GEORGE R. ROBERTS

      GEORGE R. ROBERTS is now doing a large business in grain and implements in Hartline. He has the distinction of being the pioneer merchant of the coulee country and since the days of 1883, he has remained in this section and has by his integrity, worth and affable treatment of all, won hosts of friends in all parts of the country. Mr. Roberts is a man of stirring qualities and has wrought here with energy accomplishing very much in fostering the settlement and upbuilding of Douglas county.
      George R. Roberts was born in Wildrose, Wisconsin, on September 25, 1859, the son of Robert G. and Elizabeth (Williams) Roberts, natives of Wales. The common schools of Wisconsin furnished the educational training of our subject, and he remained the first twenty-four years of his life in that section. For eight years of that time he worked in the lumber woods and became used to the arduous labors there done. In 1883, Mr. Roberts came out west and after due deliberations settled in the Big Bend country. He immediately took up a pre-emption just east from where Hartline now stands and engaged in farming and stockraising. This continued until 1888, when he opened a store at McEntee Springs, handling general merchandise. In 1889, he took as partner, Thomas Parry and the firm was known as Roberts & Parry. They did a large business and continued until 1895, when they dissolved partnership and our subject engaged in buying grain at Hartline. In this he has continued since, having added implements later. He now does a large business and is a prominent man of this town.

      Mr. Roberts has four brothers and five sisters; Robert. John, David, James, Mrs. Elizabeth Parry, Sarah, Ellen, Marion, and Mary.

      In 1888, Mr. Roberts married Miss Esther Elias, a native of Ohio. She died the following year in Coulee City. On June 8, 1898, Mr. Roberts married Miss Mary Elias, also a native of Ohio, and the daughter of Daniel and Margaret (Morgan) Elias, natives of Wales, who now reside in Ohio. Mrs. Roberts was born in 1873. They have one adopted child, Ethel, three years of age. Mr. Roberts is a member of the I. O. O. F., the Maccabees, and the M. W. A., while he and his wife belong to the Methodist church.

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DOUGLAS CO BIO INDEX

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