, a farmer, spent most of his life in Rapides Parish, Louisiana. The children (all born in Louisiana) of William Rollins and Mary Allen were:
1. William Rollins b. abt 1836, married Lucinda Jane Robinson [More in Generation Three]
2. John Rollins b. abt 1834, married Mary Jones. They had three children, Nancy, Sarah, and Ellen.
3. Mary Rollins b. abt 1838, married William Walker.
4. Martha Rollins b. abt 1840, married 1) William Terrell in 1867, and 2) B.A. Taylor in 1890.
5. Nancy Rollins b. abt 1842, married James Blevins.
6. David Rollins b. abt 1846.
7. Fletcher Rollins b. 25 Oct 1848 d. 29 Jul 1935, married Nancy Bass b. 1852 d. 1937.
8. Isaac Rollins b. abt 1852.
9. Jacob Rollins b. abt 1855.
10 Penelope Rollins b. abt 1857.
11. Thomas Rollins b. Jan 1860, married Mary E. Taylor in 1890.
Generation Three
William Rollins was born about 1836 in Louisiana and died sometime after 1870, probably in Texas. He married Lucinda Jane Robinson who was born about 1840 in Texas and died sometime after 1870. She was the daughter of Smith Robinson who was born about 1798 in Kentucky and Amanda who was born in about 1807 in Louisiana. Lucinda and the Robinson family are shown living in Jasper County, Texas in 1850. Amanda Robinson died sometime after 1880, she was shown in her grandson's household that year, William Smith Robinson. William Rollins and Lucinda Robinson had the following children:
1. William Smith Rollins [see Generation Four]
2. Elizabeth Rollins
3. Cornelius Rollins
4. Amanda Rollins married Eb Glover.
Generation Four
William Smith Rollins was born on 22 Jan 1858 in Louisiana and died on 13 Aug 1912 in Liberty County, Texas. He was buried at Shepherd Cemetery in San Jacinto County, Texas. He married Dora Alice Mosley on 15 Aug 1886 in San Jacinto County, Texas. Dora was the daughter of John J. Mosley [see below]. Dora was born 2 Oct 1858 in Mansfield, Louisiana and died on 26 July 1941 in Liberty County, Texas and is also buried at Shepherd Cemetery. William Smith Rollins is shown as the head of household in the 1880 census for Liberty County. Both of his parents were missing from the census, but his grandmother was in the household along with his brother and sisters (along with Amanda's husband Eb Glover and child). Their children were :
1. Mahala Josephine Rollins b. 23 Aug 1888 d. Nov 1971. She married Thomas Kinley Stanfield [see the Stanfield Family]
2. Edward Virgil Rollins b. 23 Dec 1891 in Liberty County, Texas and died 4 July 1968 in Liberty County. He married Birtie Mae Higgs who was born 8 Feb 1895 and died on 3 Dec 1959 in Liberty County, Texas. Both are buried at Shepherd Cemetery, San Jacinto County, Texas.
The Mosley Family
If anyone knows anything at all about this line of the Mosley family, please email me.
John J. Mosley was born in Alabama in 1829. The family might have moved to Louisiana when he was young. All of John's children were born in Louisiana. He aquired land in Sabine Parish in 1860. In the Civil War, John J. Mosley served in the Confederate Army in Co. E of the 11th Battalion of the Louisiana Infantry. He enlisted in Many, Louisiana on 14 May 1862. Another John Mosley enlisted in Many on the same day. This John was too old to have been John J.'s son (he was 19 and John J. was 33), but he must have been a close relative. Both were in the same Company E as well. John J. Mosley's personal description was "age 33, grey eyes, dark hair, fair complexion, occupation farmer, 5 ft 9 ins tall." Most of the men who survived in this Battalion were captured aboard the Queen of the West and paroled in late 1863 or early 1864 just below Port Hudson, Louisiana. John J. Mosley next turns up in the 1880 Census in Red River County, Texas with his family. It is not known when or where he died, but it seems that some of the family ended up back in Louisiana eventually. In this Census, his wife is listed as Caroline who was born in 1826 in Louisiana. It is uncertain whether she is the childrens' mother however. All the children list their mother as being born in Georgia.
1. Virginia Mosley b. 1851 in Louisiana
2. William H. Mosley b. 1854 Louisiana
3. Andrew M. Mosley b. 1856 Louisiana
4. Dora Alice Mosley b. 2 Oct 1858 Louisiana, married William Smith Rollins. Sometime after his death she married Frank Taylor. His children Robert "Bob" Taylor and Violet Taylor were in the household. Robert "Bob" Taylor was sometimes also found in the Rollins and Stanfield households.
5. Mary C. Mosley b. 1860 Louisiana, died 11 April 1930 in Bristow, Oklahoma. Married Thomas Jefferson Vanlandingham on 18 January 1885 in Red River County, Texas. Their children were Lillie, Bonnie, Halee, and Vanna Vanlandingham.
6. John J. Mosley b. April 1862 in Louisiana. Settled in Liberty County, Texas. In the census of 1900 his name was listed as Jay Moseley, and in 1910 either Jessie or Jerimiah Moseley [the handwriting on this census is very difficult to read in places]. There's no doubt of it being the same person because of the twin boys in the household. In about 1886 he married Janice [name difficult to read] who was born in 1873. They had the following children: Edora Mosley b. September 1886, Eigen Mosley [name difficult to read] b. Septermber 1896, and Edgar Mosley b. September 1896. In two censuses the family name was spelled Moseley.
7. Samuel D. Mosley b. 1870 Louisiana.
8. Mannie L. Mosley b. 1872 Louisiana [in some transcriptions her name is incorrectly spelled "Nannie"]
9. Nora Mosley b. 1875 Louisiana
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The Rollins, Boothe. Anderson, and Hawkins Families