I am finally comfortable enough with my evidence and the chain on the timeline of information to post the stories of our Roland Ancestors from Yancey Co., NC. Beginning with Charles Henry Roland of who was born in Hillsboro, NC and following it with his son Charles Henry Rolland, also known as Henry "Halle" Roland, who are our direct line ancestors, I will give the evidence I have that makes the jigsaw peices all come together. I found that Charles was a soldier on the Continental Line in the Revolutionary War, who fought under Captain Henry Hensley. I also found that he was a sargent, who like most soldiers was awarded land for his 7 years of military service. He, along with a great many others who established homesteads in Western NC were the pioneers who fought for our freedom. Their history is lively and rich, and records indicate that Charles son Henry was a lover of the process of the early courts to establish ownership, and security for the lands he possessed and inherited. They bought and sold lands, and they built a rich heritage with families that experienced great ups and downs and finally were caught up in the devastating fall of this rich heritage, known as the Civil War. These two men spanned history from about 1750 when Charles was born, to about 1875 when Henry died. Over a century of history in their stories, and I have only just begun to find the meat of it. For someone who hates "history" I am certainly loving finding the story of our family! Check out the long, long read on Charles Henry Roland/Rolen and his son, Charles Henry "Halle" Roland/Rollen/Rowland. Although it might confuse you, the sequence is as follows:
Charles Henry Rolen/Roland was by his own account born in Hillsborough, NC. Although Hillsboro as it is now called was not a city until several years after he was born, there is a great deal of evidence that his father was a person named George Rolen, who is documented as working as a surveyor in the area of Haw Creek, NC, less than 50 miles from Hillsboro. We cannot find Charles until his service record, and after that a long hunt for him between being a soldier and living in Burke/Buncombe Counties, an area which later became Yancey Co., NC, finally reveals that he was on the 1790 Census and tax rolls in Rutherford Co, part of which became Burke/Buncombe. We discover his unit commander during the war and his brothers are long time aquaintances, even into the years that the settlements were just getting started. And court records reveal that, when Charles is appointed the task of maintaining the road to his property from Burke Co, by the court, it is the brother of his Revolutionary War commander, who is presiding as judge that day. We also find that he is an owner of more than one parcel of land, and records show his home where he settled was on Crabtree Creek, just north of Pensacola, east of Burnsville. We then follow the history into the study of his son Henry's aquisitions of land and how that history is established in his old age. We find that the place where he is buried along with his wife and other family members, and the graves of many of his former slaves was bulldozed away in a pitiful act of disrespect for and ancient but abandoned graveyard. I don't even discuss much the part Henry and Sarah played in preserving their family, when tragedy struck the lives of thier children, and they went to court to keep the orpaned children as their own. We find that Henry Halley was in court on numerous occasions, spelling out life as they knew it at the time. And we find a great deal of love, as well as a great deal of stubborness for preserving his heritage. This is just the beginning of telling the Roland story, But I am pleased to present part I. Visit the Roland tab and read the facts so far.
