Let Me Introduce You; Isaac Roberts(10)

          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 dangerous, the family then moved to Rock Springs, Wyoming.

          It was in Rock Springs where Isaac’s mother Margaret married Samuel Caulton(5) and Isaac left Rock Springs and went back to England.  The family lore was that Isaac told his mother that he did not believe in second marriages and he was going back to England.  However, Isaac did not leave Wyoming until after Samuel’s death.

          Isaac returned to England, but rather going to Staffordshire where his older brother, Robert Owen Roberts(5) lived and where he was born and raised, Isaac returned to County Durham where some of Margaret’s extended family lived. 

          While in County Durham, Isaac married Janet Howie(16) on 4 July 1895.  While in England, the couple had seven children.  When the Janet and Isaac’s youngest child was 6 months old, the Isaac Roberts family immigrated to the United States, arriving on 16 September 1906.   Many of the family members were quite seasick and were still sick after their arrival to Wyoming.

          Isaac and Janet made Rock Springs, Wyoming their home for the rest of their lives, where Isaac worked as a coalminer for the Union Pacific Coal Company.  Isaac and Janet were part of their community and were active in their church and community. 

          Isaac and Janet’s children are:  Hugh(26), James(24), Percival(28), Jennie(30), Isaac, Jr.(32), William(33), Letitia(35), Mary Elizabeth(38), Sarah Ann(39), Arthur(40), Gilbert(41) and Tommy(43).  In addition, Isaac and Janet raised their two granddaughters, June(139) and Jackie(141) Buxton who were orphaned when they were babies.

        Isaac died 6 July 1940 and Janet died four years later in February 1944.  Isaac and Janet are buried in the Rock Springs City Cemetery adjacent their small children who preceded them in death; William, Sarah Ann and Elizabeth. 

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