Francis Alonzo Roberts
Born 1835, Wenona, Marshall Co., IL
Died February 7, 1873, Wenona, Marshall Co., IL
In the fall of 1871, land that became our village was surveyed by Francis Alonzo Roberts after whom the town was named. F. A. Roberts usually went by his middle name, Alonzo. He was a resident of Evans, Marshall County, Illinois, which is about eighty miles to the northwest of Roberts.
Alonzo’s grandfather, Jesse S. Roberts, and father, Livingston Roberts, were the first settlers of Marshall County, Illinois in 1828. Livingston Roberts and his wife, Margaret Dent, had a large family and were well-known in the county. Roberts Township in Marshall County was named after the family. Margaret was the daughter of John Dent who came to Magnolia, Illinois in 1833.
Livingston Roberts followed the teaming business making five or six trips to Chicago. The return trip brought loads of merchandise for the new settlement. Their first home was a 20’ x 26’ structure built using stones from the creek. He built a brick home in 1871. The walls were solid brick and the thickest wall was eighteen inches thick. The large home had six fireplaces and a spiral gooseneck staircase in the hall and a rose-colored window.
The home was known as the Halfway House because in was halfway between Springfield and Chicago. It was a stagecoach stop and people would stay overnight. There was a three-story barn on the property with a lite lantern in the cupola each night to guide travelers to the inn. The stagecoach with four horses could drive into the barn and turn around in there. It was a wellknown stopping place for travelers. Supposedly, Abraham Lincoln often stopped there.
The following was written of Alonzo Roberts’ father, Livingston, in Records of the Olden Times; Fifty Years on Prairies, by Spencer Ellsworth: “The home early became a stage station, where the horses were changed and the passengers procured meals. It was in this way, that Mr. Roberts earned the one hundred dollars with which he first purchased land. Roberts Point was also the general stopping place for the many movers who passed through this region and no one was ever turned from their door. They furnished dinner for as many as eighty-nine persons and during one summer the least number that sat down at their table was twenty-seven. The hospitality of the Roberts household was proverbial and a hearty welcome was ever extended to the guests.
Mr. Roberts was a peace-loving, honorable man, who was never concerned in any lawsuit and his word was so implicitly trusted that, although he signed papers for the amount of one hundred thousand dollars, he was never asked for security, In the early days he carried one end of the surveyor’s chain, laying out the state road from Springfield to Chicago. He was a strong, vigorous man and tireless worker and never failed to be present to assist his neighbors at a house-raising. He served as an officer of the regulars and was one of the fifty men who drove the Reeves gang from the country. Although his home was a regular station on the Underground Railroad, he never turned a Negro from his door hungry. He served as a lieutenant during the Black Hawk war and during those troubles a stockade was built around the Roberts cabin. His early political support was given the Whig party, but later he became a republican and for many years served as postmaster, school director and road commissioner. This honored pioneer, who was so prominent a figure in the development of Marshall County, died March 27, 1889 and his wife passed away January 28, 1892. They are buried in the Roberts Cemetery on the homestead.”
In 1860, Alonzo married Elmira Stateler of Wenona, IL. She was the daughter of David and Mary Stateler. The following was written in Evans Township Biographies, Marshall County: “Mr. Stateler is a retired farmer living in Wenona. He was born in Ohio in 1806 and came to Putnam County in 1831. He married Mary Myers in 1830, a native of Philadelphia and they have five children living – Mary, A. H., Elmira, Marshall and Bradford. He claimed 220 acres in Roberts Township in 1831 and entered it when it came into market and opened a large farm and followed this business up to 1865 when he moved to Wenona. Mr. Stateler has filled all the responsible offices in his township and taken a leading part in public affairs. He made money in farming and knows how to enjoy it.”
A son, Charles Jason, was born to Alonzo and Elmira on November 11, 1861 in Wenona, Illinois. A daughter, Nellie, was born in 1862. The July 3, 1865 census reports that the family was living in Evans, Marshall County, IL.
Alonzo and Elmira bought a home on the North end of Main Street in Roberts, Dec. 30, 1867, from John and Mary Hansel. It was then that Alonzo moved his family from Evans, Marshall County, Illinois to Roberts, Ford County, Illinois. Sadly, daughter, Nellie, died in January 1869 of diphtheria.
Sometime in April, 1870, Elmira Roberts and her son went to stay with her folks, David and Mary Stateler, so that the doctor in Wenona could deliver her baby that she was carrying. A daughter was born to Alonzo and Elmira on May 3, 1870. The child was either stillborn or died in infancy for she is not listed in the 1870 census taken June 1, 1870. On that day in June, Elmira E. Stateler Roberts (age 29) and son, Charles Jason Roberts (age 6) were living with her folks and siblings in Wenona, Marshall County, Illinois. They return to their home in Roberts, IL, but three years tragedy happens again for the family.
The Henry Republican Newspaper, Feb. 6, 1873 stated: “Alonzo Roberts, one of the older sons of Mr. Livingston Roberts lies in a critical condition at Wenona from the effects of a tumor on an arm, the removal of which is not way improving his condition and we fear has imperiled his life. He has a beautiful farm in Ford County and a post office named after him there. There is no hope of recovery. His age is about 40 and has a wife and one child.”
The Feb. 13, 1873 issue of the Henry Republican states: “At Wenona, Feb. 7, of tumor, Alonzo, aged about 40, son of Livingston Roberts. The funeral was attended with the burial rite of Odd Fellowship.”
July 1875, the home was sold to Patrick W. Sproule but in the 1880 census, Elmira Roberts (age 38) and son Charles (age 17) was still living in Roberts, Illinois.
Alonzo and Elmira’s son, Charles, married Nan Dawson and was an insurance salesman in Champaign, Illinois. A daughter, Jean, was born on June 8, 1895. She married Frank Ramey in 1919 and lived in Rockford and later in Winnetka, IL. Jean and Frank had two children: Richard Roberts Ramey, born Sept. 9, 1925, died July 11, 1959 and Janet Ramey, born Nov. 10, 1921 and died October 1991. Charles died on January 15, 1937 and is buried in the Mt. Hope Cemetery in Champaign, Illinois. His daughter, Jean died February 19, 1979 and is buried in Rose Lawn Cemetery in Champaign, Illinois.
Mrs. F. A. Roberts died on May 24, 1895 in Chickasaw County, Mississippi.
--I obtained this article from Jean Fox. She posted it to the Roberts Illinois History Page in September 2016.
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