Nancy C. Roberts was the daughter of  John Roberts and Naomi Lay. She was born February 3, 1825, in Kentucky.
On August 25, 1842, she married Harrison Dye in Hancock County, Illinois. Nancy and Harrison had one child together, Jesse William Dye, but he died before the time of the 1850 census. He was buried in the Roberts family burial area. In approximately 1848, Nancy left Harrison. Whether she immediately moved in with her brother, Jesse, and their widowed mother, Naomi, is not known, but she was living with them by the fall of 1850. Harrison filed for divorce in McDonough County, Illinois, on grounds of desertion; the divorce was granted on October 1, 1850. Nancy was counted as a member of Jesse's home each census year until she died on July 9, 1897. She was probably a much needed caregiver for 6 year old 'Bethany', who may have been Jesse's daughter. Later when Jesse's wife, Elizabeth, died, Nancy was surely called upon to give motherly attention to Frances, Elizabeth's daughter from her first marriage, and little Leona Estella, Jesse and Elizabeth's daughter. It's curious that Nancy was never named as Nancy Dye in the censuses following 1850. Yet on her headstone - one of the few in the Roberts family cemetery, her name is shown as Nancy C. Dye. We are left with a sadness for a young woman who lost her only child, who was divorced and never remarried, and who, seemingly, distanced herself ever after from association with the Dye surname - only to be linked with it for eternity through her monument. It is for this reason, not for a lack of respect, that her name at the top of this page is shown as Nancy C. Roberts. We hope she forged a happy life for herself, deriving much happiness from love given to three motherless little girls. |