The ROLLOW family

    It is unknown exactly where our first Rollow, Archibald, came from, but family lore says Scotland, and this is strengthened  by the fact that there is a thistle carved on his gravestone.  George H. S. King, the distinguished Virginia  genealogist, says that he believes it likely that Archibald (ca. 1775-1829)  sailed directly from Scotland to Falmouth, Stafford County, Va, which was at the time a major port for the exportation of tobacco and trade from Virginia to the New England colonies..  At this time, Francis Jett was the Tobacco Inspector for the port,  and employed the newly arrived Archibald, who married Francis' daughter, Ann , several years later.  It is believed that the original spelling of the name was Rollo, and there are several Archibald Rollos found in Scottish records; an Archibald Rollo was the second son of James Rollow of Duncrub, who died in 1584.  This Archibald's brother, Andrew, was made Lord Rollo, and there followed several other Archibald Rollos in the family.  .  It is not know  "our" Archibald is related to these earlier Rollos, but with the recurrence of the given name Archibald, it seems possible. 

    Archibald and Ann, or Nancy Jett Rollow, as she was called by her family, lived in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and had the following children;

1. Elizabeth, or Betsy, died unmarried in 1848
2. William was born in 1796 and married in 1825, in Fredericksburg, Va, an Eliza Ann Shuletice, daughter of John  Shuletice.  William died before his father and is buried in the Jett-Shackelford Family Cemetery in White Oak, Stafford County.
3. Mary, or Polly as she was called, married Robert Finnall and both died before 1851, leaving a son, John Finnall, and a daughter Mary, wife of William Cox. 
4. Rossell, married a woman whose family name was Fleeman, and he served in the War of 1812, a member of the 45th Regiment of the Virginia Militia.  He moved ot Tennessee around 1832, and left the following children; Ann, Sarah, Polly and John Archibald Rollow.  Only Polly married, and her husband's name is not known, although her children were Lucy, Mary and John Archibald.
5. Francis, married in 1817, Fauquier co, Elizabeth Edmonds, daughter of William Edmonds.  He, too, served in the 45th Regiment, along with his brother Rossell, and died in 1842, leaving a son, William Rollow.
6. Peter J. according to his great great grandaughter, married, as his second wife, Permelia Payne in 1842, Loudon county, Tennessee, with the first wife's name unknown.  He died in Quitman, Arkansas in 1873.
7. Jane, married Jesse Curtis, son of Richard and Nanny Curtis.  He died before 1829.  Their children were Sarah, who married Sidney Burchell, William, who married Lucretia Bullard, Lucy Ann, who married William Jefferson Bowie and Alzici Jones, and Elizabaeth, who married Francis Johnson.
8. Judith ...mentioned in on an earlier page, for she married George Harrison Bullard, son of Reuben and Fanny Davis Bullard.
9. Archibald Jr married on Christmas Eve 1805, Mary Bullard, dau of Reuben and Francis Davis Bullard.  Archibald served in the War of 1812 in the 45th Regt, along with his 2 brothers, and moved to Mason county, Ky, where he died, leaving an only child, John J. Rollow.  John was an inventor of agricultural machines, and was issued a patent for a wheat thresher in 1858.  Earlier he had been granted a patent for a corn shucking machine, and both machines were manufactured in Fredericksburg by Rollow and Manuel.

Archibald Rollow died in 1829, and his will was the cause of a chancery suit, filed by  John J. Rollow, his grandson. 

The background for this page is of Fredericksburg, in the 1800s, looking at it from across the Rappahannock River.

The following people are buried in the old Jett Cemetery, but now without stones...they were destroyed in 1862, by Federal troops camped there prior to the Battle of Fredericksburg;   Francis Jett and Bathsheba, his wife; Berryman Jett and his sons Peter and John Francis Jett; Priscilla Jones Jett (1808-1849) wife of John Francis Jett; Peter Jett, son of   John Francis Jett; Lucy Maddox Jett Shackelford, wife of Peter Jett and Dudley Shackelford; Dudley shackleford, Francis JEtt (1777-1858) and many others in the Robertson , Cox and Rollow family, all descendants of Francis Jett.                                             .  

This is Archibald Rollow's headstone, found in the old Jett-Shakelford cemetery in the White Oak area of Stafford co, not far from Fredericksburg.  The cemetery is abandoned and of all the folks buried there, there remain only 4 markers, and one is this one of Archibad.  It is no longer standing, and neither is that of his wife.  

This is Nancy's marker

This is the site of the cemetery.  There are remnants of an iron fencing, placed around the gravesites of Rebecca Martin Allen and her infant daughter.  This fencing was done by Rebecca's husband after the War between the States.  Looking through the fencing, Archibald and Nancy's stones lie just on the far side of the piece of standing fencing.

This red brick house on the left is the Wm. Rollow house, with its plaque....Caroline Street, Fredericksburg

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