~1800 - ~1849
Kentucky - Illinois - ?
It has long been thought that Obadiah was the son of Jesse S Roberts and Margaret Davis of South Carolina and Kentucky. If so, he was their eldest son. However, Jesse (in 1816) was appointed the guardian of the children of Stephen Roberts, deceased - and one of the children named was Obadiah. Maxine said that in Kentucky at that time, a person would be appointed a guardian if he or she was under the age of (I think) 14, which means that Obadiah must have been born no earlier than 1802??? - which means that he might have been more-or-less the same age as Jesse's son, Obadiah (or he might have been much younger, but I am setting out the difficulties here). I have found a possible Obadiah who comes close to fitting the profile of the son of Stephen (besides the one I think is the son of Jesse), but I don't know how we can ever be completely sure which one our Obadiah was. The Robertses were famous for their hospitality and generosity, so I am sure that if our Obadiah was not Jesse's actual son, he was treated as such. My present position is that our Obadiah was the son of Jesse.
Maxine thought that Stephen must have been a brother to Jesse; she also thought Oba Roberts, of Laurens County, SC was probably another brother. However, the genealogies I have seen (with no documentation) on the Internet, make Stephen the cousin of Oba and Jesse (also sometimes listed as James). And there it stands, until someone can do some deep digging.
This, by the way, is the genealogy:
1 Obediah Roberts b: 1713
......... 2 Oba Roberts b: 1739
.................... 3 Joshua Roberts
.................... 3 James Roberts
.................... 3 Elijah Roberts
.................... 3 Franklin Roberts
.................... 3 Marguerite Roberts
.................... 3 Elliot Roberts
......... 2 John Roberts b: 1741
.................... 3 Stephen Roberts
......... 2 William Henry Roberts b: 1743
.................... 3 Jesse S. Roberts, Sr.
.................... 3 Franklin Roberts
.................... 3 Obediah (Oba) Roberts b: December 24, 1769 in South Carolina d: October 11, 1827 in Asheville,St. Clair County, Alabama +Margaret Ewing b: July 15, 1776 in Virginia d: 1859 in Texas m: 1793 in South Carolina
......... 2 George Roberts b: 1745
.................... 3 Unknown Roberts
.................... 3 John Roberts b: 1781
.................... 3 Leviston Roberts b: 1784
........................ +Fanny Herndon b: in Kentucky m: 1816
.................... 3 Henry Roberts b: 1786
.................... 3 Issacher Jacob Roberts b: 1801 d: 1870 in Alton, Madison County, Illinois
........................ +Virginia Young
Roberts is a surprisingly common name - and Obadiah is an amazingly popular first name among them. Jesse moved to western Kentucky in the mid-to-late1790s, and there is an Obadiah in the same place at the same time. This Obadiah is obviously not the son of Jesse, since he is granted the right to run a tavern:
County Court - 1st one held 21 Mar 1797 . . . the monotony of the proceedings was then broken, by granting a license to Obadiah Roberts “to keep a public house.”
Counties of Todd and Christian, Kentucky : historical and biographical / editors: J.H. Battle, Todd County history; W.H. Perrin, Christian County history. [Chicago : F.A. Battey Pub. Co., 1884.] p. 49
This Obadiah was mentioned as one of the earliest settlers of Christian County (Livingston was formed from Christian in 1798); he was the son-in-law of Bartholomew Wood or Ward (p. 67); he possibly died in 1811.
Will Book B p. 83
Obadiah Roberts - Division of Land
June 1, 1811
Heirs: Joshua Roberts, Joseph B Roberts, John Roberts, Elijah Roberts, James Roberts, John McFadin, James Elliott
Gary, Cordelia C. Abstracts of will books, 1797-1900, Christian County, Kentucky. [Hopkinsville, Ky. : Gary, [1980?]] p. 7 -
[Roberts, Nancy m. John McFaden - 28 Jan 1800 (Christian County Marriages)]
[Joshua Roberts’s will 1816 mentions sister Franky Elliott - as well as all the others except John Roberts.]
Mary Matthews found the following information about this Obediah:
He was from Virginia, not SC, and DAR records show that he served as a pvt in a Virginia Regt, for which he received a bounty land warrant of 100 acres in Christian Co. Ky. He was in Christian Co. by 1800.
Family info: Obediah Roberts b. c. 1750, VA; died after Dec. 1807 Christian Co., KY; married Mary Wood and had eight children:
Joseph c 1778, married Lavinia Brooks 8/March/1798
Obediah Jr.? b. 1795 KY; married Martha Edwards in Obion Co., TN around 1827
Joshua
Elijah
Jesse
John
Frankie married Joshua Elliot?
Nancy married John McFarlin or McFadin
My latest (30 Mar 2007) thinking on the orphan Obadiah is that he and his brother Benjamin went to Arkansas before the 1820 census. I do not have an 1820 census listing for them, but they begin appearing there on the censuses in 1830.
~~~~~
The person most likely to have been our Obadiah always shows up on the censuses as being born in the 1800-1810 range, and the first document concerning him (if he is not the orphan) is a land grant for 100 acres on the Ohio River:
Obediah 100A 1-3-1827 Ohio R
Kentucky Land Grants - from a file (MISC RECORDS for Roberts Family in Livingston Co., KY) posted by Ed Roberts, 5 May 1999 - USGenWeb Archives.
He apparently sold that land (and some other) to his future father-in-law in May:
BB 193 - 21 May 1827 - Jacob Eison to Obadiah Roberts $900 for 187 acres on Ohio River by survey of 21 Mar 1818, adj :Lilbourn Lewis’ heirs’ survey. s. Jacob Eisen Attest: Benjamin McMatten rec 16 July 1827
Livingston County, Kentucky deeds : books A-C, 1800-1817 / abstracted and compiled by Brenda Joyce Jerome. (Newburgh, Ind. : B.J. Jerome, 1991-)
And later that same year he married Louisa Eisen:
Roberts, Obediah - Louiza Eison 20 Nov 1827 by James Johnson
bond 19 Nov 1827 - Bondsman Jacob Eison. groom given as Obid Roberts. license 19 Nov 1827. The consent of the father of Louiza given and sd. Roberts is of age.
Livingston County, Kentucky, marriage records : bonds, licenses, consents and misc. loose papers / by Joyce M. Woodyard for the Livingston Co Historical & Genealogical Society. [Smithland, Ky.] : The Society, c1992-
Jesse and the rest of the family had moved north, to Montgomery County, Illinois in about 1826, and then on to Marshall County in about 1828. Obadiah apparently went with them for a while, but returned to Livingston County to marry Louisa, and remained there until sometime between the 1830 and 1840 census.
They removed from Smithland, Kentucky, to Montgomery county, Illinois, in 1827, and the three sons, Livingston, Obed and Jesse, planted crops that year.
The Biographical Record of Bureau, Marshall and Putnam Counties, Illinois. (Chicago: SJ Clarke Publishing Co, 1896), p. 363 - entry for John Murphy, grandson-in-law of Jesse
He did not live in Marshall County long enough to make an impression - this is his only mention in the histories, while both Jesse and Livingston are covered extensively. (On the other hand, the youngest son, Jesse James, is also seldom mentioned - in fact, I think this is the only mention of him as well.)
In 1830, he was living next door to his father-in-law:
1830 Kentucky Livingston Salem 005
Jacob Eisen 00112211 0012001
Obediah Roberts 02001 00001
Both Obediah and Louisa are in the 20-30 (born 1800-10) age range; one of the young boys, age 5-10, is possibly William Livingston, born ~1829 (and therefore really only ~1!). The other one is unknown and apparently died before the next census. He might be the unknown female 1830-35 on that census. Since they almost certainly got the ages wrong - boys born 1820-25 and marriage date 1827 - they may have got the sex wrong as well.
He attended a couple of estate sales in Livingston County in the 1830s:
1831 Nov 17 - estate of George Wilson - buyers: Jno Roberts, Silas Roberts, Obe Roberts
1832 Feb 16 - John Eison, Oba Roberts - buyers at estate of Thomas Rice
Livingston County Estate Records - Jerome 04-1227
And that is the last we see of him in Kentucky. In 1840, he was in Marshall County, in the same general area as Livingston:
1840 - Illinois Marshall Lynn Pct, p. 196 Obediah Roberts 0010001 110001
1f under 5 b. 1835-40 Caroline 1838
1f 5-10 b. 1830-35 Unk f.
1m 10-15 b. 1825-30 William Livingston 1829
1f 30-40 b. 1800-1810 Louisa Eisen
1m 40-50 b. 1790-1800 Obediah b. ~1800
And that is the last trace I have been able to find of him. Maxine thinks he and Louisa may have gone back to Kentucky, to be near her mother who was ill - I haven’t done any research on that yet. Since the guardianship statement prepared by Livingston in 1860 includes charges for “boarding, clothing and schooling” James from the age of 8-12, Obediah may have died about 1847. By the time of the 1850 census, his children were living with brother (or cousin) Livingston:
1850 - Marshall Co, Ill - no twp listed
Livingston Roberts 38 farmer $10,000 KY
Margaret 36 wife OH
Thomas 17 m farmer/ Alonzo 15 m/ Mellissa 13 f/ Jesse 11 m/John 9 m
Zelphia 6 f / George 5 m/ Elizabeth 3 f
Livingston 21 m KY
Catherine 12 f IL (should be Caroline)
James 11 m IL
Levi Bissell 21 farmer PA
Susan Myres 22 OH
Frank Myres 2 IL
Apparently the other, unknown, children of Louisa and Obadiah died young, as did William Livingston, who died before 1860.
In November 1860, there was an accounting of the guardianship of Livingston:
State of Illinois }
County of Marshall}SS [?] In the county court of said county
of the November term AD 1860
To G L Fort judge of said court
The undersigned Guardian of James
Roberts & Caroline Roberts, minor heirs of Obediah Roberts dec’d
would respectfully report. and charge himself as follows
To cash recd for sale of Real Estate $1081.04
“ ” ” from proceeds of personal property of Estate of O Roberts
deceased through Wm L Roberts now dec’d 459.54
“ Amount of cash received of Self as administrator of the
Estate of Wm L Roberts dec’d 87.78
---------
$1628.31
Amount due Each heir $814.15 -
By Amount of cash paid Caroline Roberts $10.00
“ ” “ ” Caroline since her
marriage with Lorenzo Wellinan [ie Wellman] 540.52
“ Amt cash paid since [?] 123.30
1860
Nov 20 By Amount paid in full of her share in note 140.33
--------
$814.15
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
By Amount paid for taxes on James Roberts personal}
property in Marshall Co. for two years. } $16.21
“ Amt cash paid tax on land in Mo. 1.25
“ Amount of commission on $814.15 48.84
“ Expense of boarding clothing & schooling minor for
four years from his eighth to twelfth year 120.00
-------
$186.31
1860
Nov 10th[?]Amount in hands of Guardian of date Nov 20.1860 627.84
-------
$814.15Said Guardian would report that said sum of $627.84 is loaned out at ten per cent interest and that said minor James Roberts is now about nineteen years of age All of which is respectfully submitted
Lacon Nov 20th AD 1860
Livingston RobertsSaid Guardian would further report said minors, as heirs of their brother Wm L Roberts deceased are now the owners of the E ½ of the NW ¼ sec. 10 T. 30. R. 28. Also W ½ NW q sec 10. T. 30. R. 28. lying in the state of Missouri.
Livingston Roberts
And that is all.
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Page last updated 30 Mar 2007