Santa
Clara County
Biographies
JOHN ROLL
John Roll, chairman of the board of supervisors
of Santa Clara county, was born in Sauk county, Wis.,
August 5, 1852. His father, Andrew Roll, was born and educated in Baden,
Germany. The later was a skillful mechanic, a cabinet maker and piano maker,
and spent eight years of his life in Paris perfecting himself in his business.
In 1845 he came to America. After spending three years in New York City and two
years in Galena, Ill., working at his trade, he went to Wisconsin in 1850 and
settled in Sauk county, which was then an unreclaimed
wilderness covered with dense forest. There he hewed
out a farm of two hundred and forty acres, on which he resided until his death
in 1866. On this farm the subject of this sketch was born, being one of a
family of nine children. Of these there were six sons, five of whom are at
present residing in Santa Clara, Cal.
John Roll spent the early part of
his life on the old farm, where his educational advantages
were of necessity very meager, but where he acquired those habits of industry
and concentration which have been so prominently exhibited in all the
enterprises in which he has engaged. While yet a youth he started in life for
himself. His first employment was in construction of the Chicago, Milwaukee
& St. Paul Railroad, first as a driver of a team and afterwards as
carpenter and bridge builder. In 1881 he accepted an engagement to go to
Arizona, where he had charge of the construction of the buildings and sawmills
on Turkey creek for the Yavapai Mining Company. In 1884 he came to Santa Clara county and settled in the town of Santa Clara. He entered
the employ of the Pacific Manufacturing Company, at first working as a
carpenter, but his efficiency was soon recognized and he was tendered a
position of foreman of the tank and windmill department, in which he continued
until 1896, when he was elected as a member of the board of supervisors of
Santa Clara county. During this time he was for six years a member of the board
of trustees of the town of Santa Clara and as a member of that board was
influential in securing the municipal ownership of the waterworks and other
public utilities, in which that town takes so much pride. The fact that the
supervisor district in which Mr. Roll resided was very strongly Republican made
his nomination on the Democratic ticket to appear very much like a forlorn
hope. But the people knew Mr. Roll and he was elected by a majority of one
hundred and fifty votes. He served four years and his work was so satisfactory
to his constituents that he was re-elected in 1898 by a majority of eight
hundred, and again elected in 1902 by a majority of fourteen hundred. In
January, 1903, he was chosen chairman of the board of supervisors, which
position at the present time, 1904, he still occupies. In the administration of
his official duties Mr. Roll has always exhibited an energetic industry and a
practical intelligence that have made his name prominent not only in his own
county, but through the state. At the annual state conventions of supervisors
he has always been called upon for advice and suggestions in regard to the
difficult problems which come up before the different boards in the execution
of their official duties.
Mr. Roll was one of the organizers
of the Enterprise Manufacturing Company of San Jose, and has been its president
since its incorporation. This institution has become one of the prominent
industrial enterprises of Santa Clara county.
Purchasing an old plant on Santa Clara street in San
Jose, the company remodeled and enlarged it, and thoroughly equipped it for an
up-to-date machine shop and foundry. It is now engaged in manufacturing all
kinds of mining and pumping machinery and agricultural implements.
In 1877 Mr. Roll was married to Miss
Emma Runge, a native of Ozaukee county, Wis., and
they are the parents of five children, to-wit.: Mrs. Julia A Madden, Robert I.,
August E., John Henry and Clara Roll. Mr. Roll is prominent and influential in
many organizations, including Liberty Lodge No. 299, F. & A. M.; Howard
Chapter, R. A. M., of San Jose; San Jose Commandery No. 10, K. T.; Islam
Temple, N. M. S., of San Francisco; Knight of Pythias, of which he is past
officer; the Independent Order of Foresters; the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows; the Improved Order of Red Men; and the Eagles. Both Mr. and Mrs. Roll
are members of the Order of the Eastern Star. In politics Mr. Roll is a
Democrat and is an ex-member of the Democratic State Central Committee. He is
also a member of the Santa Clara Board of Trade.
Transcribed By: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: History of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast
Counties, California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 1386-1387. The
Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Cecelia M. Setty.