Category: Roberts Family

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John and Elizabeth Ann (Murrell) Roberts, at home in Prairie City, Jasper County, Iowa

This entry is part 1 of 3 in the series John and Elizabeth Ann (Murrell) Roberts, at home in Prairie City, Jasper County, Iowa
John and Elizabeth Ann (Murrell) Roberts in front of their home in Prairie City, Jasper Co., Iowa, possibly taken around 1915?

Edited 2/21/21: The house has been completely updated and is now for sale. The link listed in notes below has been updated by the company from the pictures of the house in a dilapidated condition in 2019. https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/108-N-Sherman-St_Prairie-City_IA_50228_M70834-34658

Roberts Family (Click for Family Tree)

Among our newly found family photo treasures is this image of John and Elizabeth “Lizzie” Ann (Murrell) Roberts. It was one of many photos of  houses we found, and it was a bit challenging to determine where and when many of the images were taken. Relying on other photos in our archive helped, as did a bit of sleuthing.

You already know by the post title that this home was in Prairie City, but how did we determine that? The mat on the photo (not shown above) did not include a photographer’s name, unfortunately. One clue we did have was that it was the same house as the 1904 whole family portrait, which had an older, more Victorian-style paint scheme:

The John Roberts Family, 1900 or 1904. See notes for previous post on this image that identifies individuals.

Having two possible dates for the family picture, it is logical to search both the 1900 and 1910 censuses to see where John and Lizzie were living. The 1910 US Federal Census placed John and Lizzie in Prairie City, possibly on Sherman St- the street is very hard to read on both the Ancestry.com and FamilySearch copies of the census, and the Ancestry.com indexing of the home being on “Hiams St.” and in Des Moines, Jasper [County is implied by genealogical convention of place names], Iowa are incorrect. There is currently no Hiams St. in Prairie City (although there could have been previously). The house was in Des Moines Township (not the city of Des Moines), Prairie City, Jasper County, Iowa, per the handwritten entries at the top of the census. (Check your original source and don’t depend on indexes or websites to transfer the right information to your tree!) The 1900 US Federal Census did not list street names nor addresses, but John and Lizzie were living in Prairie City then too. So the evidence highly suggested that this was a home in Prairie City.

Another family treasure is an old flyer that was prepared by the “Roberts Brothers- Groceries, Bottled Gas Ranges, Plumbing, Heating Pumps & Windmills.” The Roberts family had a hardware store in Prairie City until retiring and closing it in the last few years. The flyer featured three Roberts family photos that we also had pictures of and have posted about them, including the above family with the big house. The caption on the Roberts Brothers store flyer states, “This picture was taken of Mr. and Mrs. John Roberts, their children and grandchildren at their home in Prairie City in 1900 (now the Vande Kieft home).” Since the Roberts Brothers and their family had lived in Prairie City for so long, they were a reliable source of information about the family.

We have searched online to learn more about the address of the home, including looking up the Vande Kieft family, without good results. A next step was checking with the Prairie City library, asking if they had city directories. Their helpful librarian was able to identify the home as still standing at 108 N. Sherman St.! She also told us that the home was being refurbished a while back, but the work had apparently stopped, and she knew who owned the home. A search for that address told us that the home was “historic” and built by Hoyt Sherman. (See note #3.) The house was built in 1900, so we know the family photos taken with it could be no earlier than that date. The house has about 1,650 sq. ft, including one bathroom.

Sadly the home had fallen into disrepair, as mentioned, and in Feb, 2018, the City Council included the address as one of the abandoned homes the city was planning to review.

The kind librarian also put me in touch with a Roberts descendant! It was great to chat with someone who had lived in Prairie City and knew the people I have been researching for many years.

Please contact us if you have information to add.

 

Next- How we estimated the year of the picture with John and Lizzie Roberts and their home.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. “Treasure Chest Thursday: The John Roberts and Elizabeth Ann Murrell Roberts Family in 1900,” http://heritageramblings.net/2014/02/13/treasure-chest-thursday-the-john-roberts-and-elizabeth-ann-murrell-roberts-family-in-1900/
  2. An ad for the home when it was for sale some years ago– https://www.shoppok.com/desmoines/a,25,30656,1900-Historic-Home-built-by-Hoyt-Sherman–108-N–Sherman-St–.htm
  3. Hoyt Sherman was the brother of Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman and John Sherman, the author of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. Hoyt moved to the western frontier, Fort Des Moines, in 1848. He was active in politics, and a principal in an insurance company, banks, etc. His beautiful home in Des Moines still stands and has been renovated, and a theater has been added and the home houses an art gallery. See http://hoytsherman.org/about/ and https://data.desmoinesregister.com/famous-iowans/hoyt-sherman for more information. He may have invested in the building of homes in Prairie City, which is only about 30 miles from DesMoines, but that remains to be verified.
  4. You can take a ‘tour’ of the neighborhood via Google and https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/108-N-Sherman-St_Prairie-City_IA_50228_M70834-34658

 

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We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.

Original content copyright 2013-2021 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted. 
Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly, i.e, reference this blog.
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Charles Roberts (1828-1906)-Obituary and Headstone

Headstone of Charles Roberts in Osceola Cemetery, Osceola, Polk Co., Nebraska. Courtesy of Beth Sparrow (thank you!) via Find A Grave.

Roberts Family (Click for Family Tree)

The obituary of Charles Roberts tells us a bit about his life and family.

“Charles Roberts was born in Switzerland county, Indiana, Sept. 30, 1828, and removed to Jefferson County, where his boyhood days were spent on a farm.”

This corroborates information we already had that the family was farming in Indiana during those years.

“He afterwards became a carpenter and worked at that trade there and after coming to Nebraska.”

Knowing his occupation helps to differentiate him from others with his common name, and gives us an idea of what his everyday life might have been like.

“Mrs. Roberts [Amarilla Reynolds], his wife, having died in 1879, Mr. Roberts came to Nebraska in 1883 and settled in Polk County, where he has since resided, making his home with his daughter, Mrs. B. F. Brown.”

This gives us the actual year the family migrated to Nebraska. Before, we only knew that they had migrated by 1885, when his granddaughter was born in Nebraska.

“Mr. Roberts united at an early age with the Baptist church and lived a consistent Christian life.”

We did know that the Roberts family were members of the Westfork Baptist Church in Ripley County, Indiana. This tells us though that the family were members when Charles was young, so possibly in the 1830s.

The obituary even tells us a bit about his last weeks on earth:

“He had been in bad health for some time but his final illness was of but ten days duration, arterio sclerosis (hardening of the arteries) being the disease.”

Charles died on a Friday at the home of his only surviving child, his daughter, Mrs. B. F. Brown [Elsina (Roberts) Brown]. He was 77 years, 7 months, and 18 days old. His funeral was just two days later, that next Sunday, so it is understandable that his brother, Henry S. Roberts, was a day late in trying to attend the funeral- there were almost 800 miles between Osceola and Holton, Indiana, where Henry lived.

“Sunday afternoon, in the quietude of a peaceful summer day, the remains were borne to the Osceola cemetery and returned to its kindred dust; the sorrowing relatives have the assurance however that his passing is but to the greater life beyond…”

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Find A Grave Memorial for Charles Roberts–https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/67434717/charles-roberts
  2. Osceola Record, 24 May 1906– http://polkcountyne.advantage-preservation.com/viewer/?k=charles%20roberts%20iowa&i=f&d=01011880-12311922&m=between&ord=k1&fn=osceola_record_usa_nebraska_osceola_19060524_english_5&df=1&dt=10

 

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We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.

Original content copyright 2013-2019 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted. 
Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly, i.e, reference this blog.
 Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright or use of our blog material.

John Roberts- and Siblings?- One Theory Exploded

This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series John Roberts- and Siblings?
John Roberts, center, and possibly three siblings. Unknown date, Clark Photography Studio, Osceola and Stromsburg, Nebraska.

Roberts Family (Click for Family Tree)

One of the theories proposed previously about this photo is that this image might have been of four Roberts siblings at the funeral of their brother, Charles Roberts.

A little more research exploded that theory, as only one of the siblings went to Nebraska for the funeral. Searching local newspapers for the obituary of Charles, we found it in the Osceola Record published on 24 May 1906.

Part of the obituary states:

Of Mr. Roberts’ family of eleven children, he has four brothers and two sisters living as follows: John Roberts of Prairie City Iowa; Dr. J. Roberts of Holton Ind., Edward Roberts of Bryantsburg Ind., and H. S. Roberts of Holton Ind., who came to attend the funeral but arrived a day too late. Mrs Jane Kennedy of Holton, Ind., and Mrs. Miranda Demaree of Holton Ind.

So only one sibling, Henry S. Roberts (1842-1925), traveled to Osceola, Nebraska, but unfortunately he did not make it in time for his brother’s funeral.

There were also searches using the names of those we thought might be in the photo, both John and William Roberts. The hope was that there would be a mention of them visiting their brother, but nothing was found in the first five or so pages of search hits- there are thousands for such common names as John and William Roberts.

More research needed… but knowing what it is NOT is always helpful in problem solving too.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Osceola Record, 24 May 1906– http://polkcountyne.advantage-preservation.com/viewer/?k=charles%20roberts%20iowa&i=f&d=01011880-12311922&m=between&ord=k1&fn=osceola_record_usa_nebraska_osceola_19060524_english_5&df=1&dt=10

 

Click to enlarge any image. Please contact us if you would like an image in higher resolution.

We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.

Original content copyright 2013-2019 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted. 
Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly, i.e, reference this blog.
 Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright or use of our blog material.

John Roberts- and Siblings?

This entry is part 1 of 2 in the series John Roberts- and Siblings?
John Roberts, center, and possibly three siblings. Unknown date, Clark Photography Studio, Osceola and Stromsburg, Nebraska. (Click to enlarge.)

Roberts Family

This is an image found in the ‘new’ treasure chest of photos recently found. The man standing in the center appears to be John Roberts (1832-1922), but who are the other people?

There is no identification on the reverse of the photo.

One clue we have is that the photo was taken at Clark photography studio in Osceola or Stromsburg, Nebraska. Charles E. Clark was 34 years old when he was listed in the 1885 Nebraska State Census, and he was a boarder in Osceola, Nebraska. His occupation was listed as “photographer,” and he lived in Osceola through at least 1920, still working in that business. His wife was also a photographer, but we only know her as “Mrs. C. E. Clark” in the records we found about her concerning Clark studio. Research shows she was Hattie (Byers) Clark (1864-1946). She and her husband opened their second studio in Stromsburg, and she was an equal partner in the business as well as a photographer. So the timeline of 1885-1920 for the Clark photography studio meshes well with the lifetimes of the Roberts children, and the migration of Charles Roberts.

But why would John Roberts have been in Osceola or Stromsburg, Nebraska? And when? And how is he related to the others in the photo?

John Roberts and Elizabeth Ann (Murrell) Roberts, 1892, Jasper County, Iowa, cropped from a larger family picture.

Since John Roberts, the only person in the picture we can identify with high confidence, lived in Jasper County, Iowa from age 36 until his death, we can assume that he was visiting but not living in Nebraska when portrait of the four was created. For a formal portrait such as this, the folks with him were very likely family. Since their ages seem to be within about 15-20 years of each other, these persons may be siblings. There is a shared resemblance among the men, which lends some support to that hypothesis.

John S. Roberts and his wife Elizabeth Ann (Murrell) Roberts at the family homeplace, 1900 or 1904. Cropped from a larger family picture.

 

But which siblings could be in the picture? We have ten to choose from:

William Roberts (1827-1891), lived in Indiana

Charles Roberts (1828-1906), lived in Indiana and Nebraska

Sally Anna Roberts (1830-1905), married to William R. Rayburn, lived in Indiana and Illinois

Maranda Roberts (1834-1917), married James H. C. Demaree, lived in Indiana and Illinois

Jeremiah “Jerry” H. Roberts (1837-1918), physician, lived in Indiana

Edward Roberts (1839-1922), lived in Indiana

Henry S Roberts (1842-1925), lived in Indiana

David Roberts (1847-1892), lived in Indiana

Ella Jane Roberts (1849-1930), married James H. Kennedy, lived in Indiana

Quintilla A. Roberts (1852-1887), married Daniel Kaye Mitchell, lived in Indiana

Of John’s ten siblings, only Charles Roberts lived in Nebraska. Charles and his wife Amarilla (Reynolds) Roberts, had lived in Jefferson County, Indiana, during their married life. In 1879, they lost their daughter Susan in November at the age of 24; seven months later, their son John died at the age of 22, in June. Amarilla then died 14 Oct 1880, per Find A Grave and her headstone. An earlier document, the 4 June 1880 US Federal Census, however, lists Charles as being widowed. Charles was recorded in that census as a farmer, and his only remaining child, daughter Elsina, plus her husband Benjamin F. Brown and their son Charles lived with him in 1880. The four likely migrated to Nebraska by 1885, as Elsina’s first daughter was born there. By the 1900 US Federal Census, they were documented in Shelby Village, Polk County, Nebraska. Charles died in May 1906, and was buried in Osceola, Polk Co., Nebraska.

So John Roberts could have been visiting his brother Charles Roberts in Osceola when this photo was taken. If this is true, the date range would be 1885, the earliest we know the photographer was in Osceola, to 1906, when Charles died.

So who are the other two men and one woman?

We have only a few pictures to help with identification.

Here is William Roberts:

William Roberts (1827-1891), from a William Roberts Family Photo Album.; unknown date. Photo kindly provided by Jon Roberts from Phyllis Codling McLaughlin of the Jefferson County, Indiana Genealogical Society/Jefferson County Historical Society, from an album on loan to her from the Lumber Mill Antique Mall, 721 W 1st St., Madison, Indiana. Mall owner is Dean Miller. Album appears to be family and friends of Jeremiah Roberts.

Do you think that the man on the right in the group photo could be William Roberts?

We believe the following image is Doctor Jeremiah Roberts when he was younger; we have no adult pictures of him.

Likely Jeremiah Roberts, c1862- NOT John W Roberts. (John W. was 11 yrs old in 1860, and while he may have been in the Civil War as he got older, no service records have been found. Jeremiah was 24 when he was enrolled in the Indiana Infantry Volunteers, 7th Regiment.) Photo kindly provided by Jon Roberts from Phyllis Codling McLaughlin of the Jefferson County, Indiana Genealogical Society/Jefferson County Historical Society, from an album on loan to her from the Lumber Mill Antique Mall, 721 W 1st St., Madison, Indiana. Mall owner is Dean Miller. Album appears to be family and friends of Jeremiah Roberts.

We also have a photo of Edward Roberts:

Edward Roberts. Photo kindly provided by Jon Roberts from Phyllis Codling McLaughlin of the Jefferson County, Indiana Genealogical Society/Jefferson County Historical Society, from an album on loan to her from the Lumber Mill Antique Mall, 721 W 1st St., Madison, Indiana. Mall owner is Dean Miller. Album appears to be family and friends of Jeremiah Roberts.
Ella Jane (Roberts) Kennedy, c1880. Photo kindly provided by Jon Roberts from Phyllis Codling McLaughlin of the Jefferson County, Indiana Genealogical Society/Jefferson County Historical Society, from an album on loan to her from the Lumber Mill Antique Mall, 721 W 1st St., Madison, Indiana. Mall owner is Dean Miller. Album appears to be family and friends of Jeremiah Roberts.

The above is an identified picture of Ella Jane (Roberts) Kennedy, but we have no pictures of her three sisters. The woman in the group portrait could also have been a wife of one of the men (possibly Elizabeth Ann (Murrell) Roberts, John’s wife), but more likely would have been a sibling in such a portrait.

If the man on the right is, in fact, William Roberts, we can narrow the time frame to 1885-1891, as William died in September of that year.

The portrait could instead have been taken at a reunion of the four siblings- Charles in Nebraska and three who could travel there. This could even have been as late as May, 1906, when Charles died. The portrait could also be of the siblings who were able to attend the funeral of Charles, feeling it might be the last time they would get together.

The portrait may have been taken after May, 1906, but since every sibling except Charles lived in either Iowa or Indiana, it is doubtful that they would have traveled to Nebraska once Charles had passed away.

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Our photo analysis tells us where the photo was taken- either Osceola or Stromsbugh, Polk County, Nebraska.

The when is still up in the air, but 1885-1906 would probably be the date range.

Who is in the picture is still a mystery, although we believe John Roberts is the man in the center.

We will only be able to solve this mystery if we can find other pictures or information that mentions this family portrait of a visit to Nebraska. Please use our contact form if you have more information about this picture!

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Martha H Kennedy, “Nebraska’s Women Photographers,” Nebraska History 72 (1991): 62-77. Accessed at http://www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/publicat/history/full-text/NH1991WomenPhotographers.pdf on 25 Oct. 2019.
  2. Amarilla (Reynolds) Roberts Find A Grave Memorial# 60404801. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/60404801/amarilla-roberts
  3. Photos, other than the lead photo, were kindly provided by cousin Jon Roberts via his communication with Phyllis Codling McLaughlin of the Jefferson County, Indiana Genealogical Society/Jefferson County Historical Society. They are from an album on loan to her from the Lumber Mill Antique Mall, 721 W 1st St., Madison, Indiana. Mall owner is Dean Miller. Album appears to be family and friends of Jeremiah Roberts. Posted with permission.

 

Click to enlarge any image. Please contact us if you would like an image in higher resolution.

We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.

Original content copyright 2013-2019 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted. 
Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly, i.e, reference this blog.
 Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright or use of our blog material.

Elizabeth Ann (Murrell) Roberts (1835-1917)- A Recently Found Portrait

Elizabeth Ann (Murrell) Roberts, taken at Le Fevre Studio, Monroe, Jasper Co., Iowa, possibly around 1885.

Roberts Family

As mentioned yesterday, new-to-us portraits of John and Elizabeth (Murrell) Roberts have recently surfaced in a cleaning binge. The family adage, “See what you find when you just clean up” has come true once again.

Reverse of Elizabeth Ann (Murrell) Roberts portrait. Handwriting done in the 1990s.

We have posted quite a lot of information on this family already, so please see the links below, or use the sidebar links or post tags to learn more about this family.

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Family treasure chest of photos. Thank you to the clean-up crew!
  2. We estimated the date of these images by looking at birthdates, how old John and Elizabeth look, and other pictures that are known. It seems that Elizabeth and John were in their 40s or early 50s in these photos, so 1885 seemed a good estimate of the year. Also, William L. Le Fevre was a photographer in Jasper County, Iowa in 1865-6, and was listed as an “artist” in an 1885 census. He lived in Jasper County until at least 1905, so the time frame works. (If you know otherwise, please let us know!)
  3. “A Visit with John and Lizzie (Murrell) Roberts- well, almost”
    http://heritageramblings.net/2019/07/02/a-visit-with-john-and-lizzie-murrell-roberts-well-almost/
  4.  “Sentimental Sunday: John Roberts and Elizabeth Ann Murrell Roberts” http://heritageramblings.net/2019/06/30/sentimental-sunday-john-roberts-and-elizabeth-ann-murrell-roberts/
  5. “Sentimental Sunday: Elizabeth Ann Murrell and John S. Roberts” http://heritageramblings.net/2017/02/12/sentimental-sunday-elizabeth-ann-murrell-and-john-s-roberts/
  6. “Friday’s Faces from the Past: Elizabeth Ann Murrell and John Roberts” http://heritageramblings.net/2017/02/10/fridays-faces-from-the-past-elizabeth-ann-murrell-and-john-s-roberts/
  7. “John Roberts and Elizabeth Ann Murrell Roberts- Indiana, Virginia, Illinois, and Iowa” http://heritageramblings.net/2014/02/08/john-roberts-and-elizabeth-ann-murrell-roberts-indiana-virginia-illinois-and-iowa/

 

Click to enlarge any image. Please contact us if you would like an image in higher resolution.

We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.

Original content copyright 2013-2019 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted. 
Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly, i.e, reference this blog.
 Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright or use of our blog material.