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1907 Past and Present Biographies
Rev. William RobertsLeft an orphan at the age of six years, Rev. William Roberts was thus deprived of much of the care and attention which comes from parental training. He was reared to farm life, his boyhood being largely passed on the farm of Levi Jessup, where he aided in the work of tilling the soil and caring for the crops. When eighteen years of age he started out upon an independent business career, desiring that his labors should more directly benefit himself. He chopped cord wood at twenty-five cents per cord and did other work which he could secure and which would yield him an honest living. Up to this time he had attended school as opportunity had offered, and, desirous of better educational advantages, he supplemented his early training by study in the Friends Boarding School, now Earlham College, at Richmond, Indiana, where he spent the winter of 1851-2 as a student. On leaving college he returned to the farm upon which he had been reared and during the summer months aided in the task of cultivating the crops, while in the winter seasons he taught school in the neighborhood for about six years. Carefully saving his earnings in order that he might eventually own property, Rev. Roberts became the owner of a small farm near Richmond, Indiana, on which he took up his abode in 1853. He further made preparations for having a home of his own by his marriage on the 31st of August of that year to Miss Elizabeth Rue, who was born in Wayne county, Indiana, August 25, 1837. Her parents were Henry and Rebecca (Talbert) Rue, in whose family were eight children, Mrs. Roberts being the youngest. The young couple began their domestic life upon a farm near Richmond, Indiana, where they made their home until 1880, and in connection with the work of tilling the soil and cultivating the cereals best adapted to the climate Mr. Roberts also engaged in preaching at intervals in Orange church at Richmond for twenty years, having united with the Society of Friends at the age of twenty-eight. He was ordained to the ministry when thirty-two years of age and was called to the pastorate of the Orange church in which he preached for a long period, frequently, however, securing leaves of absence in order to perform other Christian work. He visited many parts of Michigan in his ministerial capacity and visited the lumber districts of that and other states, distributing over one hundred thousand tracts among the men of the lumber camps and also preaching in schoolhouses and in different homes, covering almost the entire distance on foot and bearing all of his own expenses. He was prompted to this course by a desire that others might know and understand the truth as it had come to him. He preached the gospel for the love of the work and many there are who bear testimony of his upright life and noble example, as well as the earnest words which he spoke in influencing his fellowmen to live lives of uprightness and honor. He visited nearly all of the churches of his denomination in Indiana, Kansas and Ohio, and after the close of the Civil war he went south on a gospel mission to Helena, Arkansas, offering the first church membership to the negroes south of Mason and Dixon’s line. Two years later he was sent to Blount county, Tennessee, traveling over the mountains, walking most of the time, visiting all the churches in the valleys. His mission ary work was fraught with good results. His labors were of no restricted order and he was denied neither the rich harvests nor the aftermath. The year 1880 witnessed the arrival of Rev. Roberts in Greene county, Iowa, where he established his home and continued to reside until he was called to his final rest. For some years he was the only ordained minister engaged actively in church work in Dawson township, and for a long period he served as pastor of the Friends church near Paton. At the same time he superintended his farming interests and displayed good ability in control of his agricultural pursuits. He regarded this, however, as only a means to an end, feeling that his real life work was that which he did in planting the seeds of truth in various localities which he visited that in due time they might bring forth the rich harvests. Unto Rev. and Mrs. Roberts were born six children: Levi, who died at the age of three years; Lindley H., who wedded Alice Edgerton, now deceased, and is residing in Paton; Albert B., who married Lizzie Johnson; John H., who wedded Clara Swearingen; Annie, the wife of C. P. Walker; and Emma, who died at the age of twenty-four years. Since the death of the husband and father, Mrs. Roberts has removed to Paton, where she took up her abode in 1904, and in the village she still resides. Rev. Roberts continued in active life up to within two weeks of his final summons. Such was his wish. His work, whether of a spiritual or temporal nature, was never neglected. He owned and successfully operated an excellent farm of two hundred and forty acres on section 23, Dawson township, and forty acres on section 26 in Paton township, and while he capably controlled his private interests he at the same time found good opportunity to carry on Christian work as a minister of the Friends church. His influence was far-reaching, his labors of the utmost benefit to his fellowmen and upon many lives he left the impress of his own individuality for good. Of him it might well be said: “His life was noble, and the elements So mixed in him that nature might stand up And say to all the world this was a man.” |
Transcribed from "Past and Present of Greene County, Iowa Together With Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Prominent and Leading Citizens and Illustrious Dead," by E. B. Stillman assisted by an Advisory Board consisting of Paul E. Stillman, Gillum S. Toliver, Benjamin F. Osborn, Mahlon Head, P. A. Smith and Lee B. Kinsey, Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1907.  Site Terms, Conditions & Disclaimer |