Obituary Record

Robert E. (R. E.) Roberts
Died on 12/25/1910
Buried in Arlington Cemetery

This long obituary is taken from the collection in the Notebook of Long Obituaries. The original newspaper article can be found in the Blair Library, Genealogy Room.

#1-29 Dec., 1910 - Blair Democrat

R. E. ROBERTS DIES

R. E. Roberts, for fifty five years a Nebraskan, an early day freighter and later a prominent grain dealer, died at his home in Arlington Sunday. He was in his 83rd year at the time of his death. The funeral services were held from the residence Tuesday afternoon at 1 o’clock, the Odd Fellows taking charge after the religious services at the residence.

Mr. Roberts was born in Cheshire, England, near the Wales line, on February 22, 1829. At the age of 9 he came to New York with his parents, later going to Utica, N.Y. where he learned the carpenter trade. In 1850 he moved to Chicago and thence to St. Joseph, Mo., coming to Omaha in 1855. Shortly after he preempted 160 acres one mile east of Arlington. He engaged in freighting between Omaha and Denver, making eleven trips in all. He took the first wagon train through after the Cottonwood massacre.

Engaging in the grain business at Arlington, Mr. Roberts erected an elevator in 1872, and subsequently a grist mill, both of which burned in 1885. In 1886 he built a new elevator which is now owned by the Updike Grain company. After that he owned a chain of elevators at Kennard, Ceresco, Beaver Crossing and Washington. In 1899 he sold them to Turner and Brenner. In 1904 he bought the elevator which his son, Henry, had meanwhile established at Arlington and owned it at the time of his death. After selling his chain of elevators, he made a trip to England and located his brothers and sisters of whom he had lost track since boyhood. Eight years later he made a second trip to visit them. While in poor health for some time, Mr. Roberts remained actively engaged in business until this winter.

He is survived by his wife and the following sons and daughters: W. E. Roberts, Washington; Henry Roberts, Tekamah; O. C. Roberts, Arlington; Ray Roberts, Fordyce; Mrs. VanWinkle, York; Mrs. N. P. Bouck, Clearwater; Mrs. G. I. Pfeiffer, Arlington; Mrs. J. A. Dixon, Arlington; and Mrs. J. C. Hammang, Omaha.

#2-Published in Arlington Review Herald, December 29, 1910

DEATH OF R. E. ROBERTS

ARLINGTON’S AGED PIONEER RESIDENT PASSED AWAY DECEMBER 25

At 2 o’clock last Sunday morning, Dec. 25, 1910, R. E. Roberts died at his home in this place, surrounded by nearly all of the members of his family, who had been called home by the unfavorable symptoms that had developed within a few days. The funeral was held Tuesday afternoon, interment being in Arlington cemetery. The ceremony was in charge of the Odd Fellows, of which order he had been a member since 1856. Rev. A. W. Ayers, former pastor of the Congregational church of this place, but now pastor of a church at Cameron, Mo., officiated at the funeral, which was held from the residence, where a large number of old friends and neighbors assembled to say their last respects to the departed.

R. E. Roberts was born in Cheshire, England, Feb. 18, 1829, where he resided till he was nine years old, when he with his parents emigrated to the United States, settling in Utica, N. Y., where young Roberts learned the carpenter trade. Later he moved to Chicago, thence to St. Joseph, and in 1855 he arrived in Omaha, then a very small town. A little later he branched out and coming to Bell creek, pre-empted the farm just east of Arlington, now occupied by Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Dixon, and still a part of the Roberts estate. In July 1861, he led to the altar Miss Nancy J. Sage, the ceremony taking place near Belleview, Neb., and brought his bride to his Arlington homestead, where they have resided ever since, only leaving the farm a few years ago to move into a commodious home that had been erected in town, and in which he died. In an early day, Mr. Roberts was a freighter and made 11 trips from Council Bluffs to Denver, and this too, at a time when such trips were fraught with much hardship and danger, it being no uncommon occurrence to hear of a party of freighters or emigrants being massacred by the Indians. In 1872 he engaged in the grain business in Arlington, being associated with Mr. W. J. Crane, still a resident of Arlington. Later he purchased the old grist mill located on the Stork farm just northwest of town, and moved it to the railroad, where he operated it until it was burned to the ground in the fall of 1885, but before the winter was over he had erected an elevator and continued to operate it until it was sold, and eventually passed into the hands of the Updyke Grain Co., who now own it. At the time of his death he was operating elevators at Arlington, Kennard and Washington and enjoyed the confidence of the farmers and handled a goodly portion of the grain raised in these neighborhoods. In addition to these elevators Mr. Roberts was the owner of several hundred acres of Washington county land, all of which was acquired through years of industrious effort, both as a farmer and a grain buyer, as each year he successfully tilled many acres of his fertile lands. In 1899 and again in 1907, he visited his old home in England and spent several months visiting among the relatives of the family then living, including a brother and two sisters, one of whom survive him.

About the only public office that Mr. Roberts ever held was that of member of the school board, which he held for many years, he being district treasurer for a number of terms. In this capacity the district owed him a debt of gratitude, as during the many years he served in that capacity the district was never called on to pay a cent of interest on its outstanding warrants, as Mr. Roberts always paid them out of his own private funds and waited until the money had been collected to pay it back.

To Mr. and Mrs. Roberts were born 10 children, nine of whom survive him and were present at the funeral Tuesday. They are W. E. Roberts, Washington; Henry Roberts, Ft. Calhoun; O. C. Roberts, Arlington; Ray Roberts, Fordyce; Mrs. F. P. Van Wickie, York; Mrs. N. P. Bouck, Clearwater; Mrs. J. C. Hammang, Omaha; Mrs. G. I. Pfeiffer and Mrs. J. A. Dixon, Arlington. A boy died in infancy.

In the death of Mr. Roberts, Nebraska looses (sp) one of its sturdy pioneers and Arlington one who has contributed much to make this the prosperous community it is. He was a man to demand all that was due him, yet he always gave a full measure in turn. Mr. Roberts was not known as a charitable man as the term is generally used, yet we have heard of many instances during his long residence here when much suffering was averted through his generosity, but which was never heralded or broadcast as is often the case when a charitable act is performed.

For several years Mr. Roberts has been unable to attend actively to his business duties, but until late last fall he was able to be about, visiting the office, and taking an occasional stroll into the country, and on all warm days he could be seen sitting in front of his residence on First street, greeting and being greeted by all who entered the town from the east. He was respected by all and by his integrity and strict honesty in all his dealings with his neighbors he won their confidence and esteem. His last hours were painless ones, he simply sleeping to the end, during which time the watching friends could have said with the poet, Hood, in those beautiful lines: “ Our very hopes belied our fears - Our fears our hopes belied; - We thought him dying when he slept - And sleeping when he died.”

CARD OF THANKS - - We wish to extend our heartfelt thanks to all those who in any way assisted by many kind acts of kindness during the last illness, death and funeral of our beloved husband and father, Robert E. Roberts. We wish to especially remember the members of the Odd Fellows lodge for their brotherly aid association, to the Rebekah lodge and other friends for the many beautiful flowers, and to the quartette that furnished the music at the funeral.

MRS. R. E. ROBERTS; MRS. HANNAH VAN WICKLE; MRS. BELLE BOUCK; MRS. GERTRUDE HAMMANG; O. C. ROBERTS; HENRY ROBERTS; WILL ROBERTS; MRS. ELSIE PFEIFFER; MRS. BLANCHE DIXON; RAY ROBERTS.

Printed in the Arlington Review-Herald on 12/29/1910


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