Chat
|
Daily Search
|
My GenForum
|
Community Standards
|
Terms of Service
|
|
|
1915 Biography of JOHN ROBERTS, born in Clay County, Indiana in 1836, from “The History of Adair County, Iowa”
JOHN ROBERTS
Farming interests in Harrison Township, Adair County, Iowa find a well-known and worthy representative in John Roberts, who is living on Section 26. He was born in Clay County, Indiana on May 11, 1836, his parents being James and Nancy Dickens Roberts, both of whom were natives of Kentucky. James and Nancy Dickens Roberts were probably married in Kentucky and subsequently relocated to Clay County, Indiana, where they remained until 1854, when they started across the country with two yoke of oxen and a two horse team, with Kansas as their destination. On reaching Nodaway, Andrew County, Missouri, however, Nancy Dickens Roberts died and the immigrant train, consisting of the father and his family, three uncles and a brother-in-law, with their families, diverted their course and came north into Iowa with the intention of going to Boone County. Upon reaching Adair County, however, they decided to locate here and the five families took up their abode in Harrison Township, where John Roberts’ father James Roberts spent his remaining days, passing away at the ripe old age of eighty-two years.
John Roberts was a youth of eighteen years when the family came to Adair County about 1854. He had attended the district schools of Indiana and he had not only learned from books but had also gained many valuable lessons from the school of experience. After coming to Iowa, John Roberts assisted in the development and improvement of the home farm, remaining with his father James Roberts up to the time of John Roberts’ marriage on September 20, 1860 to Miss Emily McDonald, born about 1841. The young couple began their domestic life upon a tract of rented land and for about five years he cultivated the farm upon which he now resides. At the end of that time he bought eighty acres in Grand River Township, on which he continued to make his home for nineteen years and which he still owns, having in the meantime brought it to a high state of development and improvement. In 1888 he relocated to his present place in Harrison Township. This farm of two hundred acres belongs to his wife Emily McDonald Roberts and was entered from the government by her father, William McDonald, who came to Adair County from Missouri in 1851, being the first settler in this section of the country, his nearest neighbor at that time being ten miles distant. William McDonald lived and died in the home, which is now occupied by John Roberts, passing away in his eighty-third year. This house is the original log cabin built by William McDonald when he came to Adair County from Missouri and is the oldest residence in Adair County. The home bears little resemblance to the original building, however, for it has been weather boarded and various additions have been made, transforming it into a more modern home. Emily McDonald Roberts is probably the oldest resident in Adair County in point of continuous residence here.
To Mr. and Mrs. John Roberts have been born seven children: James W. Roberts, who follows farming in Grand River Township; Charles F. Roberts, of Clay County, South Dakota; Leonard Roberts, who farms in Grand River Township; Mary Almina (“Mina”) Roberts, now the wife of Mr. Pleasant Elmer Beaman, of Harrison township, Adair County; Thomas A. Roberts, a resident of Morton County, North Dakota; Josiah B. Roberts, who lives in Guthrie County, Iowa; and John I. Roberts, at home.
John Roberts votes with the Republican Party. He came to his majority about the time the party was formed and he has always been an advocate of its principles. He served for several years as Township Trustee and at an early period was School Director. He and Emily are of the Christian faith but advanced age has made it almost impossible for them to drive to town to attend worship. They have long been highly esteemed residents of the community – people of genuine worth whose good qualities of heart and mind have endeared them to many. John Roberts is now in the eightieth year of his age and such has been the course that he has followed that he can look back over the past without regret and forward to the future without fear.
Notify Administrator about this message?
Followups:No followups yet |
| http://genforum.genealogy.com/ia/adair/messages/62.html | ||
 |
Link to GenForum Add Forum |
|