William H Roberts

'After an absence of nearly forty years'

['After an absence of nearly forty years', Saginaw [Michigan] News, Monday 6 February 1905, page 1]
[transcribed from GenealogyBank, 29 September 2011]
[for Elizabeth Watson, see the 1900 US census, Michigan, Saginaw County, Saginaw City ward 6, s.d.3, e.d. 53 [?] p. 203 = 2 B handwritten. This has her born in 1847, in New York, with five children, four living, and living with Harry Jr., who was born in July 1875, in Michigan]
AFTER AN ABSENCE OF NEARLY FORTY YEARS
Mrs. Elizabeth Watson of This City Hears From Her Brother William H. Roberts of Gravity, Ia.
Mrs. Watson Went On the Stage and Her Brother Went to Sea and Lost Traces of Each Other--He Will Come Here to See Her.

After believing her brother, William H. Roberts, to be dead for the past forty years, Mrs. Elizabeth Watson, 324 Emerson street was delighted to receive a letter from him Saturday, saying that he was located at Gravity, Iowa, and was well on the road to prosperity.

Mrs. Watson is perhaps one of the most generally known women of this city. Thirty years ago she was a prominent personage of the stage and, although she is only known to the present Saginaw in a quiet way, she is remembered very generally throughout the country by old-time theater goers. There was no happier person in Saginaw, Saturday afternoon, when a reporter called upon her at her home and listened to her romantic story of the finding of the lost brother.

When the civil war broke out, Mrs. Watson, then Miss Elizabeth Roberts, was keeping a dress-making establishment in New York City, and with her was an only brother William. In '63, when only sixteen years of age, he took it into his head to enter the army and, against the will of his sister enlisted in the Company "H," of the 91st Pennsylvania regiment. For several months following his enlistment, nothing was heard of or from the boy-soldier. One day the anxious sister picked up a newspaper and, in reading an account of the battle of Gettysburg, saw that he had been wounded and taken to a hospital in Philadelphia. To that city she hastened. The tears sprang to her eyes as she related to The News man the anxieties of that far-distant day when she entered the great hospital and walking slowly up the long aisle of white cots looked into the painful countenances of hundreds of sick and wounded, seeking her brother's boyish face.

Finally she found him. A ball had pierced his right hand but the wound had been neglected and the doctors said that the whole arm would have to be amputated. She sought the surgeon alone and implored him not to sever the arm if it was possible to save it. Petition was granted and in a few weeks the patient was able to visit her. In the meantime however she had given up dress-making and was winning success on the stage in dramatic work. She soon married and traveled the country with her company. Mrs. Watson saw her brother a few years later in Camden, N.J. but since that day, about 37 years ago, the two have never met and the only missive that has passed between them in all those years was that received Saturday. As she traveled, Mrs. Watson inquired at every city for her brother but never once heard of him. She spent large sums in seeking for him, but in vain. And when, after writing time and again to him at places where he was accustomed to board, only to receive no answer, she finally gave him up for dead.

But Mrs. Watson with her love for her brother did not forget the soldier boy. In her gentle motherly way she told the reporter how she had sung "Soldier Willie," a popular melody of the war times, to many an audience with tears on her cheeks. But her last appearance was made a good many years ago and for the last thirty years she has been a resident of this city. Some time ago the idea came to her, that if her brother was living, he must be receiving a pension for his shattered hand. She hastened to write to the pension bureau and in a few days received word that an old soldier of the same name was living at Gravity, Iowa.

A letter was soon on its way to that address asking the recipient to kindly forward facts concerning his disablement and discharge. What was her surprise and delight to receive an answer last Saturday afternoon, telling about the wound in the hand, the visit of the sister to the hospital as told above and finally, that she had been missing to him ever since. The writer said that, after he had seen his sister in New York, he had suddenly gone to sea and had not returned for several years, but then it was too late to find her. This fact explains the long separation.

The many friends of Mrs. Watson will be greatly pleased to know of her good fortune. She was nearly overcome by the happy tidings as she had given up all hope long ago of ever seeing him alive again.

Mrs. Watson is now anxiously looking forward to a promised visit from her brother in the near future.

1870 census

[1870 US census, New Jersey, Salem County, Elsinboro (post office: Salem), microfilm series M593, film 887, page 3 = 5 handwritten]
[confirmed by the overlap with the 1880 census transcribed below]

line	20	21	22
Dwelling-house number	29
Family number	30
Name	Roberts Wm	" Emma	" Nellie
Age	22	20	1
Sex	M	F	F
Color	W	W	W
Occupation	Farm Laborer	K House
Real estate value
Personal estate value
Birthplace	NY	"	NJ
Father foreign born
Mother foreign born
Birth month if born within year
Marriage month if married within year
Attended school past year
Can't read
Can't write
Deaf, dumb, blind, etc.
Male US citizen at least 21 years old	1
Male US citizen at least 21 years old who can't vote ...

1880 census

[1880 US census, Iowa, Taylor County, Washington Twp, supervisor's district 3, enumeration district 214, microfilm series T8, film 366, page 55 = 4 D handwritten]
[confirmed by the information in 'After an absence of nearly forty years', transcribed above; note also George in the 1900 census transcribed below]

line	40	41	42	43	44	45	46
street name
house number
dwelling visit #	38
family visit #	38
name	Roberts W. H	" Emma	" Nellie	" William	" Leslie	" Gracie	" George
color	W	W	W	W	W	W	W
sex	M	F	F	M	M	F	M
age	32	29	12	8	6	3	8/12
month born if born in year
relationship		wife	Dau	Son	Son	Dau	Son
single
married	1	1
widowed/divorced
married during year
occupation	farmer	Housekeeper	At home
months unemployed
currently ill?
blind
deaf/dumb
idiotic
insane
disabled
school this year			1	1	1 [?]
can't read
can't write
birthplace	N.Y.	N.Y.	N. Jersey	N.Y.	N.Y.	N.Y.	Iowa
father's birthplace	England	England	N.Y.	N.Y.	N.Y.	N.Y.	N.Y.
mother's birthplace	N.York	N.York	N.Y.	N.Y.	N.Y.	N.Y.	N.Y.

1900 census

[1900 US census, Iowa, Taylor County, Washington Township, supervisor's district 8, enumeration district 129, microfilm series T623, film 461, page 213 = 13 A handwritten]
[confirmed by the information in 'After an absence of nearly forty years', transcribed above]

line	41	42	43	44
street
house number
dwelling number	268
family number	276
name	Roberts William H	- George H	- Mary J [?]	- Lily T [?]
relationship	Head	Son	Daughter	Daughter
color	W	W	W	W
sex	M	M	F	F
birth date	Sept 1843 [?]	Oct 1879 [?]	Mar 1882	Dec 1886
age	56	20	18	13
married?	Wd	S	S	S
# years married
mother of how many children?
# of children living
birthplace	New York	Iowa	Iowa	Iowa
father's birthplace	England	New York	New York	New York
mother's birthplace	New York	New York	New York	New York
immigration year
# years in USA
naturalized citizen?
occupation	Salesman groceries	Farm labor		At school
# months not employed	5	0
# months in school			0	9
can read	yes	yes	yes	yes
can write	yes	yes	yes	yes
speaks English	yes	yes	yes	yes
owned/rented	O
free or mortgaged	F
farm/house	H
# of farm schedule

index to compiled service records

[index to compiled service records of volunteer Union soldiers who served in organizations from the state of Pennsylvania]
[transcribed 15 March 2015, from Fold3]

Roberts, William H
Co. H, 91 Pennsylvania Inf.
Pvt | Pvt
See also [blank]

GENERAL INDEX CARD.