[p. 470] a respected citizen of Slippery Rock Township of wide business experience, is engaged in farming, and owns a farm of seventy-seven acres about eight miles east of New Castle. He was born in that part of Mercer County now included in Lawrence, May 14, 1839, and is a son of Owen and Martha (Williams) Roberts, and a grandson of Edward Roberts.
Edward Roberts, the grandfather, was born in Wales, and upon coming to the United States first located in the East, but in 1803 moved west to Mercer County, Pennsylvania, where he was one of the pioneers. Owen Roberts was born in the eastern part of the United States and was in his boyhood when he accompanied his parents to Mercer County. He always followed stone cutting and farming. He married Martha Williams, a native of Mercer County, and they had the following children: Hiram, Sarah, Ann Miranda, John, James, Mary and Martha. The survivors are John and James, the latter of whom lives at New Castle.
John Roberts was reared on the old home place and received such education as the schools of that day afforded. He assisted in the work on the home farm, and prior to reaching man's estate, spent two years at farming in Iowa. Upon his return to Pennsylvania, he engaged in threshing for some time, then bought a small farm at the cross roads in Hickory Township, which he farmed for years. He moved to Neshannock Township and farmed three years, after which he returned to Hickory Township, locating on what is now the J. Nelson farm, and worked in a cheese factory two summers. He then purchased the first traction engine in this section of the country, and for a period of thirteen years successfully followed that business. In the meantime he purchased a home, which he subsequently sold, and in 1904 purchased his present place of seventy-seven acres. It is the old Andrew Fox farm, and to it he has added many desirable improvements. He follows general farming and stockraising, and is prosperous.
Mr. Roberts was united in marriage with Martha Boak, a daughter of Charles Boak, who was a well-to-do farmer of Slippery Rock Township. Mrs. Roberts died without issue, January 21, 1908, at the age of sixty-seven years. Politically, he cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln for president and voted the Republican ticket until 1880, since which time he has given consistent support to Prohibition principles.
20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens Hon. Aaron L. Hazen Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, Chicago, Ill., 1908
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Updated: 25 Oct 2001