Shared headstone of John S. ROBERTS (1805-1875) and his wife Jane (SALYERS) ROBERTS, in West Fork Baptist Church Cemetery, Ripley County, Indiana. These photos were taken for the author in the 1990s.
The shared headstone of John S. Roberts (1805-1875) is in West Fork Baptist Church Cemetery, Ripley County, Indiana. His wife, Jane Salyers Roberts’ inscription is on the other side. This side reads:
JOHN S.
ROBERTS
BORN
Jun. 30, 1805
DIED
Dec. 17, 1875
Aged
70y, 10 m.
17 d.
Detail, headstone of John S. ROBERTS (1805-1875) in West Fork Baptist Church Cemetery, Ripley County, Indiana. These photos were taken for the author in the 1990s.
Notes, Sources, and References:
Photos taken for the author in the 1990s. The child is the cute grandson of the photographer, and not related as far as we know.
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It is a fancy jar for pickles, from back in the day when it was important to set a beautiful table.
Details from (likely) George Roberts family’s pickle castor.
Pickle castors were made of silver or silver-plate, with glass jars about 7″ high to hold pickle spears. The metal frame had a handle for carrying, with a hook for the tongs to use to get a pickle out in a delicate manner. The base was often elaborately decorated, as was the handle and even the tongs of some sets.
Tongs from (likely) George Roberts family’s pickle castor.Tongs from (likely) George Roberts family’s pickle castor.
The glass jars were most commonly molded in cut glass designs, but more expensive versions used real cut glass. (Many sold today as ‘antiques’ have reproduction jars in them, since that part was often lost to breakage.)
Glass jar from (likely) George Roberts family’s pickle castor.
The Kovel’s Antiques webpage states that, “Castor jars became more ornate each year, and by 1860, they were cathedral-like pieces.” (The handle on this jar definitely is ‘cathedral-like.’) Pickle castors were still popular in 1890, but had gone out of fashion by about 1900.
I believe this pickle castor belonged to the family of George Anthony Roberts and Ella Viola (Daniels) Roberts of Jasper County, Iowa. It was found in the house of their daughter, Edith (Roberts) [McMurray] Luck. If memory serves, it used to be in the old homeplace that Edith’s brother George Anthony Roberts, Jr. lived in while he farmed the land after their parents retired and moved into town. George and Ella married in 1885 in Jasper County, so this could have been a wedding gift. Rural areas change slower in their fashions than in the big cities, so it likely was still popular to have a pickle castor on the table into the early 1900s. There are some dim memories of such pretties in an upper cabinet in that house or another house that Georgie (Jr.) may have lived in. And we know that the Roberts women made fantastic pickles, so it might have been used frequently!
Another possibility is that this belonged to George Sr.’s parents, John Roberts and Elizabeth Ann Murrell Roberts, who married in 1857, when pickle castors were at the height of their popularity. If this is true, and they received it as a wedding gift, it would have travelled by covered wagon from Roseville, Illinois to Jasper County in 1868! They probably wrapped it in cloth scraps that would later be used for mending or quilts, then packed it among clothes and blankets in a box stashed inside the wagon. Elizabeth would have probably feared it would be broken when they arrived, but making the trip intact would have been cause for joy after leaving so many possessions behind.
Of course, this is all conjecture, and Edith may have bought it at an estate sale, where she loved to shop. She would not have gone to the sales for her own home until the mid-1920s, though. Additionally, she was not a woman who enjoyed fancy things, so this does not seem to be the origin of this pickle castor.
The design of this is most likely Aesthetic Victorian- seems a bit flowery to be Eastlake, but expert opinions are welcome.
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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.Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright or use of our blog material.
Christie family member at West Fork Baptist Cemetery, Ripley County, Indiana, April 2015. Posted with kind permission of Doug Christie. (Sarah Christie married William Roberts, son of John S. Roberts and Jane Salyers Roberts, in 1848.)Christie family member near Preston Christie headstone, at West Fork Baptist Church Cemetery, Ripley County, Indiana, April, 2015. Posted with kind permission of Doug Christie.
Westfork Cemetery is in Shelby Township, Ripley County, Indiana. Quite a few of our Roberts ancestors and cousins are “quietly resting” in this hallowed ground.
The RootsWeb description of this cemetery states it is 1 mile east of SR 421 and about 2 mi. south from Rexville, or 2.5 mi. SE of Haneys Corner, Indiana. It is in Sec. 31 of Shelby Twp., and 958 ft above sea level. Current address information is 10468 S County Road 450 W, Madison, Indiana. The phone number is 812-689-3124.
Sign at West Fork Cemetery, Ripley County, Indiana. Posted with kind permission of Doug Christie.
There is an “Old Westfork Cemetery” listed on Find A Grave (both old & new FAG) but it does not have any memorials.
Learning who else is in a cemetery may also give us clues as to relationships and residences of family. Knowing that our Roberts ancestors lived in Shelby Twp. helps to verify that these folks are the correct family, despite the common name.
Six person named Roberts are listed as buried at Westfork:
John S. Roberts (1805-1875), son of Edward Roberts and Rosy Stewart.
Jane (Salyers) Roberts (1806-1880), wife of John S. Roberts.
John B. Roberts ((1858-1880), son of Charles Roberts and Ammarilla (Reynolds) Roberts.
Amarilla ( Reynolds ) Roberts (1828-1880), wife of Charles Roberts (1828-1906) who was the son of John S. and Jane (Saylor) Roberts.
David Roberts (1845-1892), son of John S. and Jane (Saylor) Roberts. Listed as an “idiot” and lived with his sister Quintilla (Roberts) Mitchell and her husband Daniel Mitchell.
Susan M Roberts (1855-1879), daughter of Charles and Ammarilla (Reynolds) Roberts.
Quintilla (Roberts) Mitchell (1852-1887), daughter of John S. and Jane (Saylor) Roberts.
Alta Mitchell, daughter of Quintilla and Daniel Mitchell.
**NOTE: Please don’t forget that it takes money, work, and time to maintain the graves of our ancestors! Even if we do not live nearby, a donation, no matter how small, to the cemetery association is a great way to honor our ancestors.
A special thank you to Doug Christie, who posted photos back in 2015 on Facebook (see note 2). He kindly gave permission for us to use his photos in this post. There is a good photo of West Fork Cemetery on Find A Grave as well, but there has been no reply from the photographer concerning my request to use the photo. (I particularly love the grain bins in the background.) See https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/1965427/West-Fork-Cemetery?
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Original content copyright 2013-2017 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.Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright or use of our blog material.
Edward Roberts bio, first paragraph, from Biographical and Historical Souvenir for the Counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott and Washington, Indiana, compiled & published by John M. Gresham & Company, Chicago, 1889.
“Nathan Roberts, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, a native of Maryland, settled at a point opposite to the present city of Cincinnati before there was any town there. He entered a tract of land, but afterward lost it because of leaving it.”
Just who is this Nathan Roberts? We have not only found him mentioned in this biography, but also on many online family trees, where it is, unfortunately, unsourced.
If this Nathan Roberts was the grandfather of Edward Roberts (1839-1922), son of John S. Roberts and Jane Salyers, he would have been John’s father. BUT, we have the will of Edward Roberts (1775-1830) and other sources which confirm that (an elder) Edward was the father of John- no mention of the name ‘Nathan’.
Could John’s father actually have been named Nathan Edward Roberts and been called Nathan in Maryland, then he decided to use the name Edward by the time he had moved to Kentucky and/or Indiana?
Checking early censuses for Maryland, there was a Nathan Roberts in Maryland in 1830-1850 in District 1, Caroline, Maryland; see notes below for details. This Nathan would have been born 1770-1775 per the 1830 census, which is about the same year our Edward Roberts (the elder) was born. So maybe they are the same person??
The 1860 Maryland census has a Nathan Roberts who is in Baltimore, too young, a servant, and black, so not the correct person.
Another possibility is that this bio got it wrong- that does happen frequently in these “mug books.” Maybe Nathan was supposed to be listed as the great-grandfather of this younger Edward Roberts. Or maybe they just typeset ‘Nathan’ instead of ‘Edward’.
What do you think? Please share any evidence that you might have to prove the identity of ‘Nathan Roberts’. Many Roberts descendants would be very appreciative!
Notes, Sources, and References:
Biographical and Historical Souvenir for the Counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott and Washington, Indiana, compiled & published by John M. Gresham & Company, Chicago, 1889. https://archive.org/stream/biographicalhisto00inchic#page/n5/mode/2up
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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 2013-2017 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.Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright or use of our blog material.
Finding that some of our Roberts ancestors were buried in Westfork Baptist Church Cemetery in Ripley County, Indiana, of course a next step would be to learn about the church and seek a list of members, hoping that our family would be included. Church records can be great sources for women, as women were sometimes the first of a family to join a church- or sometimes the only one of the family, but she would usually take the children to church with her. (Of course, one of a woman’s most important duties then was to be a ‘moral compass’ for her family, especially her children.)
Still a small congregation like most rural churches (especially as farms get bigger , more mechanized, and less people actually live on them, the population in rural areas is in decline), there is a Facebook page for Westfork Baptist Church but no webpage.
An old Baptist history book does provide us a bit of background on the church.
“In the year 1826, the West Fork Baptist Church, Ripley Co., Ind., was constituted, and eleven members of this church, (Indian Kentucky,) was granted letters to form that church… These churches are laboring to sustain the cause of Christ in their midst and to show forth the declarative glory of God among the children of men.”
The Indian Kentucky Church was formed in 1814 originally, near Canaan, Jefferson County, Indiana. Records from this church are on microfilm and have been digitized at the Family History Library; unfortunately they can only be viewed at one of the LDS Church Libraries or affiliates. (Adding to To-Do list…) These records include minutes of the church meetings as well as membership lists
The above article does not include any names from the earliest times of the church that are familiar, however having the name “Indian-Kentucky” hints that some (all?) of the members were from Kentucky originally. The history of Indiana does support migration from Kentucky to the other side of the Ohio River in Indiana.
[Note: Subsequent research has shown that Indian-Kentuck Creek is in Jefferson County, Indiana, and has a West Fork as well as an East Fork- might this instead be the origin of the name? Must remember we can’t assume anything… also, county boundaries changed over the years between Jefferson, Switzerland, and Ripley.]
When the Roberts family migrated to Ripley County is unknown. The youngest child of Edward and Rosy (Stewart) Roberts, Mary Ann (Roberts) PRATHER, was born in Kentucky on 28 Jan 1817, so the family’s migration likely was after that date. We still have not sorted out information about their oldest daughter Elizabeth Roberts, but the second oldest child was Sarah Roberts and she married 6 Jul 1826 in Ripley County, Indiana, to William MILES.
The fact that William Roberts, the oldest child of John S. Roberts (son of Edward and Rosy) and Jane SAYLOR Roberts, was born 01 Feb 1827 in Madison, Jefferson County, Indiana, adds to the evidence of the family being in the county by 1827.
Additionally, court records prove that John S. Roberts was given guardianship of his 3 youngest siblings after the death of his father Edward (sometime between 20 Dec 1826 when his will was written and 1830 when it was probated in Ripley County). Thus all this information strongly suggests that the Robertses could have been founding or very early members of Westfork Baptist Church.
So we don’t even have the church records to review yet, but just this small amount of research provides many clues and reinforces what we think we know about the family:
They lived in Kentucky then migrated to southeastern Indiana.
The family’s migration was likely between 1817 and 1826-7.
The family followed the Baptist religion, since they were buried in the local Baptist Church cemetery. (Most religions only allow members to be buried in their cemetery.)
“Indiana Counties and Townships” by Clyde F. Snider, Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. 33, No. 2, pp119-152, 1937.
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Original content copyright 2013-2017 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.Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright or use of our blog material.
