ROBERTS, Albert G.: Died 1952

ROBERTS, GUSTIN, VALE, WINSLOW, LEFFLER, MARCH

Posted By: Volunteer: Sherri
Date: 8/19/2016 at 00:46:01

**Handwritten: 1952

Albert G. Roberts

Albert Gustin Roberts, eldest son of Wyatt H. and Caroline Gustin Roberts, was born near Keosauqua, Iowa, Saturday, Dec. 26, 1874, and passed from this life at his home in Bonaparte, Iowa, at 11: 40 Sunday evening, Sept. 7, 1952, aged seventy-seven years, eight months and eleven days.

His early years were spent in the Keosauqua community, with the exception of one year that the family lived in Kansas. He attended the rural school, then Keosauqua High School, graduating with the class of 1893, and attended Drake University. He taught a year in the Prairie Queen rural school, was principal of the school in Bridgewater, Iowa, for one year, and for two years, from 1899 to 1901, was superintendent of the Bonaparte school.

He was united in marriage with Margaret E. Vale, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. B.R. Vale of Bonaparte, on August 16, 1900. In July, 1901, he bought the RECORD, the Bonaparte newspaper, and continued in the newspaper business until the summer of 1947, when failing health forced him to slow down, after forty-seven years of continuous work in the print shop.

His newspaper work, beginning with the small local paper, expanded until it became the leading newspaper of the county, and one of the outstanding weekly newspapers in the state.

In 1925 Mr. Roberts bought the State Line Democrat of Keosauqua, and for two years published it as the Van Buren Barometer at the county seat. In 1927 he moved that paper to Bonaparte and consolidated it with the Bonaparte Record, and for several years it was called the Bonaparte Barometer. Next, he bought the Keosauqua Republican, and in 1940, consolidated that paper with the Van Buren Record, naming the new merger, the Record-Republican, the name it now bears. The Birmingham Enterprise was also taken over and included in the paper published at Bonaparte, which has long had a news coverage of the entire county.

Aside from newspaper work, he served four years as Bonaparte postmaster. With W.S. Lane, he operated, from 1912 to 1917, one of the very early automobile sales agencies. He also managed farm properties, in addition to the home place on the eastern side of Bonaparte.

A.G., as he was best known, was athletically inclined, introducing football into Van Buren County when teaching in Bonaparte. He was scout master of a large group of boys, their activities including fishing, boating and building scout cabins. He built canoes, and was one of the first to enjoy motorboating on the Des Moines river. He played tennis, for a time managed the local baseball team and followed the baseball games even to listening during his last days to reports of games on the radio.

He was instrumental in organizing the Bonaparte Booster Club, and was ever foremost in projects for the betterment of the Van Buren community. He was a charter member of the Van Buren Co. Farm Bureau, continuing his membership until the time of his death. He was also a charter member of the County Fair Association.

As a young man he united with the Christian church of Keosauqua, transferring his membership to the First Presbyterian church of Bonaparte. He served as superintendent of the Sunday School for more than forty-five years, and taught a class during all that time. He was also an elder of the church.

A.G. is perhaps best and most widely remembered for his singing voice, a natural instrument of great beauty and wide range. Throughout his life he led in home talent plays and minstrel shows, church choir work, community singing, and was always available for special occasions.

Mr. and Mrs. Roberts were the parents of two children: Vale, now Mrs. Robert W. Winslow of Bonaparte; Rex A. Roberts of Groton, Mass. There are also five grandchildren: Anne Winslow of Bonaparte, and Bromley, Bruce, Sheldon and Jessica Roberts of Massachusetts.

Albert G. was one of four children, two of whom, a sister, Lucretia, Mrs. George V. Leffler, and a brother, Warren Q. Roberts, died in recent years. The surviving sister is Mrs. Jessie R. March of Glendale, Calif.

Funeral services were held at 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Bonaparte Presbyterian church with the Rev. C.F. McMican officiating. Burial was in Vale cemetery near Bonaparte.

**Handwritten: ALSO SEE BK 142E

Source: Van Buren Co. Genealogical Society Obituary Book, Page 171, Keosauqua Public Library, Keosauqua, IA

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