WI BIO - Kenosha Co - ROBERTS, John C.

History of Kenosha and Kenosha County, Wisconsin. Lyman. Chicago: Clarke 
Publishing, 1916, vol II, pp 704-705

John C. ROBERTS [Bristol Township, Kenosha County, Wisconsin], arrived in 
Kenosha County about 1849 [Kenosha County still part of Racine County until 
26 January 1850], casting in his lot with the early settlers, who were 
reclaiming the district for civilization and aiding in planting the seeds of 
development and improvement here. Four generations of the ROBERTS family 
have been represented here, and through the entire period have stood for 
those things which have been worthwhile in community life.

John C. ROBERTS was born in Leicestershire, England, and was the son of 
Robert ROBERTS, who was likewise a native of England and engaged in the 
business of stocking weaving at Leicester. When about eighteen years of age, 
while a member of the English army, the father [Robert ROBERTS] had his arm 
shot off in the battle of Laswari [during the Second Mahratta War], in India 
[fought on 01 November 1803]. He [Robert ROVERTS] married Esther CURRY, and 
both died when about seventy-six years of age. Their family [the family of 
Robert and Esther ROBERTS] numbered three sons and two daughters, and these 
became widely scattered: (1) Samuel ROBERTS remained in Leicestershire, 
England; (2) Lydia became a resident of Australia; and (3) John C. 
established his home in America.

John C. ROBERTS was for a time in the marine service of Great Britain, 
afterward engaging in bookkeeping, and still later was employed as fireman on 
a railroad. In 1844 John C. ROBERTS, accompanied by his wife and children, 
crossed the Atlantic on the "Rainbow," which was lost in the fog banks off 
the coast of Newfoundland for sometime. They were over seventeen weeks in 
making the trip when is usually required five weeks at that time. Mr. 
ROBERTS established his home in Canada but in the fall of 1849 removed to 
Wisconsin [which had become a State on 29 May 1848] and for a year and a half 
occupied a rented farm in Bristol Township [then still in Racine County, but 
since 26 January 1850 in Kenosha County]. Carefully saving his earnings, he 
purchased eighty acres about a quarter of a mile west of Woodworth Station 
[Bristol Township, Kenosha County], on which he lived for eight or nine 
years, and then resided on a twenty acre tract for about thirty years, 
devoting his attention to its cultivation. Eventually, however, he sold that 
tract and invested in twenty acres north of Woodworth, upon which he spent 
his remaining days.

In early manhood he [John C. ROBERTS] wedded Lydia FAULKNER, who like her 
parents, Robert and Lydia [p 705] FAULKNER, were natives of Leicestershire, 
England, where the father [Robert FAULKNER] drove a stage. Mr. FAULKNER died 
in middle life, while his wife reached an advanced age. Their daughter, Mrs. 
John C. ROBERTS, was called to her final rest on 30 December 1893, when she 
had passed the eighty-first milestone on life's journey. Less than two years 
had elapsed when Mr. [John C.] ROBERTS departed this life, 01 July 1895, at 
the age of eighty-six years. Both were consistent members of the Methodist 
church and Mr. ROBERTS was ever a most loyal citizen of his adopted country.

At the time of the Civil war, although past military age, John C. ROBERTS 
responded to the country's call for troops, becoming a hospital steward in 
the Fifth Wisconsin Regiment, with which he served until, suffering from an 
attack of typhoid, he was honorably discharged. He was a stalwart advocate 
of the cause of temperance and delivered many addresses on that subject both 
in England and the United States.

To him and his wife [to John C. and Lydia (FAULKNER) ROBERTS] were born seven 
children, as follows: (1) Robert F., the oldest of the family; (2) Lydia, 
who became the wife of Sumner FAIRBANKS of Woodworth, and died in Aurora 
[Kane County], Illinois, and her only son, Edwin, is also deceased; (3) John 
H., who became a resident of St. Paul [Ramsey County], Minnesota, and died 
there, leaving a wife and one child, his wife now Mrs. Henry BEHRENS of 
Aberdeen [Brown County], South Dakota, and has a daughter, Ruth; (4) William 
E., who married Ann OSGOOD and died in Turin [Monona County], Iowa, leaving 
one child, Mrs. William REYNOLDS of Englewood [Arapahoe County], Colorado; 
(5) Richard Arnold Rainbow, who was born on shipboard when the family were 
on route for the New World, and was named for Captain Richard ARNOLD and his 
ship "Rainbow," served as Sergeant in Company I, Thirty-third Wisconsin 
Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War and died in Washington Hospital at 
Memphis [Shelby County], Tennessee, 12 February 1865; (6) George F., who 
with his wife, Mrs. Frank (DAY) ROBERTS, and their daughter, Olive, reside in 
Libertyville [Lake County], Illinois, and his son, Ellis, by a former 
marriage, lives on his father's farm in Virginia; and (7) Esther H., the 
youngest, who has passed away. 

Submitted by Cathy Kubly