John Frank and Louisa Roling

Their American family records, marriage and children’s weddings.

Man and woman seated at a table set with a cloth, dishes and serving pieces. — John Frank Roling and Louisa Bickel Roling at a dining table, identified by the paired reverse inscription. Date and location are unconfirmed. Photo identification and album context.

The documented American family

John Franklin Roling’s 1947 Missouri death certificate names Bernard Roling as his father and Magdalena Wentz as his mother, and reports that both were born in Germany. This is an important record connecting the Salisbury family with the earlier Quincy household.

Bernard and Magdalena married on January 7, 1855, at St. Boniface in Adams County, Illinois. The diocese’s review of the original register found that neither spouse’s parents were recorded.

The 1900 Quincy census records Bernard and Magdalena under the spelling “Rolling.” Both reported immigration in 1854, and Bernard was marked naturalized. The immigration year is a retrospective report; a passenger vessel has not been identified.

John F. Roling remembered in Quincy

News of John F. Roling’s death reached the city where he had grown up. The Quincy Herald-Whig reported on November 23, 1947 that Frank Roling, 83, had been struck by a train at a crossing between his Salisbury home and business the previous Friday, November 21. The notice recalled his schooling at St. Mary in Quincy, named his late wife as Louise Bickel, and described his work with two sons in the machine-shop and farm-implement business. Read “Frank Roling, Former Quincyan, Killed by Train,” page 18, column 7.

This is a separate report from the Wabash-train clipping preserved by the family. The Quincy article does not name a railroad or train number; the newspaper, issue date and page of the family-held clipping remain unidentified.

Louisa Roling’s memorial card

A memorial card preserved in the family collection names Louisa Roling and gives her birth as June 17, 1863, and her death as July 15, 1934. A typed family sheet instead gives June 19, 1863, for her birth, while a separate undated family account gives June 1934 for her death. These differences remain unresolved; the dates are retained as each source presents them. The card does not itself establish her maiden name or marriage.

A woman standing in a snow-covered yard with outbuildings behind her. — Louisa Bickel Roling in a snowy yard, identified on the accompanying handwritten reverse. Date and location unknown.

John and Louisa’s marriage

The preserved obituary clipping reports that John F. Roling married Louisa Bickel in Chicago on October 17, 1890. The typed family sheet instead gives a November 1890 marriage in Chicago. The sources disagree, and the date remains unresolved pending an original marriage record.

A man and a woman standing beside the porch of a wooden house. — John Frank Roling and Louisa Bickel Roling outside a house, identified on the accompanying handwritten reverse. Photograph undated.

Weddings and new households

The shop and the family often appeared in the same newspaper story. When Benjamin Franklin Roling married Katherine Marie Korte in October 1916, the wedding report described him as a mechanic working with his father, J. F. Roling. Ben and Katherine had been friends since childhood and were former schoolmates. Their ceremony at Glasgow’s Catholic church began at 9:30 a.m., with Margaret Korte, Flora Roling, Joseph Roling and John Korte as attendants. A five-course dinner at her parents’ home east of Glasgow was followed by a dance and dinner in Salisbury’s young men’s club rooms above Bertsch Bros. and Huber’s restaurant. They planned to make their home in the former Rose residence on East Second Street.

The following spring it was Joseph’s turn: he and Ida Bange married at St. Joseph Church, with her brother Frank and his sister Agnes standing beside them. A reception at the bride’s home east of town and a dance at the Pastime Club followed. The couple had rented a home on Lafevre Street.

By January 1928, another notice announced Ben’s marriage to Grace Panos in Hannibal. It described him as working with his father and brother, and identified Grace as Fred Ebert’s daughter. These two wedding reports belong to different chapters of Ben’s life; the notices alone do not explain how his first marriage ended.

Agnes Roling and Clarence Widmer’s August 1929 wedding brought the shop into the family news once again. Clarence was a machinist there; Agnes was associated with the Savings Bank. After the ceremony at St. Joseph, fifty guests gathered for dinner at the Roling home. The newlyweds planned to settle into the cottage recently vacated by Ben’s family.

Sources for this story

Salisbury Press-Spectator: October 20, 1916, p. 1 (original page); April 20, 1917, p. 1; January 13, 1928, p. 1; August 23, 1929, p. 1. These are reported weddings; the announced household plans are not proof of completed moves. Newspapers.com may require an account.