{"id":1497,"date":"2026-10-31T17:28:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T17:28:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/?page_id=1497"},"modified":"2026-10-31T23:10:05","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T23:10:05","slug":"roling-community-stories","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/?page_id=1497","title":{"rendered":"Family and community stories"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<style>.family-topic-breadcrumb{font-size:.95rem;margin:0 0 22px}.family-topic-intro{max-width:68ch;line-height:1.7}.family-topic-menu{display:grid;grid-template-columns:repeat(2,minmax(0,1fr));gap:14px;margin:26px 0}.family-topic-menu a{display:block;padding:18px;border:1px solid #c9cec8;border-radius:4px;background:#f5f2e9;text-decoration:none;color:#293d30;min-height:52px}.family-topic-menu strong{display:block;font-size:1.1rem}.family-topic-menu span{display:block;margin-top:6px;color:#4f574e;line-height:1.55;font-size:.95rem}.family-topic-related{border-top:1px solid #d8d2c5;margin-top:32px;padding-top:18px}.family-topic-related a{display:inline-block;margin:6px 22px 6px 0}.family-topic-breadcrumb a:focus-visible,.family-topic-menu a:focus-visible,.family-topic-related a:focus-visible{outline:3px solid #98513b;outline-offset:4px}.wp-block-post-content:has(.family-topic-breadcrumb){max-width:960px;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto}.wp-block-post-content:has(.family-topic-breadcrumb)>p{line-height:1.7}.wp-block-post-content:has(.family-topic-breadcrumb) :is(h2,h3){scroll-margin-top:24px}.wp-block-post-content:has(.family-topic-breadcrumb) a{overflow-wrap:anywhere}@media(max-width:600px){.family-topic-menu{grid-template-columns:1fr}.family-topic-menu a{padding:16px}}<\/style>\n<nav class=\"family-topic-breadcrumb\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/\">Home<\/a> \u203a <a href=\"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/?page_id=7\">Roling family<\/a> \u203a Family and community stories<\/nav>\n<p class=\"family-topic-intro\">Family accounts and newspaper reports, with their original qualifications and sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<section id=\"family-and-community-stories\"><h2>Family and community stories<\/h2>\n<section id=\"family-story-a-midnight-call-for-joe-1934\">\n<h3>A midnight call for Joe, 1934<\/h3>\n<p>Thirteen years later, another newspaper report placed Joe Roling in a nighttime confrontation. This time the setting was Father F. J. Ernst\u2019s chicken house, not the Roling garage.<\/p>\n<p>The June 29, 1934 <cite>Salisbury Press-Spectator<\/cite> said chickens had been disappearing for several weeks. With Father Ernst away, his housekeeper, Maggie Lohe, kept watch. Around midnight, according to the article, she saw a man unlock the chicken house and emerge with two sacks of chickens. She called her neighbor, Joe Roling.<\/p>\n<p>The paper reported that Joe fired two shotgun shots. The man dropped the chickens and a flashlight and escaped before anyone could positively identify him. Joe believed he had struck the man because he heard a scream, but the report did not confirm an injury.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong> <cite>Salisbury Press-Spectator<\/cite>, June 29, 1934, page 1, \u201cChicken Thief Gets Scared Away With Shot Gun.\u201d Publication details and text checked against the family-preserved clipping.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"family-story-sparks-on-the-roof-1922\">\n<h3>Sparks on the roof, 1922<\/h3>\n<p>A short August 1922 notice records a close call at J. F. Roling\u2019s home. Sparks from the kitchen flue had set the roof on fire on the preceding Saturday afternoon, at about half past one.<\/p>\n<p>The <cite>Salisbury Press-Spectator<\/cite> reported that the fire was discovered before it gained much headway. Even so, a hole several feet across burned in the roof, and there was some slight water damage.<\/p>\n<p>The surviving notice does not say who spotted the flames or how the fire was put out. Those details remain unknown. What it does preserve is a small, vivid interruption to ordinary family life, beyond the births, weddings and business notices that usually mark the record.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong> <cite>Salisbury Press-Spectator<\/cite>, August 25, 1922, page 1, \u201cSparks From Flue Set Fire to Roof.\u201d Publication details and text checked against the family-preserved clipping.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"family-story-a-charge-in-one-paper-a-different-outcome-in-another\">\n<h3>A charge in one paper, a different outcome in another<\/h3>\n<p>Not every appearance in the local paper was flattering. In December 1908, the <cite>Salisbury Press-Spectator<\/cite> listed a disturbing-the-peace indictment against J. F. Roling. His bond was reported as $100, with Fred Bickel as security.<\/p>\n<p>A later paragraph alleged that Roling and several other men had disrupted a religious gathering at the Moore building in Salisbury on November 18. It described accusations of loud noise, insulting behavior and threats against the man named King. These were reported charges, not a finding that Roling had done those things.<\/p>\n<p>The next relevant clipping changes the picture. In May 1909, the <cite>Salisbury Democrat<\/cite> reported a disturbing-peace case headed \u201cState of Missouri vs. J. F. Roling et al.\u201d Its entry said, \u201cNolle prosed as to J F Roling.\u201d In plain language, the prosecution was dropped as to J. F. Roling. It separately reported guilty pleas and $5 fines for Peter Vitt, Evo Olivett, Charles Ihms and Ben Ott.<\/p>\n<p>The shared names and charge make the two reports worth reading together, but the clippings do not provide a case number confirming that they concern the same proceeding. The later report does not record a guilty plea or fine for J. F. Roling.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sources:<\/strong> <cite>Salisbury Press-Spectator<\/cite>, December 18, 1908, page 2, \u201cIndictments,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newspapers.com\/image\/1362202560\/\">original page<\/a>; <cite>Salisbury Democrat<\/cite>, May 7, 1909, page 1, court-report excerpt. Both originals are preserved in the family archive. The explanation of <i>nolle prosequi<\/i> follows the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mtd.uscourts.gov\/glossary-legal-terms\">U.S. District Court for the District of Montana\u2019s legal glossary<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"school-church-stage\"><h3>On the stage and in the church<\/h3>\n<p>Flora Roling\u2019s name appears in the cast of <i>Saint Elizabeth of Thuringia<\/i>, performed by St. Joseph\u2019s school pupils at Karcher Opera House in December 1904. The newspaper described the entertainment as only fairly well attended, while praising the pupils\u2019 acting and costumes. The printed program preserves Flora\u2019s place among the children on stage.<\/p>\n<p>Eight years later, Flora and Agnes Roling appeared in another public gathering: the confirmation class at St. Joseph\u2019s Catholic Church. The May 1912 report describes carnations and potted plants decorating the church, special music and a class of sixty-three children, thirty boys and thirty-three girls.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sources:<\/strong> <cite>Salisbury Press-Spectator<\/cite>, December 9, 1904, p. 1, \u201cCatholic Church Entertainment,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newspapers.com\/image\/1362194142\/\">original page<\/a>; May 17, 1912, p. 1, \u201cConfirmation Services,\u201d family clipping.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"family-care\"><h3>When family news was worrying news<\/h3>\n<p>Some of the shortest notices record anxious moments. In April 1925, Mrs. Ben Roling was taken to Woodland hospital on a Monday night and underwent an emergency operation for appendicitis around midnight. The newspaper said she had come through the operation well and reported her condition as satisfactory as could be hoped for.<\/p>\n<p>Two years later, Mr. and Mrs. Joe Roling went to St. Louis to consult a specialist about her health. The brief March 1927 notice says no more about the illness or the outcome. Such entries preserve the journeys and concern that surrounded family illnesses, even when the medical details are missing.<\/p>\n<p>A March 1934 notice describes Ben coming from Beloit, Kansas, when his mother\u2019s condition became serious the previous week. The report said she improved, and he returned home that Saturday. Earlier notices record harder journeys: J. F. left for Quincy after learning of his mother\u2019s death in November 1904, and on May 27, 1908 the family lost little Frankie, their two-year-old son, after a short illness.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sources:<\/strong> <cite>Salisbury Press-Spectator<\/cite>, April 10, 1925, p. 1; March 25, 1927, p. 7; March 2, 1934, p. 4. <cite>Salisbury Democrat<\/cite>, November 25, 1904, p. 5; May 29, 1908, p. 1. Family-preserved clippings.<\/p>\n<div id=\"frankie-date-reconciliation\"><p><strong>Frankie\u2019s death date:<\/strong> May 27, 1908 is preferred. The contemporary report, the family record for John Frank Roling and Louisa Maria Bickel, and Louisa\u2019s obituary all give that day. Louisa\u2019s obituary names her two-year-old son John Frank, strongly linking the newspaper\u2019s \u201cFrankie\u201d with the child later called John Frank Roling II. This remains a qualified identification, not a newly recovered civil or parish death record.<\/p><p>Some later family compilations and a separate handwritten annotation give May 7, 1908. That conflicting reading is retained, but it has less support than May 27; no copying-error explanation has been proved. The exact birth date is not upgraded by this comparison.<\/p><details><summary>Sources for Frankie\u2019s date comparison<\/summary><p>\u201cLittle Frankie Roling Dead,\u201d <cite>Salisbury Democrat<\/cite>, May 29, 1908, page 1, family-preserved clipping; <cite>Roling binder 1<\/cite>, PDF pages 3 (family record), 60 (Louisa\u2019s obituary, also located in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newspapers.com\/image\/1362256051\/\">Salisbury Press-Spectator, July 20, 1934, page 1<\/a>; the binder clipping and newspaper page are the same underlying account) and 61 (separate handwritten May 7 variant); <cite>Roling binder 2<\/cite>, PDF page 67, printed page 75, and <cite>Roling binder 3<\/cite>, PDF page 70 (repeated typed May 7 compilation, not independent corroboration). The 1908 newspaper\u2019s whooping-cough\/bronchitis report and the later annotation\u2019s pneumonia wording remain separately attributed, not medically reconciled.<\/p><\/details><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<nav class=\"family-topic-related\" aria-label=\"Related pages\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/?page_id=7\">\u2190 Roling family<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/?page_id=1510\">Roling stories<\/a><\/nav>\n\n\n<script>(function(){function revealTopicTarget(){var name;try{name=decodeURIComponent(window.location.hash.slice(1));}catch(e){return;}if(!name){return;}var target=document.getElementById(name);if(!target){return;}var node=target.parentElement;while(node){if(node.tagName==='DETAILS'){node.open=true;}node=node.parentElement;}}revealTopicTarget();window.addEventListener('hashchange',revealTopicTarget);})();<\/script>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home \u203a Roling family \u203a Family and community stories Family accounts and newspaper reports, with their original qualifications and sources. Family and community stories A midnight call for Joe, 1934 Thirteen years later, another newspaper report placed Joe Roling in a nighttime confrontation. This time the setting was Father F. J. Ernst\u2019s chicken house, not [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1497","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1497"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1977,"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1497\/revisions\/1977"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}