William Samuel Rollins

William Samuel Rollins was the third son and fourth child of John Henry Rollins, Sr., and his wife, Nancy Malinda West Rollins, and was born August 30, 1868, in Minersville, Beaver County, Utah Territory. In the 1870 U.S. Federal Census for Beaver, Utah, William was 2 years old, living with his parents, John, 29, and Nancy, 25, and his siblings, Ephraim, 9, Nancy Malinda, 7, John Henry Rollins, Jr., 4, and Guy Washington, 5 months old. William's father was working as a freighter, his real estate was valued at $200 and his personal estate at $600.

The census indicates John was born in Iowa, Nancy in Illinois, and all of their children in Utah. Their neighbors professions included farmers, plasterers, and a brick mason. One of their neighbors, Albert Stoddard, a farmer, and his wife Mary Ann Corbridge Hamblin Stoddard, and her children, Orson, Elizabeth, William, Wallace and Caroline Hamblin (Mr. Stoddard's step children), had a servant in their home, a girl named Fanny who was 18 years old. The children of Mary, were fathered by Mary's first husband, Oscar Hamblin, who passed away in 1862. In 1881, their son, Wallace, married Ida Minerva Rollins, John Henry Rollins, Sr's. sister.

By 1880, the John Henry Rollins Sr's. family had moved to Snowflake, Apache County, Arizona, and they were listed in the census as follows: John H., 38, Nancy M., 35, Ephraim E., 18, Nancy M., 17, John H., Jr., 14, Samuel Wiliam, 12, Guy W., 10, Jesse, 8, Iles M., 5, Moses Porter, 2, and also living with them was Nancy's mother, Margaret Cooper West, a 75-year old widow listed as a "doctoress" for her occupation. Nancy's father, Samuel Walker West, had passed away in 1873 and was buried in Utah.

John Henry Rollins, Sr., was working as a farmer, and his sons Ephraim and John Henry, Jr. were working as laborers on the family farm. This census indicated that both John Henry Rollins, Sr., and his wife Nancy Malinda West Rollins were born in Illinois, but John Henry was born in Lee County, Iowa, and Nancy was born in Nauvoo, Illinois. All their children were born in Utah, and Nancy's mother Margaret was born in Tennessee.

Unfortunately, 7 years later, in 1887, William's oldest brother Ephraim passed away on July 28, two days after his 25th birthday. At the time, he was married to Ida Patten, and they had three children, Ida May, Edward, and Ervin. There was a bad epidemic of diphtheria in the area in 1887 and four of Ephraim's cousins had passed away from the disease, specifically, the children of Zachariah Bruyn Decker and Emma Smith Decker. Emma Smith Decker was the niece of Ephraim's mother, Nancy Malinda West Rollins, and the daughter of her sister Emma Seraphine West Smith. Their four children who died from this disease were only 10, 8, 3 and less than one year old at the time of their deaths. Sadly, William's father, John Henry Rollins, Sr., also died in October of 1887, when he was just 45 years old. I don't know the cause of his death however.

A short while after Ephraim's death, his wife, Ida Patten Rollins, married his younger brother, William. In the 1900 census for Graham County, Arizona Territory, William Samuel Rollins and Ida Patten Rollins were listed with 8 children living in their home: Ida May, 15, Edward, 13, Ervin, 12, (Ephraim's children), Ella, 10, Wilmirth, 6, (known as Wilma), Delila, 4, (known as Lyle), Lourie, 2, (Louyre was correct spelling), and Guy William who was 6 months old. William was working as a dry goods dealer, and they owned their own home, free from a mortgage. William, 32, was born in August of 1868, Ida, 37, was born in September of 1862, and the census showed they had been married 17 years, had 9 children, 8 of whom were living.

This would have meant they were married in 1883, which was four years before Ephraim's death in 1887, and at that time, William was only 16 years old. However, the 1910 census shows William and Ida had been married 23 years, which meant they were married in 1887, the year that Ephraim passed away. So maybe when Ida provided the information to the census taker in 1900 indicating she had been married 17 years, she meant it had been 17 years since she was married to Ephraim not William.

In the 1910 census, the family was living in Douglas City, Cochise, Arizona, and they were listed as follows: William, 43, Ida, 48, Edward C., 23, Ervin, 21, Ella, 19, Wilma (Wilmirth), 17, Lyle, 15, (Delila), Loire, 13, (Louyre), and Guy 11. In this census, William was working as a house building contractor on his own account. They owned their home but had a mortgage.

On September 12, 1918, when William and Ida's son, Guy William Rollins, completed his World War I Draft Registration Card, he was 19 years old and described himself as being of medium height and build with blue eyes and brown hair. The card was completed at the local board for Cochise County, Tombstone, Arizona. He was working as a metallurgical charter for the Copper Queen Smelter in Douglas, Cochise, County, and listed his nearest relatives as his parents, Mr. & Mrs. William Rollins living in Benson, Cochise County, Arizona. He stated his birth date was November 11, 1899, and that he was living at 1504 21st Street in Douglas, Cochise, Arizona.

By the 1920 census, William, 52 and Ida, 56, were living in Robinson, Cochise, Arizona, and in the home with them was Mr. L.A. Carter, 67, a servant. William was listed as a farmer and L.A. Carter as a farm laborer. All of their children had moved on with their lives, the youngest, Guy would have been 21 years old in 1920. I'm not sure whether Guy served in World War I, but since I couldn't find him in the census that year, perhaps he did serve.

I could find no record of William and Ida in the 1930 census, however, William and Ida were listed in a U.S. City Directory in 1930 living in Tucson, Arizona, and he was working as a poultry man. Ida passed away just two years later on October 11, 1932, in Emory Park, Tucson, Pima County, Arizona . Her death certificate showed she died of chronic fibroid pulmonary tuberculosis which she had for about 10 years, and also contributing to her death was chronic myocarditis, which she had for about one year. At the time of her death she was 70 years, one month and 8 days old. She was buried in the Safford Cemetery on October 14, 1932. The informant's name on her death certificate was G.W. Rollins of Tucson, Arizona.

Sadly, just a year and half later, William, died on June 27, 1934, at St. Mary's Hospital in Tucson, Pima County, Arizona, from a crushing injury and six broken ribs as a result of an automobile accident which occurred in Benson, Arizona. His death certificate stated that he lived in Emory Park at that time, his profession was listed as a rancher, and he was 67 years, 10 months and 27 days old. He was buried in Safford, Arizona, July 2. The informant on his death certificate was Ervin E. Rollins, who gave his address as: Box 413, Pico, California, at the time. Ervin was the son of Ida and her first husband, William's brother, Edward Ephraim Rollins.

By the 1930 census, Guy was 30 years old, living in Los Angeles, California, with his wife, Josephine, 26, in a home they were renting for $35 per month located at 5114 S. Wilton Place. They had two children, son Raymond W., 1 year 11 months, and daughter Marion J., 4 months old. Guy was working as a supervisor at a creamery. Since both of their children where born in California, they must have moved from Arizona to California about 1928 or possibly earlier.

In 1930, my great grandmother, Dortha Roxana Madsen Rollins McKinney, and her daughter, Thelma Josephine McKinney, and Dortha's granddaughter (my mother), Frances Amelia Eubank, were living at 6715 Victoria Avenue, Los Angeles, which was about two and a half miles from Guy and Josephine's home.

Dortha married her first husband, John Henry Rollins, William's brother, in 1885. They had two children, a son and a daughter and then he was killed in a tragic accident and died on Christmas Day in 1889. Dortha was left a 20-year old widow with their two young children to raise, my grandmother, Dortha Evelyn Rollins, and my great uncle, John Delbert Rollins. Guy was Dortha Roxana Madsen Rollins McKinney's nephew by marriage, but Guy was born about 10 years after his Uncle John Henry Rollins, Jr. passed away, so he never got to know his uncle. Hopefully, Dortha told Guy all about his Uncle John Henry when they lived near each other in Los Angeles in 1930.

In the previous 1920 census, Guy's sister, Louyre Rollins Rosenbloom, had been living in Bakersfield, California, with her aunt Dortha Roxana Madsen Rollins McKinney and Dortha's daughter, Thelma Josephine McKinney. Louyre was 22 years old and had a one year old son, John Rosenbloom. Louyre's husband, Jack Rosenbloom, had died in October of 1918, while working as a hoist engineer for a ship building firm in San Pedro, California. They had only been married for two years. I wonder if Guy was also living in California then, or if he came to California from Arizona when his sister's husband died in 1918?

According to the 1920 census records, Guy's wife Josephine's father was born in California. In that census, Josephine Metcalf was 16 years old, living in Phoenix, Arizona, with her widowed mother, Mary Metcalf, who was working as a servant in the home of Carl and Mary Anderson, and their two and one half year old son, Donald K., and his nurse, Florence Balfour.

Guy passed away in May of 1935, from causes unknown, and was buried in the Rose Hills Cemetery in Whittier, California. In 1940, Guy's widow, Josephine Metcalf Rollins, was living at 1256 West 60th Street in Los Angeles, in a home she was renting for $25 per month. Living with Josephine was her son Raymond, 11, and daughters Marion, 10, and Jimmie Ruth, 8, and another son, Lyle Thomas, 6. She was not working but the record stated she had her "own income."

Josephine Mary Metcalf Rollins outlived her husband Guy by nearly 50 years. She was born December 17, 1903, and passed away May 16, 1986, while living in Anaheim, Orange County, California. The California Death Index stated her mother's maiden name was Freeman. Nancy Malinda West Rollins, William's mother, had a sister who married a man named Columbus Reed Freeman. I wonder if there was any connection between Josephine's mother and the Columbus Freeman family.

William and Ida's eldest daughter, Ella, married William Clive Coe and they had two children, William Clive Coe, Jr., and Lillian Mae Coe, but they later divorced and Ella moved to Los Angeles, California, with her two children. Ella passed away in 1955 at the age of 65, and her son, William died 4 years later in 1959. Her daughter Lillian Mae Coe Richards, however, lived to a ripe old age and died at 97 in 2010.

William and Ida's second child, Linda, died before her 2nd birthday, but their daughter, Wilmirth, or Wilma as she was known, married Albert Earle Cartwright and they had 2 sons and moved to Los Angeles, California. She lived to the age of 92. Daughter Delilah or Lyle, married Lester Shannon and they had three sons. Lyle lived to be 84 years old and passed away in Prescott, Arizona.

Daughter Louyre married three times, had three sons and a daughter, and lived in California most of her life, but she eventually moved to Oregon, and died there at the age of 96 yeas old in 1994. She was buried in the Memory Gardens Memorial Park Cemetery in Medford, Jackson County, Oregon.

The date of death of William Samuel Rollins is shown incorrectly on his headstone at the Safford City Cemetery, since his death was on June 27th not June 29th, 1934, according to his death certificate. However, his death certificate incorrectly listed his year of birth as 1866, when he, in fact, was born in 1868, based on his ages in various census and public records over the years.

Obituary for William Samuel Rollins: Emery Park Man Fatally Injured -- William Rollins of Emery Park died in a local hospital last night following an automobile accident in Benson, Arizona. Rollins was driving a truck which was in a collision with another truck heavily loaded with grain. He was jolted from his seat and, according to the reports received by Colby S. Farrar, Pima County Under Sheriff, the wheel of the other truck passed over his chest.

Rollins was given first aid in Benson and rushed to tucson by C.A. Hull and Miss Geneva Tapperman. He died soon after reaching the hospital. Farrar and Coroner C.V. Budlong investigated the case. The name of the driver of the other truck was not learned here last night but a report on the death was given to Cochise County authorities. The body was taken to Reilly's Undertaking Parlor.

SOURCE: Ancestry.com