Emily (McDonald) Roberts (1924)

ROBERTS, MCDONALD, BEAMAN

Posted By: Linda Brittain (email)
Date: 6/5/2007 at 15:32:49

Winterset Madisonian, Winterset, Iowa

April 10, 1924 – page 7

Mrs. Emily Roberts

Mrs. Emily Roberts, 83 years of age, the oldest resident in Adair county, died at the home of her son, John Roberts in Harrison township, March 31. She came here with her parents July 4, 1850.

Funeral services were held April 3, at her late home in Harrison township. Rev. H. T. Clampitt had charge of the services. Interment took place in the Roberts cemetery.

Miss Emily McDonald was married to John Roberts, Sept. 20, 1860. The couple began life on a tract of rented land in Harrison township and for about five years they cultivated the farm, which later became the Roberts homestead. At the end of this time he bought eighty acres in Grand River township. It was in 1888 Mrs. Roberts moved with her husband to Harrison township. This farm of 200 acres was owned by Mrs. Roberts, and was entered from the government by her father, William McDonald, who came to Adair county from Missouri in 1851, being the first settler in this section of the country. The nearest neighbor to the McDonald family at that time was ten miles distant. Mrs. Roberts’ father lived and died in the home which now stands on the Roberts farm. The house is the original log cabin built by Mrs. Roberts’ father when he came to the county and is the oldest residence in the county. It bears little resemblance to the original building as it has been weather boarded and various additions have converted it into a modern home.

To Mr. and Mrs. Roberts were born seven children: James W., of Grand River township; Charles P., of Clay county, South Dakota; Leonard of Grand River township; Mary Almina Beaman of Harrison township; Thomas A., of Winterset; Josiah R., who lives in Guthrie county, and John L., who resides at home.