Circa 1911-Possibly Guy Leslie Roberts, his wife Florence Myrtle Wilson, and Guy’s parents in back seat, Jason Lee Roberts and Julia French Roberts. [Click to enlarge.] Roberts Family(Click for Family Tree)
As we work to identify the people in the above photograph, which was cropped from the original posted in Part 1, an internet search for images was not very helpful. Our own blog posts were the majority of the hits, so we revisited those.
We have posted the family photos from the large get-togethers of John Roberts’ descendants in the early 1900s.
Jason Lee Roberts Family, 1892, Jasper County, Iowa. From left: Orpha B. Roberts, Oca S. Roberts, Julia (French) Roberts, Guy L. Roberts sitting on fence, and Jason Lee Roberts. [Click to enlarge.]In this image, Guy L. Roberts was only about 2 years old, so it doesn’t help us much to ID him, but his mother, Julia French Roberts was 29 and his father, Jason Lee Roberts, was 33. We can see adult features to help confirm our hypothesis as to half the passengers in the beautiful old Cadillac.
Jason Lee Roberts Family, 1900. Standing, in white dress is Orpha B. Roberts, her brother Guy L. Roberts, Jason Lee Roberts, his wife Julia (French) Roberts holding baby Ralph Roberts. Seated children, from left: Wiley Roberts, Willard Roberts, and Charley Roberts. Cropped from large family portrait. [Click to enlarge.]This portrait taken 8 years later gives us an even better idea of the facial features of Jason, Julia, and Guy. Guy was about 10 years old in this family grouping, so his features will changesomewhat, throughout the next 10 years or so.
We also have a portrait of Jason and Julia from maybe 10 years after this last family picture, about 1910 or so:
Jason L. Roberts and his wife Julia French Roberts, possibly taken circa 1910. from the Harlan Family WordPress blog, with permission. [Click to enlarge.]Ears and noses are good facial areas to focus on when trying to ID persons through the years, and those features do suggest the man in the back seat could be Jason Lee Roberts. The woman in the circa 1910 portrait and the younger images looks very much like Julia French Roberts, in this author’s humble opinion.
We recently found the following portrait in a box full of photos, with many of them Robertses and the photos unexpectedly old:
Probably Guy Leslie Roberts with his wife Florence Myrtle Wilson Roberts and two children- not confirmed. The children may be Cyrene Iris Roberts (later Stillwell) and John Malcolm Roberts, setting the time to around 1914. [Click to enlarge.]If you have not read the caption, would either of these adults look familiar? This looks like the couple in the front seat of the car, so we feel they are most likely Guy and Florence Myrtle Wilson Roberts. Again, we have found no other photos of Guy or Florence online or on genealogy websites to verify this identification, but it seems very possible we have the correct people. The first two children of Guy and Florence were Cyrene Iris Roberts (later Stillwell), who was born in 1912, and John Malcolm Roberts, born 1914. Florence would have a total of 10 children before she and Guy divorced in 1943. Guy remarried in 1947 and had one child, Guy L. Roberts, Jr., with his second wife, Bernice Harper Roberts (1908-1981).
Have we met the Genealogical Proof Standard in identifying these people? We do have a lot of circumstantial evidence, but is it a “preponderance of evidence”? Have we done “exhaustive research”? This is as much as we now know, and feel the hypothesis of those in the car being, from left, back seat, Jason Lee Roberts, Julia French Roberts, and in the front seat Guy Leslie Roberts and his wife Florence Myrtle Wilson Roberts is correct. We hope that someone will have other pictures to definitively prove our hypothesis, so please contact us if you can tell us more!
And of course, that car in the second picture of Guy and Florence… People took pictures of themselves with their most prized possessions, and since Guy founded two automobile insurance companies, we could suggest that he was very proud of his vehicles. We can definitely say it is not the same car as the first because of the back fender line angling down, whereas in the first/earlier car the back fenders ran straight to the rear of the vehicle. So this may be the latest and greatest model at that time. And that is the deepest this human, not vehicle, genealogist will proceed, leaving it to others who will better enjoy the fine nuances of successive car vintages to research.
Notes, Sources, and References:
Family treasure trove of pictures.
Prior Roberts family genealogical research.
A special “thank you” to the Harlan family for allowing us to share the image of Jason and Julia they posted on their WordPress blog.
Thanks also to our wonderful family who has shared the boxes of pictures and tediously scanned them so we may all enjoy. More of those to come on the blog!
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 2013-2022 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 the copyright or use of “Heritage Ramblings” blog material.
The Roberts Family (likely), out for a drive. Possibly Guy Leslie Roberts, his wife Florence Myrtle Wilson, and Guy’s parents in back seat: Jason Lee Roberts and Julia French Roberts. (ID needs to be confirmed further.) [Click to enlarge.] ROBERTS Family(Click for Family Tree)
First, it is important to say that **we do not know for sure the identity of these people in the car. ** We are hoping that a kind reader out there will share some of their images to confirm or refute our educated guesses.
Second, what a fun picture! Wonder where they are going, dressed in their finery. Looking at the intricate and beautiful hats of the ladies, they most likely will not be driving very fast with the top down.
This RPPC (Real Photo PostCard- photos were printed on heavy cardstock for mailing) was found in a collection of wonderful very old pictures that included many persons in the Roberts family of Jasper County, Iowa. There were no names on this image to definitively ID the individuals, but because it was a postcard, we got very lucky that it was completed to be mailed to a person and has a signature. Sadly there is no postmark to give us an approximate date. With this information, however, plus previous research, we can make an educated guess about the people out for a ride in this amazing new machine, the automobile.
Reverse of above image.
Again, while we do not know for sure that this image is of the people we listed in the caption, there are quite a few clues that have helped us to come to these conclusions. Here is a bit of the thought process and information used to verify steps in our hypothesis- it is not quite a genealogical standard of proof, but as close as we can get with the data we can find:
1. The car and clothing of the persons in the photo suggest the early 1900s time period in the United States.
2. On the front grill of the car, the name appears to be “Cadillac.” A Google search for Cadillacs from 1900-1930 was a starting place to ID the car, so we could determine approximately when this was taken and who in the family would have been alive at that time. Using the comprehensive “New Cadillac Database” was easy as one can to scroll through all the pictures and confirm with the text the specs and profile of a vehicle. Identifying features of the vehicle include distinctive square lights on the side with round lights in front. There is a curved cowling to separate the longer hood from the four-seater body. The car had a top (a demi-tonneau) that could unfold above the seats for protection from the weather if needed. If this non-car-person’s assessment is correct, this may be a 1909 Cadillac Thirty, an exciting new vehicle with a 30 horsepower engine. Top speed would have been about 50 mph, which isn’t bad considering how few roads were paved, especially in rural areas like Iowa. This model may have been the Model G demi-tonneau. The base price was $1350 (about $46,000 today), with a speedometer, lamps, a generator for the lamps (instead of oil or gas lamps), a detachable tonneau, a second battery, etc. all adding to the price- selling cars hasn’t really changed much, has it? This could instead be a 1910 or 1911 model, 1911 being the last year a crank was used to start the car. So we can say that likely this car is circa 1910, which helps us pin down the time. [Please do leave us a note if we have not found the correct Cadillac model- we appreciate true expertise in identifying this vehicle!]
3. We know the Roberts family had cars fairly early-on, as Edith M. Roberts spoke of her grandparents, John Roberts (1832-1922) and Elizabeth Ann Murrell Roberts (1835-1917) having a car. Her father, George Anthony Roberts, Sr., enjoyed driving it before they had their own.
“I can remember the Reo runabout grandpa bought. To have an automobile then was something. They would drive out to visit us during the week, but never on Sundays. Always they were in church on that day. No one did anything on Sunday but go to church and make calls in the afternoon. They would come chug-chugging in the farmyard… It was quite level at that time. Grandpa so tall, and grandma so little, with her veil flying back of her in the wind. They wore tan dusters. They would come in for dinner. Mother would have chicken and noodles, because they like that, and all the goodies that went along with a good country meal.
“After dinner dad would go out and get in the automobile and drive it around in a circle. Of course I was right behind him having a ball. No one else in the family had a car at that time. About four o’clock they would leave and the next week they would visit one of the other children. “
REOs (pronounced ree-ohs) became available in 1915, and were produced until 1953. R.E.O. are the initials of Ransom Eli Olds, the founder of the company. And, for those of a certain era, the name of a 1915 truck called an ‘REO Speedwagon’ was the origin of the name of the excellent 1970s-80s band REO Speedwagon! (The letters were spelled out in the band name, however.)
4. Another good clue for identifying this image was on the back. As a postcard, the name and address were there: “Mr. Geo Roberts Jr” of Monroe, Iowa. We know that George Jr lived in Jasper County, Iowa, for his whole life. Georgie, as he was known, was born June 11, 1889 on the family farm near Monroe, Iowa in Jasper County, to George Anthony Roberts, Sr. (1861-1939) and Ella Viola Daniel (1866-1922). Georgie worked the family farms, both as a boy as well as when an adult. This helps us know to look at extended family and friends of the Robertses.
5. “Guy” is a less common name in the family, and a search within the family tree takes us to Guy Leslie Roberts, born December 9, 1890, in Mound Prairie Township, Jasper County, Iowa, to Jason Lee Roberts (1859-1940) and Julia French Roberts (1863-1917). Bingo! Jason Lee was the oldest of the three Roberts brothers born to John Roberts (1832-1922) and Elizabeth Ann Murrell Roberts (1835-1917).
Three Roberts Brothers of Jasper County, Iowa: (from left) William Edward “W.E.” Roberts, Jason Lee “J.L.” Roberts, and George Anthony “G.A.” Roberts, taken around 1900.
That meant that Guy and Georgie were cousins, and they all lived about two miles apart in rural Jasper County! Since there is no postmark the photo postcard was not actually mailed and likely presented in person, again suggesting that we most likely have the correct “Guy.”
Next: A few more identification details and photos…
Notes, Sources, and References:
Family treasures chest of photos and ephemera. A special “thank you” to all of those through the last 150 years or so who have preserved and passed on the beautiful images of our dear family.
A special “thank you” to Edith M. Roberts McMurray Luck for the stories she wrote about her life growing up along with her sweet biographies of our ancestors, and the grand-daughter who encouraged her to put those thoughts on paper for the generations to come.
“Descriptions and Specifications of Cadillac Cars 1905 – 1912.” https://www.newcadillacdatabase.org/static/CDB/Dbas_txt/Cad05-12.htm
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 2013-2022 by Heritage Ramblings Blog.
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 the copyright or use of “Heritage Ramblings” blog material.
