CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR
ROBERSON
FAMILY
Lapse of time has made the early history of the Roberson family very difficult to assemble,
especially so since the oldest members of it now living are the third and fourth generation from
the original settlers. The very first record of them is on April 9, 1826, when Hiram Robertson
(note the 't') and Elizabeth Coil (Coyle) were married in Osage Township of Gasconade County
by James Harrison, Justice of the Peace. (James Harrison's place of business and his Seat of
Justice were near present Arlington in Phelps County) Elizabeth was no doubt one of the family
of that name who had settled on Coyle Creek some years earlier, so the first Robersons appear to
have settled in the neighbor hood of where most of the family have always lived--on and near
Dry Creek. (Elizabeth's brother was the first bridegroom in the county, having married a Johnson
in 1824). Hiram Roberson's
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name does not appear on our records again; the Old Ones of that family do not know his
relationship to their ancestors, but know that he was related.
After 1826 we have no record of the Robersons for about ten years, until Roysdon Roberson
entered parts of the Behm and Otto places just south of Vienna. His father was also Roysdon
Roberson, and Roysdon Senior was a brother of Stephen and William who settled on Dry Creek,
so it is likely that all this branch of the family came here together in 1835 or even before, since
all three names begin to appear in our records at the same time. They were Tennesseans and
came here directly from that state.
Roysdon Roberson, the elder, was married and all his children were born before he came
here, and our information is that he did not live long after settling in his home here. Six children
came here with him, and it is thought that one son may have stayed in Tennessee or moved
elsewhere--but more of that later. Of the six who came here, William married a Newberry and
moved to Laclede County many years ago; of his children a son, James R. Roberson, moved to
and died near Claremore, Oklahoma, where William, his son, now lives; there is no record of any
others.
Bettie married George Higgins; Nancy married Rufus Edmonston; and 'Doc' also married
here. All went to Texas and there has been no connection with them since before the Civil War.
John P. Roberson also married here but has been gone more than eighty years, and it is likely that
he moved to Texas with the others.
The remaining son to come here, Roysdon Roberson Junior, seems to have been the
businessman of the lot. He entered land, improves it, and was married to Selbrina, daughter of
Thomas Petit Fulkerson. The Fulkersons and Robersons were neighbors in Tennessee and left
there at the same time, the Fulkersons turning north into present
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Indiana and living there a few years before coming to Missouri; their Missouri home was a part
of the present Harve Tackett place. The young Roberson couple lived here a year or two after
their marriage, then sold out and moved to or near Dallas, Texas, likely to the other members of
the family who had gone there before. But they did not like the country and after a few years
returned to this county and entered the land where their son, Thomas, later lived, where they
spent the remainder of their lives. Roysdon Roberson Junior died in 1864 of pneumonia
contracted while at home on furlough from the Union Army. His widow later married Henry
Lawson and was the mother of one daughter, Nancy, later the wife of Joseph T. Eads. Roysdon
Roberson was Presiding Judge of Osage County before Maries County was organized, and was
otherwise prominent in the affairs of both counties. Roysdon and Selbrina were the parents of
four children living to maturity: Carroll, Thomas, Martha, and Adalida; all of them now dead.
Carroll Roberson, who was born before the family went to Texas, married Irene, daughter
of Richard Prewett, and was the father of two daughters, Martha and Nancy; the former the wife
of Charles T. Parker, lives on Spring Creek in Phelps County, and Nancy, first wife of W. T.
Wright is long since dead; her six children were Cleta, Loyd, James, William, Ida, and Oma
Wright, but their addresses and married names are not known. Her widower, now remarried,
lives at Dixon.
Thomas Roberson married Martha Isabelle Bull. He died at the Roysdon Roberson place,
which he had owned many years, in February 1937, aged seventy-seven, survived by his widow
and their four children, John, Glenn, and Mrs. Perry Martin, all of this county, and May, wife of
Tade Nelson of Granite City, Illinois.
Martha Roberson married John Bull, and both have been dead many years. Their one child,
Lucy, married dark
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Nelson and moved to Ohio a number of years ago, where both died; their six children are: Alice
who married a Biggs and lives at Lebanon, Missouri; Amos in Hawaii; Or a who married a
Briggs in Ashland, Ohio; the other three, Josie, Oral, and Leona, all lived in Ohio at last report.
Adalida Roberson was the second wife of Isaac Duke and died several years before her
husband. Of her eight children, the six yet living are: Jennie, wife of J. P. Tackett; Josephine,
wife of Mart Cook; and Car roll Duke, all of this county; and Isaac, Levi, and David Duke, all of
Granite City. Dewey, twin to David, is dead; his descendants are noted in the Goforth section of
the chapter on Early Physicians. Amanda, the oldest child, married William Derrell and died
some time before her parents. She is survived by her widower and her son, Joseph, of this
county, and her daughter, Mary, wife of William Ray of Pulaski County.
Something like fifty years ago the families of James and Joseph Roberson moved to this
county from north Missouri and settled near the Maries-Miller County line. Prior to the time they
came to this state they had lived in Illinois, and before that in Indiana. Both were men up in years
when they came here. James was the father of twelve children, but Joseph had none.
They had a tradition in the family that their uncle, Roysdon Roberson, had been a County
Judge in Osage County in an early day, and lived in the south part of that county. Such inquiry as
they made, however, was in the southern part of Osage County as now constituted, and it may be
that both James and Joseph Roberson died before locating their uncle's former home, which was
in the extreme part (south) of Osage County as it was before 1855, something like ten miles
south of the present south line of that county. We believe that this known kinship establishes
them as descending from a son of Roysdon Roberson Senior
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who never came to this county and who had likely settled in Indiana with the Fulkersons.
Of the nine children of James Roberson (they spell it with the 't' restored) who are yet living
Joseph lives in Ralls County; Pleasant in Laclede County; Andrew, Henry, and Lafayette in
Colorado; Roysdon and Nimrod in Cole County; and James near Safe in this county.
Isaac R. Roberson, the son who passed away, was born at Quincy, Illinois, March 23, 1869,
and died at Belle July 7, 1937. His first wife's name has not been received; she has been dead
many years and is survived by her two sons, Roscoe of St. Louis, and Otis of Iberia. In addition,
three children died in infancy. His second marriage, to Martha, widow of Thomas Berry, was
childless.
The other deceased children are: Lucy who married Price Hoskins and died near Eldon a
few years ago; she left children, but their names and addresses are not at hand. Callie is the other
deceased daughter; she married William Barnhart and is survived by her two sons, Virgil of this
county, and Everett of Illinois.
William Roberson, the brother of Stephen and Roysdon Senior, was probably the oldest of
the three. He was married to Sarah Sisco in Tennessee and at least five of their twelve children
were born before they came to Missouri. His only known home here was on Dry Creek, now
owned and lived on by Christy Davis. Like William J. Roberson, his distant kinsman, he was a
minister in the Methodist Church and was active in that capacity during most of his adult life. By
his first marriage he was the father of eleven children living to maturity, and after the death of
his first wife married Caroline, widow of Willliam Williams, nee McAfee, who bore one more
child. He died at his home on Dry Creek at an advanced age more than sixty years ago, and his
second wife, who afterwards married John D. Beckman, is also long since dead, as are nearly all
the
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children of his first marriage.
Of the eleven children born of this marriage, three, Lewis, Willis, and Green Roberson died
single, Lewis having been killed by bushwhackers while at home on a furlough from the army,
and Willis being killed in battle. Another son, Ambrose, was killed during the war. He is thought
to have been married and to have been survived by one daughter, Mary, who married George W.
Irvin; her present address, if she is living, is not known.
Patsy, the oldest child of William Roberson, married 'Doc' Doyle and was the mother of one
child, William, who married Tabitha, daughter of Hiram Perkins. Both are now dead, survived
by their three children, Claude of Pulaski County, Bruce of New York, and Ida whose married
name and address are not at hand.
Amanda Roberson married Jack Beckham, and her record is given in the Beckham chapter.
J. Clark Roberson married Jennie Carter, and both are now dead, as is Will, one of their five
children; Will's wife was Lou Davis, and he is survived by his two daughters, Leta, wife of Floyd
Crawford of Dixon, and Obedience (Bedie) who married a Vaughan and now lives in Tulsa. The
four living children of dark Roberson are: James who married Lillie Harroll and lives in
Bennington, Oklahoma; Martha, wife of Iral Bolte of Sterling, Color ado, Mrs. Minnie Pettit of
Houston, Texas, and Lottie, wife of William Southard of Rolla.
Ewing Roberson's first wife was Addie, daughter of George Shelton, from along the Maries-
Miller County line, where she was born and raised. At least one child was born of this union, but
if it survived there is no record of any descendants. His second wife was Martha Carter (sister of
dark's wife) by whom he was the father of two children: Sarah who first married George McAfee
and is now
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the wife of Pearl Sparks of Jefferson City, and Rebecca who died in early girlhood. During his
first two marriages he had lived at least a part of the time in Arkansas, to which state he now
returned, and where he spent the remainder of his life and died. He married the third time in that
state, but the maiden name of his wife and the names and number and present addresses of his
several children by this marriage are not known here.
Hilda (Hulda) Roberson, one of the family known to have been native of this county, was
born about 1844. She married Mason Woods, who was born in Tennessee more than one
hundred twenty-five years ago (she may have been his second wife). He lived for a time in
Illinois, but spent his mature years in Missouri, in the southern part of this county and around
Hancock in Pulaski County, where he died. Two of the three children born of this marriage are
yet living: Mason Junior lives in Oklahoma where he has practiced as a veterinarian more than
thirty years, and Sally, wife of Pat Malone, lives east of Dixon just over the line in Pulaski
County. Mason Junior had no children, but adopted a daughter. Sally Malone is the mother of
five children living to maturity: D. W. at Newburg; Mrs. Mary Stickney and Mrs. Maud
Dempsey, of St. Louis; and Mike and Woodrow, of Pulaski County. Mrs. Eula Sage, daughter of
a deceased daughter, lives in St. Louis, and in addition, two other children died in infancy.
Robert Woods, the third child, died in a nitroglycerine explosion in Oklahoma May 16, 1934.
His wife was Grace Dowling, and he is survived by his widow and their three children, Jack,
Robert, and Mrs. Marilla Coates, all of Tulsa.
Sarah Roberson married William N. Fortune, who was born in Georgia November 14, 1849,
and died in this county March 13, 1929. They made their home most of their married life in the
Dry Creek vicinity, where all of their nine children were born and grew to maturity. Of the nine
Tom was killed by a horse about 1909 or 1910, single; Elijah, the oldest son, enlisted in the army
at the outbreak
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of the Spanish War, served most of his enlistment, and possibly a second, in the Philippines, and
thereafter made the islands his home; so far as known he is still living; the other seven children
are Tony, Mason, Harvey, Mrs. Sallie Thomas, Mrs. Mary Fowler, Mrs. Cansada Peters, and
Mrs. Victoria Yoakum, the last a widow. All live in Oklahoma, most around Pawhuska.
Jane Roberson, the youngest daughter and next to the youngest child of the first marriage,
married Robert Brock, and now of very lately lived at Phoenix, Arizona. She has been a widow
for many years.
Walter Roberson, the only child born of William Roberson's second marriage, lives in this
county, he and Mrs. Brock being the only members of the second generation now living.
Stephen Roberson, the third of the brothers, was born in east Tennessee about 1809, and
came here with the rest of the family some time in the decade between 1825 and 1835. He was
married here to Nancy Colvin and they made their lifelong home on Dry Creek, their home farm
being now owned by Raymond Nelson. Mrs. Roberson died several years before her husband,
who several years afterward married Mrs. Eliza Kinney, who was first the widow of Nicholas
Cox Senior; no children were born of this marriage. His five children were: William. Lorenzo,
Martha, Elizabeth, and Lindsay.
William (Wid), likely the oldest, was born here February 5, 1838, and spent his entire life in
this county. He was married here March 7, 1858, to Mary Ann McNabb, who was born in
Tennessee October 11, 1840, and who died here April 3, 1874. Of the four children born of this
marriage Lucy died single; Charles M.Roberson lives in this county, and William A. Roberson
lives at Rolla; the fourth child, Rhoda, later wife of James H. Minzes, is dead, survived by her
four children, Arminta, widow of Stephen
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Martin and now wife of Christy Sheldon, and Margaret, wife of Ben Jennings of this county,
Lucy wife of James Clayton of Rolla, and Perry Minzes of near St. Clair. William Roberson's
second marriage, on March 21, 1875, was to Lucinda, widow of George Bullock and daughter of
Stephen Mason, by whom he was the father of two children, Dollie, widow of Henderson
Copeland, and Edna, widow of Joshua Sneed, both of this county. William Roberson died
December 25, 1909. His second wife is also long since dead.
Lorenzo (Ran) Roberson, son of Stephen, married Maria Davis. He spent most of his adult
life in Franklin and Crawford counties, where he died in early middle age survived by his widow
(now deceased) and his four sons, Richard, Stephen, Thomas, and Monroe. The first three still
live in the same general territory where their father lived. Monroe, who married Cynthia
Campbell, died at Competition, Laclede County, twenty of more years ago. His two sons, Earl
and Wayne, live at Topeka, Kansas. His only daughter, Delphia, later wife of Colmar Glawson of
Rolla, is also dead, but her descendants, if any, have not been received.
Martha Roberson, daughter of Stephen, married a man named Austin, and her sister,
Elizabeth, who died November 23, 1883, married David Fulkerson; no children were born of
either marriage.
Lindsay G. Roberson, the fifth and remaining child of Stephen, married Polly Hicks, who
seems to have been a daughter of William Davis' second wife by her first marriage. Like his
father, he and his wife spent their entire married lives on Dry Creek on the farm where they first
settled after their marriage, and where all of their nine children were born. Seven of these are still
living, as follows: Stephen (Bud) and Gordon on Dry Creek; Martha, wife of Jim Tom Fulkerson
in Pulaski County; Fred in Wisconsin; James and Warren, both policemen, and
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Nancy, wife of Levi Copeland, also a policeman, in St. Louis. Lumima, who married Henry Saak
and lived most of her married life in Wisconsin, died childless. Mary, the remaining child, and
her husband. Perry Wilson, are both dead, survived by four of their five children, Albert and
Rosetta, widow of James Doyle, in this county, Alfred in Wisconsin, and Eugene at Red Lodge,
Montana; Mary, the fifth child, died single.
We do not know the exact relationship of Reverend William J. Roberson and his brothers
and sisters to Roysdon, William, and Stephen Roberson; Thomas Roberson, grandson of the first
Roysdon, told me he thought they were cousins of some degree. All came here about the same
time, and all lived in the same general neighborhood, their father is nowhere mentioned, but their
mother, Drucilla Roberson, is known to have lived here and to have died prior to 1846, and they
seem to have, at least at first, lived alongside of and adjoining the Roysdon Roberson land just
south of Vienna.
So far as they have been identified, her seven children seem to have been: Matilda, wife of
Henry Parker; Drucilla, wife of Harland Edmondson; Polly Helton; William, and James
Roberson, and another sister who never came here but who evidently started, for she died near
Belleville, Illinois. The second wife of Reverend Edward Moss, formerly the widow Hutton, was
the seventh child, and her descendants will be found in the Moss chapter. If, as some of the old
records seem to indicate, there were eight brothers and sisters in all, the other never appeared in
any records to be identified, and no trace of any descendant has come to light.
The married name of the sister who died at Belleville was Orton, and she was the mother of
three children, Sidney, Joseph, and Malinda; their father does not appear on our records.
Relatives here went to Belleville and brought the children, all small, to this county where they
made
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their home with the members of the family until their majority. Sidney and Joseph Orton married
here and moved to Arkansas after the Civil War, since that time all connection with them has
been lost. Malinda first married a Benton, and after his death was the second wife of Barnett
Finn, under which name her descendants are listed.
Henry Parker and his wife, Martha, lived in the Bloomgarden neighborhood, and both died
there, the parents of seven children: James, William, Drucilla, wife of Squire Coffey, Mrs. David
Cox, Mrs. Myscal Johnson, Polly, wife of Joseph Myers, and Malinda, wife of William H.
Spratley. James Parker's account will be found in the Lane and Wherry chapter. William married
a daughter of William Followill Senior, and both he and his wife died early in life leaving a son
and a daughter, the latter dying single before 1860. The son, Monroe Parker, went to Wright
County with his uncle James. All the other children are treated under their married names except
Mrs. Malinda Spratley.
Malinda, probably the youngest child of James Parker, was born August 9, 1849, and died
August 6. 1918. She was married July 3, 1865, to William H., son of William E. Spratley, one of
the old-time linemen for the Western Union Telegraph Company. She spent all her married life
in this county, surviving her husband something like ten years. Of the seven children born of this
marriage three are yet living: James H. at Valparaiso, Indiana, and Edward and Charles in this
county. The four who have passed away are William, Alfred, Lydia, and Ada.
William Spratley died about 1928 or 1929 at Granite City, survived by his widow, Mrs.
Maggie Spratley, and four children: Mrs. Freda Fiesler of Hammond, Indiana, Leota, single, and
Hiram of St. Louis, and another daughter who married and later died, leaving three children in
St. Louis; her married name is not recalled by relatives here. Another son, Howard Spratley, died
before his
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father, single, having been killed in the wreck of the dirigible Shenandoah. Alfred Spratley died
in Oregon in the flu epidemic of 1918. He was married in the west, but it is not known whether
or not he left children. His widow, now Mrs. Reynolds, lives in Los Angeles. Lydia Spratley left
one son, Albert, of this county, by her marriage to Albert Curtis. Ada Spratley died childless.
Drucilla Edmondson and Polly Helton have not been identified, nor has any descendant
been traced to them. They may have moved away, died without issue, or their identity have been
lost through second marriage. No descendants of James Roberson have been found, nor the
maiden name of his wife, Lucinda.
William J. Roberson, the remaining brother, spent his entire adult life in the ministry of the
Methodist Church. He was born November 6, 1816, and died May 14, 1872. His first wife was
Nancy Crawford who was born in 1818 and died August 1, 1853. The date and place of their
marriage are not known. The three children born of this marriage, the first two certainly and the
third probably, dead, were: Jane who married Riley Duncan and whose only daughter, Amanda,
widow of B. F. Eads, lives in this county. Drucilla who was born March 28, 1847, married G. W.
Capehart and died July 2, 1872, leaving one child, Mary, who married William Baker and whose
descendants have not been traced. Richard, the remaining child, moved to Little Rock, Arkansas,
many years ago; relatives here believe him to be dead, but know nothing of his family.
Reverend Roberson's second marriage, in the early fifties, was to Mary M., widow of Perry
F. Edds, nee Lambeth, who was born January 1, 1831, and died March 12, 1900. The three
children born to them are also dead. Dan, the oldest, married Nancy, daughter of John Dodds,
and moved years ago to Oakland, Laclede County, and then to near Fairfield, Oklahoma, where
both he and his
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