My Genealogy Hound

CHARLES ROLAND, journalist; Greenville; was born in Washington Co., Ohio, Aug. 6, 1831; he was left an orphan when an infant, and was reared in the family of a friend in Fairfield Co., Ohio; his boyhood was passed on a farm, receiving only a meager common-school education, which terminated at the age of 14, when he entered the office of the Ohio Eagle, at Lancaster, where he learned the printing business and remained several years; in 1856, he became a partner in the ownership of the paper with John M. Connell, subsequently Colonel of the 17th O. V. I.; in the latter part of 1861, Mr. Roland became sole proprietor and conducted that journal till the spring of 1866, when he disposed of the Eagle and purchased the Greenville Democrat, of which he has since been editor and proprietor; when he took charge of the Democrat it was a small, poorly printed sheet, with a patronage too limited for support; it is now the largest folio in the State, is conducted with ability, circulates widely, and has yielded its owner a handsome income. Mr. Roland has always been a stanch Democrat, and during his management of the Eagle it was a bold, outspoken sheet; upon the opening of the late war, its editor, for taking exceptions to the manner in which the war was being conducted, in the fall of 1862, was summoned by Gov. Tod to an interview in his office at Columbus; he at once presented himself before the Governor, having with him three prominent citizens of Lancaster, as witnesses of what might transpire. The Governor complained that the tone of his paper was disloyal and tended to discourage enlistments, and stated that his first impulse had been to suppress the paper and send its editor to Fort Warren. Mr. Roland replied, that he had taken for his guide the Constitution and laws of the country, and that of two meetings in the same week, at Lancaster, by Republicans and Democrats, respectively, at the former five men enlisted, and at the latter thirteen. The interview closed by a threat somewhat excitedly expressed by the Governor, in these words: “Constitution and laws or not, unless the tone of your paper is changed it will be suppressed, and you will be sent to Fort Warren; I have the backbone to do it.” Mr. Roland returned to Lancaster and published an attested account of the interview in the next issue of his paper, and continued to publish his views of the eventful struggle, and was not molested. In 1851, he married Amelia, daughter of Lewis Clark, of Lancaster, and four sons and five daughters are the issue of the union; the eldest son, Arthur A. Roland, is editor and publisher of the Lebanon Patriot.