The Zirkle family heritage in Colonial America is extremely rich in history and worthy of much more study than I can provide in this chapter.  To get an idea of how the Zirkle and Roller family trees entwined, we must step back in time a few hundred years to Central Europe.  The information that follows is based on historical fact and the family information is based on the data that I have gathered so far.  Where I take literary license to speculate and draw conclusions will be made clear to the reader.

The Zirkle name is spelled several ways in the parish records found at the "Evangelische Landeskirche in Baden" (Church Archives) in Karlsruhe, Germany and in other genealogical records.  Some of the variations are Zirkel, Zurkle, Zirckel, Zirkell, and sometimes in America, Cirkle, Sircle, Scircle, and Circle.  [The Circle spelling probably originated from an overworked immigration worker struggling with the spelling of another strange sounding German name.]  To keep it simple, I will use what seems to be the current spelling, Zirkle.

 The furthest back we can go along the Zirkle family tree is to Conrad Zirkle who was born between 1610 and 1628.  Although Conrad's birth year is unknown, the range is about right because his son, Johannes was born around 1650.  Since we don't have records on Johannes' siblings, we can speculate that if Johannes was Conrad's first child and born in 1650, Conrad was probably about 22 years old.  If, on the other hand, Johannes was the last of a typical family of around 7 children, then Conrad's birth could be pushed back to as far as 1610.

 The church records are quite interesting.  The Kirchardt parish book lists births, baptisms, marriages and deaths from 1651 to 1786.  That sixty-five year period filled a book that is less than one inch thick of very heavy stock paper.  The book is laid out in an orderly fashion.  In the back of the book is an alphabetic listing and date for entered names.  The pages are laid out in five columns.  For births, the columns list the parents names, the child's name, the godparents names, the date of birth and what looked like a "remarks" column that was mostly blank.  According to other records that I cannot verify, it seems that Kirchardt is where Johnannes was born, although his name was not listed in the church book.

 The Kirchardt record is at odds with the genealogical information provided to the family, which was taken mostly from Gordon K. Zirkle's book, "Zirkle Family in America – Germany to Pennsylvania."  The reason for the discrepancy is probably due to the fact that most of Mr. Zirkle's research came from microfilm records held by the Genealogical Society of Utah.  When a record is microfilmed, some of the quality of the original is lost.  Faded entries might be easier to read on the original.  Handwriting varies in legibility as well, and styles of German script changed considerably over time.  The Kirchardt book was written in Old German script that my friendly English-speaking German Archivist was kind enough to interpret.  He noted that every January birth month was incorrect.  The Utah interpreter obviously mistook the German word for July, "Juni," as Jan.  In addition, the German number 1 is written with two long lines that look similar to an inverted V and sometimes mistaken for a 7.  Other errors were noted and corrections made to my records and will be shared with the Genealogical Society of Utah.  To add further confusion to the issue of accurate dates, all years are normally given as they appear in the old records with no transposition for the change from the Julian to the present Gregorian calendar.  That change seems to have taken place around 1679 in this area of Germany.  English lands, including the colonies made the change in 1752, at which time 11 days were dropped from the calendar.   In some books the correction is noted, for example, as "January 12, 1698/99."

 Conrad Zirkle's son, Johannes, was a Lutheran and a Farrier (cared for horses).  He married Katharina Hirtzel on January 23, 1672 in Sinsheim, about 2 miles northwest of Kirchardt.  Before we learn more about Johannes, let's get an idea of how Katharina, born around 1650 in Aublihan Parish, Pfeffikon, Switzerland, might have come to the Kirchardt area of Germany.

The Reformation and Religious Persecution

 On the eve of the Reformation, Europe was a place of seething religious, economic and political unrest.  Corruption in the Roman Catholic Church seemed to have reached all levels of the clergy.  The rulers of the various central European states were contemplating open resistance against the power of the Holy Roman Empire.  A growing middle class of merchants and artisans was resentful of the hereditary privileges of the aristocrats.  At the bottom were the peasants, a powerless mass abused by both church and state.

 Religious reformers provided the spark, which ignited the upheaval that became the Reformation.  In 1517 Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the church at Wittenberg, Germany.  The ideas in those theses led to Luther's excommunication from the Catholic Church and to the formation of several new religious movements.  Luther broadened the conflict with the Church by asking for and receiving protection from the prince of Saxony.  In time, other dissatisfied rulers soon joined the movement, bringing a political dimension to the conflict.

 By 1525, reformers in Switzerland argued for "believer's baptism" – baptism by adults after a statement of faith.  Because members of the new movement baptized adults, all of whom were baptized into the Catholic Church as infants, they were called Anabaptists, meaning "rebaptizers."  This movement was the origin of the Mennonite and Amish faiths.  The Anabaptists had three basic ideas.  First, the rejection of infant baptism.  Second, they advocated a separation between church and state.  Third, most Anabaptists refused to take up the sword to defend themselves or the state, practicing instead Christ's admonition to turn the other cheek.  These ideas had political as well as religious appeal to the peasants and middle class, which were unhappy with the injustices of the time.

 Persecution of the Anabaptists, Lutherans and other non-Catholic religions soon followed.  Thousands were thrown into prison, tortured and killed during the Reformation.  In 1635, Zurich, Switzerland began a systematic campaign to eradicate all Anabaptists from the canton.  Rather than creating martyrs with public execution, the government placed some Anabaptists in prison, where torture and neglect led to their deaths.  Other members of the movement were stripped of their possessions and expelled from the canton.  Within twenty years the Protestant cantons of Switzerland were at war with all five Catholic cantons.

 To make matters worse, the manipulative hand of France's King Louis XIV was behind much of the religious unrest of the 17th century (or more accurately at this time since Louis was in his teens, France's Catholic Cardinal Richelieu).  To begin with, France needed Swiss mercenaries – between 6,000 and 16,000 per year – for its wars and was prepared to offer commercial privileges to high-ranking Swiss in return.  Switzerland ended up as a dependency of the French Crown in all but name.  Things might not have stopped there had France not been kept in rein by Britain and Holland.

The above offers one scenario for the Hirtzels to move from Switzerland, but why would they end up in Reihen, Germany?  To answer that, a bit of history is required:

  1555 – The Peace of Augsburg followed the principle, "like master, like man," in that whoever had political sovereignty over an area could determine its religious faith.  There were three seats of power in this part of Germany; the Catholic Church in Speyer, the Lutheran ducal family in Wuttemberg, and the Prince Elector of the Palatinate in Heidelberg.  The electors of the Palatinate changed their religion four times in as many reigns.  If you were a member of an out of favor religion, you could encounter persecution such as the inability to meet as groups, the loss of possessions, banishment, torture and death.  Members of the Reformed Church were not permitted to practice their religion with the liberty they desired.  They were forced to share their church buildings with the Lutherans and the Roman Catholics, and were required to use the Heidelberg Catechism.

  1598 – The Edict of Nantes by Henry IV of France gives Protestant Huguenots equal political rights to Catholics along with the right to obtain some fortified towns and to hold political office.

  1608 – The Prince Elector, Frederick IV, organizes a Protestant Union.

  1609 – A Catholic League, organized under the leadership of Bavaria's Duke Maximillan, mobilizes its forces to oppose the Protestant Union.  And what are some of the small villages that lie between these forces?  That's right, Kirchardt and Ittlingen.  At first the conflict was settle diplomatically with the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II permitting limited free exercise of religion.

  1612 - 1648 -- Emperor Rudolf II dies and is succeeded by his less tolerant brother, Matthias.  Fighting erupts between Catholic and Protestant factions that leads in 1618 to the beginning of the Thirty-Year War.  The 1622 battle of Wieslock, which is only about 13 miles west of Kirchardt, was a short-lived Protestant victory.  There were many bloody battles to follow.  In 1623 the famous Palatine Library in Heidelberg is carried off by imperial troops as war booty.  The Catholic Edict of Restitution in 1629 restores ecclesiastic estates in Europe and permits free exercise of religion only to adherents of the 1530 Confession of Augsburg.  All other "sects" are to be broken up.  Troops of the Catholic League enforce the Edict by showing no mercy to the "heretics."  France and Sweden enter the war on the side of the Protestants in 1631 as the war widens.

The Thirty-Year War ended with the Peace of Westphalia on October 24, 1648.  The Protestants were victorious, but the religious conflict, along with scurvy, typhus and the Black Death plague, left Central Europe devastated and depopulated to only twenty five percent of the pre-war inhabitants.  Religious sects that were previously unwelcome in the German States were invited by Prince Elector Karl Ludwig II to rebuild the devastated land.  Religious persecutees from France and Switzerland came as early as 1651 to repopulate the villages and farms around Sinsheim.

This offers one scenario of how the Hirtzel family came from Switzerland to Reihen, Germany.  The Hirtzels must have come to the region as a large family group.  The Riehen church book (1650-1870) lists the deaths of twelve Hirtzels from 1663 to 1746.  Catharina's grandfather, Henrich died in 1663, and her grandmother died at the age of 70 ½.   One of her relatives (possibly an aunt) was credited as having midwifed 400 children over a twenty-four year period.

It is uncertain how the Zirkles faired in the Thirty-Year War but the village of Ittlingen was completely destroyed – only the stump of the church tower remained.  Along with the destruction of the villages, all records prior to 1650 from all but six villages in the region were destroyed.  We may not be able to trace the Zirkle family tree back further than the sketchy information we have on Conrad.

It is not know at this time if Kirchardt suffered similar destruction as Ittlingen during the Thirty-Year War as Ittlingen.  Whatever the damage, Kirchardt is where Johannes was born around 1650 to Conrad Zirkle.   At the time of Johannes birth, Kirchardt was a small village with few family names.  With so few prospects for marriage, it was common for several brothers and sisters to marry into another family.  And just how did Johannes Zirkle and Catharina Hirtzel meet?  The answer is easy, they were cousins.  Johannes mother and Katharina's father were siblings and children of Henrich and Veronica Hirtzel.

The union of Johannes and Katharina produced seven children.  Their third child, Henrich, was born in 1676 in Kirchardt.  He, like his father, was listed as a Lutheran.  Henrich settled in Ittlingen some time before 1700 (Ittlingen is about 2 miles southwest of Reihen).  Henrich and his wife, Eve Euphrosina, had six children between about 1700 and 1710.

As if the Thirty-Year War wasn't enough to chase the Zirkles from Germany, what other reasons could they have to come to America?  To begin with, by 1700, Karl Ludwig's repopulation plan proved to be too successful.  The area was now overcrowded.  A historical look at what the French were up to in the late 1600s offers other compelling reason to emigrate:

 1672 – A French army of 100,000 crosses the Rhine River without warning and invades the Dutch republic as Louis XIV acts to punish the Dutch who gave refuge to his political and religious critics.

 1671 and 1677 – William Penn traveled throughout the Palatinate, preaching in Worms and Kriegsheim.  His prospectus, Some Accounts of the Province of Pennsylvania, was written for the purpose of attracting settlers.  Translated into Dutch, German, and French, it had a wide circulation throughout the Rhineland.  A little later, Queen Anne, in an attempt to draw settlers to the lands along the Hudson that the English had taken away from the Dutch, painted America in colors so glowing that the prospectus issued in her name came to be known as The Golden Book of Queen Anne.

1674 – French troops devastate the Palatinate region of Germany.  Spain and the Holy Roman Emperor join the Dutch in a coalition to frustrate the ambitions of France's Louis XIV.
 
 1675 – France recovers all of the Alsace region and retreats across the Rhine.  Swedish allies of Louis XIV invade northern Germany but are repelled.

 1679 – Four new treaties are signed in Nijmegan, settling many disputes between France, Holland, Sweden, Denmark and the Holy Roman Empire.

1681 – Pennsylvania has its beginnings in a land grant of 48,000 square miles given by England's King Charles II to religious nonconformist William Penn.  The King's generosity is motivated in part by a desire to rid England of nonconformists.

 1682 – Norfolk, Virginia is founded.  The Black Death kills nearly half of the 10,000 inhabitants in Halle, Germany and wipes out much of Magdeburg, Germany.

 1685 – The Palatinate-Simmern line dies out with Prince Elector Karl Ludwig II.  King Louis XIV raises a claim to the inheritance on behalf of his sister-in-law Liselotte of the Palatinate, but without her consent.  Liselotte is married to Louis' brother, and Louis intends for the Palatinate to fall to France.  In addition, after 87 years of religious tolerance in France, King Louis XIV, under pressure from Catholic political backers, revokes the Edict of Nantes.  It is now forbidden to practice any religion except Catholicism and France forbids Huguenots to emigrate.  But emigrate the do.  In the years that follow, fully one half million leave for other European countries, Protestant German states, South Africa and North America.  This mass exodus devastates the French maritime fleet and nearly all of the French industry, and helps fuel more military action against the German Palatinate.

 1688 – The Palatine joins forces with the Holy Roman Emperor and others opposed to King Louis XIV of France in The War of the League of Augburg.  The French invade the Palatinate and lay waste the countryside, destroying nearly all the castles and villages along the Rhine, including Heidelberg.  Villages and farmhouses were burned and people driven from their homes in the dead of winter.  Fruit trees were cut down and vineyards destroyed.  Along with political and religious reasons for the French invasion, King Louis XIV was also taking economic revenge on the large number of German toll castles along the Rhine River that fed into Palatinate coffers and drained France of much needed revenue.

 1693 – The French besiege Heidelberg for the second time, blowing up all fortifications and burning the town.

 1699 – A German named Daniel Falckner traveled to Pennsylvania.  On his return to Germany he published the book "Curieuse Nachricht von Pennsylvania, which contained glowing accounts of the new world and detailed advice on how to immigrate to Penn's colony.  This and similar books were circulated widely between 1702 and 1704.

 1701 – The Charter of Privileges gives Pennsylvania the most liberal government of the English colonies in America.

 1707 – Emigration picks up momentum from across Europe.  After establishing themselves in the New World, religious groups would send representatives back to Europe to invite their relatives and friends to join them.  In the Ittlingen area, this person may have been Martin Kendig, a Mennonite who knew Hans Herr of Ittlingen.  Kendig returned to Germany sometime after 1714.  The desire to leave Europe must have been overwhelming for them to endure the hardships of the journey.  Many of the immigrants from the Rhineland were victims of dishonest ship companies and land agents.  Many others owed their poverty to the trickery and rapacity of British promoters and ship captains.  For the sake of fat commissions from the shipping merchants "soul snatchers" went through the Rhineland to persuade the inhabitants to take passage on one of their ships.  On the journey down the Rhine, with its thirty to forty tollhouses, they were held up so often that it took five to six weeks to reach Rotterdam.  At Rotterdam there was often a further delay of a month or more until a ship sailed for Philadelphia.  By the time the ship left, many were short of money and sold themselves as indentured servants to pay for their passage.  Three to five hundred passengers were packed into the small ships.  Food and water were scanty and often contaminated; ventilation was bad; there was no sanitation to speak of; and rats and lice abounded.  Typhus and Yellow Fever were common and took a heavy toll.

 1709 – The Black Death kills 100,000 in Prussia.  Famine ravages Europe as frost kills crops, fruit trees and domestic fowl as far south as the Mediterranean Coast.
 
 1710 – Baron de Graffenreid brings 650 Swiss and German Palatines to North Carolina, where they settle New Bern on the Neuse River.

 1711 – The Black Death kills 300,000 in Austria and 215,000 in Brandenburg, Germany.

 1715 – King Louis XIV of France dies.

1716 – Virginia colonialists settle the Shenandoah Valley.

 1720 – Disputes over religion between the ruling Catholic house and the Evangelical population lead to the transfer of the princes' residence to Mannheim.
 
 1720/21  Meanwhile, closer to home for the Zirkle, we have an account of the "Ittlinger Schweinekrieg" – Ittlingen Hog War – which probably added to the Zirkles' desire to emigrate within the next four years:

"From before anyone's memory the peasants had the right to drive their hogs into the forest to find nourishment.  In the middle of the sixteenth century the right was reduced to the time of acorn and beechnut harvest, from Michaelis (29 September) to Thomasius (21 December).  Later, due to harm to the forests, the number of swine per household was restricted.  Then a fee for use of the forest was added.  By 1720 this was three Batzens per hog.  In that year suddenly the two landlord families united and demanded a higher fee than the dorfordnung (village regulations) of 1584 allowed.  The villagers, under the leadership of the proprietors of the Ochsen and the Krone, two of the taverns, filed a protest with the next higher judicial authority, the council of the knights, which sat at Heilbronn, and refused to pay the levy.
The nobles then took matters into their own hands in a crafty way.  Wanting to make the villagers appear in the wrong, they took advantage of another stipulation, which required everyone to be at worship on Sunday morning.  Sunday, 1 November 1720, witnesses swore that the villagers had driven more hogs into the forest than was allowed.  They ordered the Gemmingen gamesman to tell the swine herdsman not to let the hogs go the normal Saugrund, but to take them higher into the woods of the von Gemmingen-Gemmingen family.  All the while the Ittlinger were in church, where they were expected to be.  Suddenly a representative of the von Gemmingen clan called to the herdsman, "The hogs must get out of the forest, for a roe buck is there.  The nobles are here and want to slay it."

Henrich's third child with Eve Euphrosina, Johann Ludwig, was born on October 9, 1705 in Ittlingen, along with his twin sister, Anna Maria.  Mr. Zirkle's book states that Henrich arrived in Philadelphia in 1725 with his family . . . "including his son Ludwig with twin sister Anna Maria.  Henrich and Ludwig thus became the forerunners of the Zirkle family in America."  It is believed that Heinrich was listed on the ship Brittannia.  It is not known if Henrich's other children came to America.   If they did, why didn't Mr. Zirkle list Hans Martin as a "fore-runner" along with Henrich and Ludwig?  Nor did his book list a wife for Henrich (But that is not surprising since the males were the only ones listed on many ship manifests).  A search of the records in Karlsruhe does not indicate the Zirkle line continued in this region.  That leads one to speculate that the entire family came to America, or some went to other parts of Europe, or, just as likely, that many of the family died prior to the emigration. Heinrich paid rent prior to 1734 on 50 acres in Franconia Township, Mongomery County, Pennsylvania.  He died in 1748 in Franconia and was buried in Lutheran Church cemetery.

 Johann Ludwig Zirkle was listed as a Tanner by trade and a Lutheran.  In 1732 he married Eve Maria Bear (widow of Ottlinger) in Telford, Pennsylvania.  She was born in Europe in 1709 and came to America in 1725 (possibly aboard same ship??).  They had seven children between about 1735 and 1743.  The birth places of the children indicate that the Zirkles were in Forestville, Pennsylvania from at least 1735 until 1739 and then moved to Rockingham County, Virginia.  Prior to 1735, they may have lived in Telford, PA.  Johannes' dedication to the Lutheran Church was evidenced by his will, written on October 28 1746.  Johannes wrote the following after his signature: Be it known that I, Lodowick Zirkle in Frankonia Township, now in my sickness, being in remembrance that I, a long time ago, bequeathed one acre of my land for the use of the Lutheran Church, to have and to hold the said described so long as the Sun and Moon are Shining.  (Philadelphia Will Book H, p.209)  In fulfilling the terms of this will, on July 17, 1751, Eve  Maria deeded the one acre specified.,

Johann died in January, 1747 at forty-two years of age and was buried in St. Matthew Lutheran Graveyard, New Market, Virginia.  Eve Maria died in 1771 in Forestville, New Market, Virginia and was buried in the Forestville Cemetery.

Johann and Eva's fifth child, Lewis Zirkle, was born in 1740 in New Market, Virginia.  He married Mary Magdalena Rosch in 1768 and put down deep roots in New Market.  The book "Old Houses in Rockingham County" lists the Lewis Zirkle House, built in 1760, as:

"One of the most primitive of stone houses to be found in Rockingham county. . .  It offers a great deal of interest, architecturally, in that it retains most of its original pioneer design.
 The Zirkle family had its origin in Germany, coming to Pennsylvania about 1725.  In 1760 Lewis Zirkle, Sr., settled on Smith's Creek while his brother, Peter, moved on to Botetourt county.  Lewis Zirkle was a tanner and a miller and pursued both operations near his home.  His son, Lewis Zirkle, Jr., was also a tanner and miller and he continued his father's operations in the same location.
 This house is the first of the Zirkle houses built on Smith's Creek.  It stands near the foot of a hill on the south side of the entrance road to Endless Caverns, off Route 11, north of Harrisonburg.  The house is simple but sturdily built on field stone, laid at random, built against a bank so that the first floor is partially submerged.  At one time it was enlarged on the west side with a long structure which has been torn down, apparently taking with it the west end stone wall and chimney.
 It contains four rooms, two on the first or ground level and two on the second, which is also on ground level in the rear.  Across the front is a double porch with steps leading into each floor.  There is another door on the back.  On the second level there are two windows on the back and front.  On the ground level the windows are narrow and horizontal with wooden bars.
 It is impossible to examine the interior of this house thoroughly, but it is felt that it is original.
 Close to the house stand the remains of a stone structure, built at a later date, which could have been used as a cook or wash house.
 Lewis carried on a tannery and farming, was prosperous and accumulated a large estate.  He died at the age of seventy years, and his body and that of his wife are buried in St. Matthews Lutheran church graveyard, he having given the ground for the first Lutheran Church at New Market, VA.  At the time he died he owned fifteen hundred acres of ground, a good tannery and a fine mill property."
(Listed by U.S. Govt, WPA, Historical Am Buildings Survey, Rockingham)
 

Finally, The Zirkle - Roller Connection

Lewis Zirkle's sixth child, Eve Zirkle, married Jacob Roller on March 30, 1791 in Rockingham, Virginia.  Their families lived in the same area and knew each other well.  She and Jacob had nine children and lived in the wilderness.

In 1790, in accordance with the new constitution put into effect the previous year, a census was begun.  The first census for Virginia in 1818 listed the name of the head of the family, a numerical breakdown of free white family members by years, "all other free persons except Indians not taxed, and slaves.  A census taken of the local area in 1785 by Evan Jones listed John Roler with 11 in the family, George Sircle with 11, Andrew Sircle with 5, Michael Zircle with 12 and several Roush families.

The following excerpts mentioning Eve and Jacob Roller are from records in the Court House, Scott Count, Virginia:

December 12, 1827, Jacob's brother, Casper Roller, purchased 200 acres of land for 125 pounds from Jacob and Eve Roller.  Jacob's signature was reported to be in Dutch.

March 3, 1831, Jacob purchased land from Moses Rogers, signed by Jacob in Dutch.  Witnessed by Zackariah Robinett (father of Rebecca.  Rebecca's husband, Elias Roller, is Jacob's grandson).  Could there be a connection between Moses Rogers and the Roller move to Rogersville Missouri?

1867, Elias and Elizabeth Roller in Christian CO, Missouri, appoint son, Jacob as attorney in Scott County, VA, to bargain and sell lands of Jacob Roller, Sr., Father of Elias.  If Jacob had just died, this would place him at 104 years old.

The Zirkle homestead and family were in the thick of the Civil War battle for New Market, Virginia in May, 1864.  Over fifty Zirkles and over eighty Rollers are listed on the Confederate roles.

At some time around the end of the Civil War, Jacob and Eve's third child, Elias, continued the Roller lineage in Rogersville, Missouri, where another Roller cemetery was established.  Two of Jacob and Eve's children are buried in the Roller cemetery.  Eve Zirkle Roller died on April 21, 1858, and Jacob died three years later.  Their burial site was nearly lost to time.  Instead, in September 1997, the burial place of Jacob and Eve in Scott County, Virginia was memorialized with a large monument. William O. Roller of Roanoke, Virginia dedicated the memorial with:  "We present this monument to be dedicated to the glory of Almighty God and in loving memory of Jacob Roller, Sr. and wife Eve Zirkle Roller, George Roller and wife Leah Powers Roller, Andrew Barnette and wife Peggy Ann Gilliam Barnette, Andrew Bledsoe and wife Eliza Gilliam Bledsoe, an others buried here whose names are unknown.  We accept this memorial monument as a sacred trust, and shall guard it reverently, in honor and in memory of those who rest here.  The memory of their dedicated labor of love offered by them to make the future of their children safe and secure in this new land will always challenge us to preserve the future for those that follow us."

One last note on the Zirkle – Roller connection.  It appears from a genealogical search on the Internet that two of Jacob and Eve's grand-daughters also married into the Zirkle family.  Anna Roller was listed as the wife of Andrew Zirkle, Jr.   She died in 1804 at the age of twenty five and it appears that Andrew then married Anna's younger sister, Rachel, some time thereafter.

It is clear that the Zirkles flourished in America.  On August 11, 1893 the "Big Zirkle" reunion was held near Quicksburg, Virginia – 2,500 people were said to be present.

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