My Genealogy Hound

GEORGE G. ROBERTS, a prominent citizen of Weesaw Township, Berrien County, Mich., has long been identified with the leading social, benevolent and business interests of his present locality, and has held important public positions in the township with efficient ability, discharging the trusts reposed in him to the great satisfaction of his numerous friends and fellow-townsmen. Devoting the work of his life to farming, he has with success cultivated the fertile soil of one hundred and twenty acres located three miles northwest of Galien, and owns one of the most valuable homesteads in this part of the county.

Mr. Roberts is a native of Ohio, and was born in Huron County, June 19, 1844. His paternal grandfather was one of the patriots of Revolutionary days, and fought courageously in the War of Independence. Surviving the perils and sufferings endured in the long campaign, he became a leading man of the Empire State, and was widely known and respected for his sterling qualities of mind and heart. The parents of our subject, Jonathan M. and Eliza (Horton) Roberts, removed from New York to Ohio, where both the father and mother later died. Seven sons, four of whom are living, gathered around the old fireside many years ago.

Our subject, the seventh child in order of birth, was reared and educated in his native county, and when only eighteen years of age, answering to the call of the Government, in 1862 joined the Union army, enlisting in the company of Capt. Pray, but was afterward transferred to Company G, Eighty-eighth Ohio Infantry, in the three months’ service. After remaining in active duty one month over time, Mr. Roberts returned to his home, remained during the winter, and the succeeding fall, upon September 22, 1863, enlisted in Company 1, Twelfth Ohio Cavalry, and was mustered out of service November 14, 1865. Our subject was in the command of Gen. Burbridge during one of Morgan’s raids, and was in the fight at Mt. Sterling and participated in the Saltville raids. He also took an active part in the Stoneman raid and was sixty-nine days in the saddle without regular Government rations. Arriving in Berrien County March 6, 1866, Mr. Roberts has, with the exception of a few months, since made the State of Michigan his permanent home. Buying eighty acres of wild land, he built a log house and began to clear the fertile soil of its heavy timber. On account of an imperfect title, our subject afterward lost forty acres, and, discouraged, finally traded off the balance of the land, and lived with his brother Lewis until the following year.

July 23, 1867, George G. Roberts and Miss Elizabeth A. Mikesell were united in marriage. Mrs. Roberts, born in Fulton County, Ohio, July 28, 1847, was the daughter of Thomas and Margaret (Pinkerton) Mikesell, both of German descent. The father was a member of a Pennsylvania-Dutch family, and he and the good mother died in Ohio. A daughter, Josephine E., born to our subject and his estimable wife, is now deceased. She became the wife of Philip Shipman Losure, and, an accomplished young woman of native ability and bright intelligence, passed away in October, 1891, leaving one child, a son, George W., who lives with his maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Roberts. In 1869 our subject purchased an eighty-acre tract in the heart of the woods, and resided there three years before a road was cut through from the highway. To this land he has added a forty-acre tract, cleared, cultivated and improved the farm with excellent buildings, until now the once unbroken wilderness has been transformed into fields of golden grain and fruit orchards, and yearly blossoms with an abundant harvest.

Mr. and Mrs. Roberts, as was their daughter, are active members of the Baptist Church. Fraternally, our subject is a member of the George A. Custer Post No. 208, G. A. R., at Galien, and has with great acceptability filled the offices of Sergeant-Major, Adjutant, Senior Vice-Commander, Commander, Quartermaster, and is now the Officer of the Day. Mr. Roberts is a member of the Farmers’ Mutual Insurance Company of Berrien County, and, politically, is a Republican. Casting his first vote for Abraham Lincoln, he has from that time constantly supported the ticket of the “Party of Reform.” Our subject has ably performed the duties of Highway Commissioner, and was elected Drainage Commissioner, but refused to qualify. Taking an active interest in the vital questions of the day, he is a public-spirited citizen, as patriotic and true to his country as when, only a mere lad, he gave himself to the service of the Government.