ROBERTS, Alexander

ROBERTS, MCDONALD, PRITCHARD

Posted By: A.M.W. (email)
Date: 3/26/2009 at 01:17:08

ALEXANDER H. ROBERTS, pharmacist, Audnbon, Iowa, came to the place October 15, 1878, the day on which the town lots were first offered for sale. He is a native of the State of Iowa, was born Augnst 26, 1848, in Des Moines County, twelve miles west of Burlington. His father, James Dorsey Roberts, is a native of Virginia, and a farmer by occupation. He removed to Iowa in 1838, and is now a resident of Henry County, Iowa, where he has lived since 1855. He was born in 1823. The mother of Alexander H. Roberts is Susan (McDonald) Roberts, a daughter of Alexander McDonald. She was born in 1826, and is still living. The family consists of four children, of whom A. H. is the second. The subject of this brief sketch was seven years old when his parents removed to Henry County, Iowa. He attended the common schools, and later pursued a three years' course at Howe's Academy. After leaving school he taught for a time, and then went to Burlington, where he graduated at the Bryant & Stratton Business College, and where he was employed as mailing clerk in the Burlington Hawkeye offoce for six months. He then embarked in the mercantile business in Corning, Iowa, where he remained twelve months. He went from Corning to Mount Pleasant, where he engaged in the drug business, in which business he has been engaged since that time. In the autumn of 1878 he came to Audubon and opened a stock of drugs, books and stationery. He is well established in trade, and is a very efficient druggist and careful pharmacist. Mr. Roberts was united in marriage, September 14, 1871, to Miss Lizzie Pritchard, of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, a daughter of Thomas Pritchard, Esq. Mrs. Roberts was born in Henry County, Iowa, where her father was one of the earliest settlers, coming to the county from Philadelphia in 1834. Mr. and Mrs. Roberts have two children - Ira Pearl and Ralph Pritchard. Mr. Roberts was a member of the first school board, serving six years. At present he is president of that body. He was also a member of the first city council. He is a member of Mount Pleasant Lodge, No. 8, A. F. & A. M., Mount Pleasant, Iowa; of Amity Chapter, No. 93, R. A. M., Audubon, arid of Godfrey Commandery, K. T., Audubon. He was the first treasurer of the Audubon County Agricultural Society, serving four years, and has been elected secretary for the coming year. In political matters he is rather conservative. He is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and has been since childhood. He is serving his tenth year as superintendent of the Sabbath school, for the success of which he has been a faith. ful worker. Mr. Roberts has not only been an active spirit in all business enterprises in Audubon, but he has also been instrumental in elevating the morals of his adopted city. Reuben Roberts, grandfather of A. H. Roberts, came to Iowa at an early day. He made the journey via the Ohio River to the Mississippi, thence via the Mississippi to Burlington. He came from near Wheeling, West Virginia, and was the father of twelve children.

FROM:
Biographical History of Shelby and Audubon Counties Iowa
W. S. Dunbar & Co., Publishers.