James Bruffey Roberts (1830 - 1922)

Born 18 Nov 1830 in Jefferson, Missouri, United States

Husband of Martha Elizabeth (Huston) Roberts — married 6 Oct 1860 in Linn, Oregon, United States

Descendants

Died 31 Mar 1922 at age 91 in Virginia, United States

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Biography

James Roberts was involved in the westward expansion of the USA. See Westward Ho!.

James Buffey Roberts was born to Isaac Roberts and Katherine Conners in Jefferson County, Missouri, USA, on November 18, 1830.^[1]

Oregon Pioneer

He came to Oregon with his parents and two siblings in 1850. His sister Emily describes the journey this way.

Captain Blunt was in charge of our wagon train. Our train was a large one. It consisted of families going to Oregon to settle. There were some horses in the train, but practically everybody had oxen on their wagons. We were joined by another train from St. Louis; after starting this train consisted entirely on men. They were headed for the California gold fields. They had strong light wagons and all the wagons were pulled by mules. They were splendidly equipped and while they could travel faster than we with our slow-going ox teams, yet they kept with us till we come to where the roads forked, one swinging south to California and the other continuing on to the Willamette Valley. We had heard so much talk about how easy it was to make a fortune in the gold fields that a good many of our people decided to go to California. We kept up the discussion as to our destination each night and in fact we did not decide it till we came to where the roads divided. We held a pow-wow at the forks of the road and it was decided to go on to Oregon first and if we did not like it we could continue our trip to California.^[2]

James was about 20 when the family arrived in Portland. James worked hauling supplies around the Cascades. Part of his wok involved building the portage road at The Dalles around the falls there.^[1]

In 1852 James moved to Linn County where he, his sister, Emily and her husband, Edward Griffin and his mother and father made donation land claims. They settled on adjoining claims at a place that would be called "Roberts Bridge" (named for Isaac Roberts). It was in the center of the Willamette Valley bordering the Calapooia River, east of Shedd, Linn, Oregon. James's patent was issued on February 4, 1867.^[3]

First Marriage

He married Martha Elizabeth Huston on October 6, 1860 at Linn County, Oregon.^[4] The Huston family had come to Linn County in 1853 and had established a donation land claim adjoining the Roberts claims. Martha and James had four children together.

• Edwin Clarence Roberts
• Emma Huston (Roberts) Cochran
• Clara Esther (Roberts) Gordon
• Sanford William "Gordon" Roberts

Gordan died quite young on January 16, 1869 near Roberts Bridge,Linn, Oregon. and in buried in Sandridge Cemetery near Albany, Oregon.

Sometime after her young son's death Martha was found in Walulla, a steamboat town in the Columbia River near Walla Walla, Washington. She died at Walulla on April 1870. She was buried at Sandridge Cemetery, Linn, Oregon.

Second Marriage

He married Mary Jane Grate in 1872 and they had three children.

• Warner H. Roberts^[5]
• Elbert S Roberts^[6]
• Linus Conner Roberts^[7]

Move to Virginia and Death

He passed away in 1922 at age 91 in Virginia. Although he died at home and no cause of death was listed on his death certificate, family was told both he and a son Linus (also d. 1922) passed away of the same ailment. Linus' death certificate gave pneumonia as a cause of death. Family suspected they may have passed from the Spanish Flu which they thought was still prevalent at the time.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} "Linn Pioneer in Virginia is Dead", Albany Democrat (Oregon), 6 Apr 1922, p4, (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112221629/linn-pioneer-in-virginia-is-dead/)
2. ↑ Lockley, Fred, "In Earlier Days", The Oregon Daily Journal(Portland, Oregon), 27 Feb 1914, page 8, (col. 8 paragraph 9)</blockquote> https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn85042444/1914-02-27/ed-1/seq-8/
3. ↑ "U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Patents", Accession #OROCAA 007775. State: Oregon, Document Type: Serial Patent, Issue Date:26 July 1867, Name on Document: James B. Roberts (319.78 acres) https://glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx?accession=OROCAA%20007775&docClass=SER&sid=lfb412o5.pnc)
4. ↑ "United States Western States Marriage Index", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XZ8K-V5Q : 19 October 2018), James B. Roberts and Martha Hustan<sic>, 6 Oct 1860, Linn, Oregon, United States.
5. ↑ "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MNCL-644 : 14 January 2022), Warner Roberts in household of James B Roberts, Shedd, Linn, Oregon, United States; citing enumeration district , sheet , NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm .
6. ↑ "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MNCL-64H : 14 January 2022), Elbert S Roberts in household of James B Roberts, Shedd, Linn, Oregon, United States; citing enumeration district , sheet , NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm .
7. ↑ "Virginia, Death Certificates, 1912-1987," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVR7-KDY6 : 16 August 2019), Linus C Roberts, 12 Apr 1922; from "Virginia, Marriage Records, 1700-1850," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2012); citing , Louisa, Virginia, United States, entry #, Virginia Department of Health, Richmond.

• "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MHHW-K19 : 21 December 2020), Jas B Roberts in household of Isaac Roberts, Portland, Washington, Oregon, United States; citing family , NARA microfilm publication (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
• "United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MDQK-ZYC : 18 February 2021), James Roberts in entry for Isaac Roberts, 1860.
• "United States Census, 1870", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MF8Y-T1Y : 29 May 2021), James B Roberts, 1870.
• "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MNCL-64S : 14 January 2022), James B Roberts, Shedd, Linn, Oregon, United States; citing enumeration district , sheet , NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm .
• Miles, John and Milligan," Linn Donation Donation Land Claims through the End of 1885," Linn County Genealogical Society, Oregon, Vol 15,pp 54-56, (https://www.lgsoregon.org/lgswp/archives/1020)

• "Virginia, Death Certificates, 1912-1987," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVR7-VPW7 : 16 August 2019), James B Roberts, 31 Mar 1922; from "Virginia, Marriage Records, 1700-1850," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2012); citing , Louisa, Virginia, United States, entry #, Virginia Department of Health, Richmond.
• "Covered wagons Brought Many Settlers Here in 1950", The Morning Oregonian, (Portland, Oregon) Section3, p. 7 (image49), (https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2:11A73E5827618330@GB3NEWS-12A11BAD8E740B17@2424489-12A0739983CB7D88@48-12A0739983CB7D88)

• "United States Census, 1900", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MSDF-KB5 : 11 March 2022), James B Roberts, 1900, Halsey, Linn, Oregon.
• "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MLYY-QPV : accessed 29 October 2022), James B Roberts in household of E C Roberts, North Lebanon, Linn, Oregon, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 185, sheet 2B, family 41, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 1283; FHL microfilm 1,375,296.
• "United States Census, 1920", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MJF4-2PX : 4 February 2021), James B Roberts, 1920, Louisa, Virginia.

• James Bruffey Roberts, FamilySearch profile, person ID KLGZ-TBX, at: https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KLGZ-TBX