Member

Rolla was born in 1875 in Preemption, Illinois. He graduated from the University of North Dakota at the age of 18. He went to work at the Smithsonian and was active with the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. He also went on many fields trips for the Smithsonian, including explorations to British Columbia and Liberia, where he collected with Professor O. F. Cook in 1889. In 1901, Rolla went to work as an entomologist with the Bureau of Entomology, Department of Agriculture and specialized in odonates. He remained an editor in that department until his retirement in 1944 at the age of 69. That year he followed in the footsteps of his father and two uncles and entered the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia. Rolla was ordained an Episcopal priest two years later by the Right Reverend Angus Dun, then bishop of Washington. He was elected to membership in the Washington Biologists’ Field Club in 1901 and terminated his membership in 1930. Rolla served as secretary/treasurer from 1904 to 1905. Rolla had two children. Rolla died on September 20, 1960.