Roberts Roots & Branches

           Mary Elizabeth Roberts, daughter of Hugh(1) and Margaret(2) Roberts was born 27 July 1872 in Staffordshire, England.           When Mary Elizabeth was 13 years old, she immigration with her family to the United States where the family settled in Pennsylvania.   After Mary’s father died, the family moved to Almy, Wyoming and then they settled in Rock Springs, Wyoming.             Mary Elizabeth married William D. Jones(20) in Evanston, Wyoming.   The date is unknown and the place of the marriage is from family records.   No official documents have been located at this time to prove the date or place of the marriage.           Mary Elizabeth and William had two children, Hugh Jones(22) who died as a baby in October 1891.   Two years later the couple had a second son, Thomas Jones(23) born in Rock Springs, Wyoming.   Eventually, the couple divorced.           In 1912, Mary Elizabeth traveled to her sister, Sarah Ann’s(11) home in Des Moines, Iowa where she spent 3 weeks

 in 1887, the John Richard Roberts family immigrated to the United States. John Richard Roberts(8), wife Selina Parker(162),  daughter Martha Patricia(163) and son Isaac(165).

           According to family records, Margaret Roberts(13) was born 29 March 1870 to Hugh(1) and Margaret(2) Roberts in Staffordshire, England.   According to church records, Margaret was christened 25 May 1870!   So, her birthdate is probably incorrect.   Margaret is two years younger than her older brother Hugh Thomas(12).             In 1881, one-year-old Margaret lived with her parents, four older brothers, two older sisters and her maternal grandmother, Letitia.   The Roberts family lived on Greville Street in the town of Hanley.             Margaret was only seven years old when she was run over by a cart and died of her injuries.   The coroner recorded the death as an accident.   Margaret died in September 1877 in Hanley, Staffordshire, England.

           Hugh Thomas Roberts(12) was born 1 November 1867 in Staffordshire, England, to Hugh(1) and Margaret(2) Roberts.   Hugh was christened in May 1870 in Northwood.   In 1881 the age of 14, he was employed as a potter’s assistant working in the Staffordshire Potteries.   When Hugh was 18 years old, he immigrated with the Hugh and Margaret Roberts family to the United States arriving in June 1886 and then settling in Pennsylvania, where Hugh began work as a coalminer.   After his father’s death, Margaret and the remaining Roberts family then moved to Almy, Wyoming to work in the coalmines for a couple of years, eventually leaving and moving to Rock Springs, Wyoming.             Around 1894 Hugh moved with his sister, Sarah Ann(11) and her husband Joseph Jones(19) , to Oskaloosa, Iowa where he would eventually marry Esther Clough(203).    At their marriage, Hugh was 31 years old and Esther was 23 years old.     Three years after their marriage, the couple had their only child, Ha

  Sarah Ann Roberts(11) was born 18 November 1865 in Staffordshire, England to Hugh(1) and Margaret(2) Roberts.  Her christening took place on 25 May 1870 in Northwood, Stoke upon Trent.  By the time Sarah was 16 years old, she was working as a transferer in the potteries.  Four years later, she immigrated with her family to the United States arriving 28 June 1886.  Sarah’s older sister, Letitia(9) passed away while immigrating four months earlier.  Sarah, her parents, 2 younger sisters, younger brother, and niece, Letitia’s daughter Maggie, all immigrated together.  Joseph Jones(19), Letitia’s widower, requested that Sarah immigrate and help raise his daughter Maggie.  Less than two months after arriving in the United States, Joseph and Sarah applied for a marriage license in Moosic, Pennsylvania.   Joseph was a Welsh coalminer from England.   The couple had two children in Pennsylvania, and then followed the rest of the Roberts family to Almy, Wyoming.   While living in Almy, the

          Hugh(1) and Margaret’s(2) son Isaac Roberts(10) was born 1 September 1863 in Stafffordshire, England.  Isaac was working as a sagger maker in the potteries, in the 1881 British Census.  Isaac was one of the first of Hugh and Margaret’s children to immigrate to the United States with his sister, Letitia(9) and her husband Joseph(19).  The three immigrated in February 1886.  Letitia died on the ship the day before it docked in the US, leaving Isaac and Joseph to travel to their destination alone.  The two men arrived in Pennsylvania, where Isaac’s uncle was living and working.  Isaac and Joseph sent word to Hugh and Margaret of Letitia’s passing and the family made arrangements to come to the United States and bring Joseph’s young daughter Maggie.           While in Pennsylvania, Isaac lived with his family and worked in the coalmines.  After Hugh died, the family traveled to Almy, Wyoming where the men worked in the Almy coalmines.  Determining the Almy mines to be too dange

          Hugh(1) and Margaret’s(2) first daughter Letitia Roberts was born 10 December 1862 in Staffordshire, England.   In 1881, a 19-year-old Letitia worked as a potter’s transfer in the potteries, where she would transfer patterns and designs onto the pottery before it went to the kiln.   Letitia married Joseph Jones(19) in 1882, she was 19 years old and Joseph was a 20 year old coal miner.    Letitia and Joseph’s only child was a daughter, Margaret Jones whom the family called Maggie.           Joseph and Letitia left their small daughter with Hugh(1) and Margaret(2) and with Letitia’s brother, Isaac(10), immigrated to the United States in January 1886.   According to records, Letitia died the day before their ship arrived in the United States, on 14 February 1886.   There is only one known record of Letitia’s death and that is the second marriage application for Joseph Jones.   There is no record on the passenger list of Letitia’s death or burial, presumably at sea.   There is

             John Richard Roberts was born 1 November 1859 in Staffordshire, England to Hugh(1) and Margaret(2) Roberts.   By the time John was 11 years old, he was working in the local coalmine as a pit boy, and by age 21 John was a coalminer.   At age 23, John married a 20 year old Selina Parker(162) in Fenton, Staffordshire, England.   John and Selina had two children before immigrating to the United States in 1887, a year after Hugh, Margaret and the rest of the Roberts family.   John worked in the Pennsylvania coalmines before following Margaret and the rest of the Roberts family to Almy, Wyoming and then to Rock Springs. While living in Rock Springs, they had four more children and John worked for P.J. Quealy.   In 1897, John was asked if he wanted to help open a new mine near the Hams Fork River, so John left Selina and the children in Rock Springs and John helped open a new mining operation and establish the new town of Kemmerer and coal mining town of Frontier.   During th

  In 1901, a 44 year old widowed Robert was working in the coal mine “on (the) pit bank,” while living with his daughter Margaret, son Hugh and step son John(470).   Fifteen year-old Hugh(463) was working as an “office boy” at the “post” while John(470) was working as a “cabinetmaker.”   The last census record we have of Robert Owen, is in 1901 when he is living with his married daughter Margaret, her husband and family.   Robert Owen continues at age 54 to work in the “colliers” as a “labourer (sic).”   In addition to Robert living with Margaret and her family, his stepson John lives with them continuing his work as a “cabinetmaker.” Robert Owen Roberts(7) died in 1922 in Stoke-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, England at the age of 66 years old. According to family stories, Robert’s deafness was the reason he did not immigrate with the rest of the family.   It was probably difficult for Robert to remain in Staffordshire and have his family immigrate without him.   When the Hugh(1) &am

  Robert Owen Roberts(7) was born 7 September 1856 in Kelloe, Durham, England.   From the 1851 census, we find Robert living with his parents in Staffordshire, England and we find out from the census record that Robert was “deaf.”   We do not know if Robert was born deaf or if an illness caused his deafness.   We do know that there is some sort of issue because; Robert was not christened until he was 7 years old.   He had two siblings christened and it was not until the christening of his third sibling when Robert was finally christened on 11 October 1863 in Northwood. According to the 1871 census, fourteen-year-old Robert Owen was working in the potteries as a “potters (sic) gilder.”   Robert continued working in the potteries as a potter’s guilder for the next ten years, through the 1881 census.   During this time, he married a widowed, Alice Leese(459).   Alice was born about 1841 in Burslem, she married William Moulton(471) on 12 March 1865 in Wolstanton, and together they had f

Hugh(1) and Margaret’s(2) children: Edward Roberts(5) Robert Owen Roberts(7) John Richard Roberts(8) Letitia Roberts(9) Isaac Roberts(10) Sarah Ann Roberts(11) Hugh Thomas Roberts(12) Margaret Roberts(13) Mary Elizabeth Roberts(14) Jane Roberts(15)   According to numerous family records Edward Roberts(5) was born 18 December 1850, well that is possible but not probable!  Why?  Because Margaret would only have been 13 years, two months and 12 days old!  Margaret was living with her parents in the 1851 census and there is no Edward or younger child listed with the family (Edward is not listed in Hugh’s family either, which would have been unusual.)  Another strange behavior is that if Edward were born in 1850, it would not make sense for Hugh and Margaret to wait three years to get married.  After much research, I have never been able to locate a record, document, or source for Edward.  It is possible that Edward was a stillborn, died a few days after birth, or di

Jane Roberts(15) & Andrew Hamilton(45) were married today, 7 October 1892 in Rock Springs, Sweetwater, Wyoming.  They had 7 children and lived in various places in Wyoming including Rock Springs and Cumberland.  Andrew served two terms in the Legislature as Sweetwater Representative and he was coal miner. 

  Birthday & Let Me Introduce You! Margaret Roberts(2) was born 6 October 1837 in Mostyn, Flintshire to Edward Roberts(482) and Letitia Jones(417).   Margaret married Hugh Roberts(1) on 26 November 1853 in Flintshire County, Wales.   (Yes, Margaret’s maiden and married surname are the same!   Which is not unusual in Wales where Roberts is as common as Smith in the United States!)   After the couple married they immigrated to County Durham, England, where Robert Owen Roberts(7) was born.   There years later, Hugh and Margaret had their son John Richard Roberts(8) in Staffordshire County where the family lived for the for over 20 years.   Margaret had 10 children (maybe 11 children, more on this complex research issue later) and immigrated to the US when she was 48 years old.   She was widowed by the time she was 52 years old, and then traveled out west to Wyoming at age 53.   By the time she was 55 years old she was settled in Rock Springs, Wyoming where she would live the rest of

  Margaret Roberts(2) was born 6 October 1837 in Mostyn, Flintshire, Wales.  She married Hugh Roberts in Wales and then the couple immigrated to County Durham, England.   Eventually the Roberts family moved to Staffordshire and lived there for over 20 years.  Margaret had 10 children and immigrated to the US when she was 48 years old.  She was widowed by the time she was 52 years old, and then traveled out west to Wyoming at age 53.  By the time she was 55 years old she settled in Rock Springs, Wyoming where she would live the rest of her life.   Margaret then married Samuel Caulton and she was 56 years old when she was widowed a second time.  Margaret spent her remaining days in Rock Springs, Wyoming, dying when she was 87 years old. 

    Hugh Roberts(1) was born 10 July 1832 in Mostyn, Flintshire, Wales, to two people with the most common names in Wales!   (Because of continuing research and the inability to “prove” their names, I am not releasing their names.)   The 1841 census was taken on 7 June 1891.   When I thought I found Hugh Roberts as a child, I was surprised to see a set of triplets.   Hugh’s three older siblings were listed as each child being 15 years old!   Well, after exploring the family for multiple births, and being somewhat surprised that a set of triplets survived in the early 1800’s, I furthered researched the background of the census’ which is where I learned the census taker usually rounded the ages of those over 15 down to a multiple of 5 years.   For example, a 17 year old, a 19 year old and a 16 year old would all be listed as 15 years old.   All three of Hugh’s siblings had their ages rounded down to 15 years old.      Hugh’s father was a lead miner and by the 1851 census Hugh was liste

What ARE those numbers? Record Identification Numbers! I know they are annoying when you are reading (and writing) about our relatives, but they are essential because of the large number of repeated names. Hugh(1) & Margaret(2) have: 10 John Roberts 9 Mary Roberts with different middle names 7 Edward Roberts 7 James Roberts 6 Margaret Roberts (plus Margaret(2) herself) 5 Thomas Roberts 5 William Roberts 5 Isaac Roberts 4 Hugh Roberts (plus Hugh(1) himself) 4 Sarah Roberts Some of these names are family names, others are names that were popular at the time, and some are both of these. So Hugh(1) and Margaret(2) are numbers 1 and 2.   All of these numbers are computer generated from my genealogy software program.  

             Welcome everyone to a new project I am going to introduce on our Roberts Roots & Branches Facebook Group.  I want everyone in this group to know their ancestors and I want to share all the information I have.            Invite your family members to join our group.   If you invite them, I do not require them to answer all the questions.           I will begin at the beginning and I will share everything I have learned about our ancestors.   I want questions, inquiries, and challenges to my research.   I want you to know them and learn about them as I have.   I want you to share what you know about our ancestors so I may learn from you.              I will be setting up some foundational information as I set up this new project to get it up and running.           Please check the RR&B Facebook page regularly  or check back here, and if you have a question do not hesitate to ask.

 "Let Me Introduce You" is my new project for our  Roberts Roots & Branches  Facebook group and blog.   Invite your family member for this fun event  of getting to know our ancestors.

  How well do you know your ancestors? "Let me Introduce You"

  My two helpers finishing up "Where Our Roots Rest" Progress on my two cemetery books are still in the works as I am still editing.   I was able to add more research after I printed out the sloppy copies and there were several serendipity events that helped me write a complete and accurate book.   I have had to temporarily shelf the project just to rest my brain and breathe.   In addition to finishing the editing, I need to compile an index and add it to each book. My first trip to Kemmerer Cemetery was hot and sunny,  however my second trip on October 10th, looked like this!!! I took some time to go back and work on the Frontier Mine No. 1 disaster.   I searched the Kemmerer Cemetery and was able to locate all of the coalminer’s buried there and obtain the grave GPS coordinates.   The Sexton’s office was so much help, and I have been working with them sharing my documentation and sources for their records. After I completed my fieldwork at the cemetery, I organized my f