ROLLER, Robert Douglas, M.D. Kanawha County, West Virginia Biography of Robert Douglas ROLLER, M. D. This file was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: The submitter does not have a connection to the subject of this sketch. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 217 ROBERT DOUGLAS ROLLER, M. D. Besides its prominent physician in Charleston, the capital city honors the name Roller for the distinguished services of his father, Rev. R. D. Roller, now a retired Episcopal clergyman. The Rev. R. D. Roller was born in Rockingham County, Virginia, in 1850, graduated from the Virginia Theological Seminary in 1875, and immediately began his life work in the Episcopal Church. A service that has proved his great- est and most lasting achievement was rendered for thirty years in Charleston, from the beginning of his work as rec- tor of St. John's Episcopal Church in 1888. St. John's had just begun building when he took charge and organized the parish while the foundation was being laid, and he built up and made this one of the largest and most influential churches of the denomination in the state. After thirty years he was retired in 1918, with the title of Rector Emeri- tus. His active ministry made him part and parcel of the life of Charleston, and the community will long cherish his character and service here. Rev. Doctor Roller, who repre- sents an old family in Virginia, where his ancestors set- tled prior to the Revolutionary war, married Caroline Booker. Their son, Dr. Robert Douglas Roller, was born in old Virginia in 1880, and grew up in Charleston. He gradu- ated in the literary course from the University of West Virginia in 1900, and then began his medical studies in the University College of Medicine at Richmond. He received his M. D. degree in 1905. For about ten years Doctor Roller performed the arduous duties of physician in the coal fields, chiefly in Raleigh County, West Virginia. Then fol- lowed a period of hospital work in Connecticut, and from there he went to New York for the purpose of continuing his hospital and post graduate experience. While there, in the summer of 1917, he enlisted in the Medical Corps of the United States Army, receiving the commission of cap- tain. Doctor Roller did most of his honor work at Camp Pike, Arkansas. After more than two years of continuous service he received his honorable discharge in October, 1919, with the rank of major. Doctor Roller early in 1920 re- sumed private practice at Charleston, and is now a special- ist in internal medicine, with office in the Coyle & Richard- son Building. He is a member in good standing of the County, State and American Medical Associations.