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Rh against President Edward J. Rove (q. r.) in 1871, he was again made president, serving until 1875. He encouraged agriculture, promoted education, favored emigration from the United States, and placed his people on friendly terms with European nations. From 1856 until his death he was president of Liberia college. His brother. John Wrijjht, M. E. bishop, b. in Petersburg, Va., in 1815; d. in Monrovia, Liberia, 30 Jan., 1875, was educated in Liberia, entered the Methodist ministry in 1838, served as pastor, presiding elder, and secretary, and was made bishop in 1806.

ROBERTS, Marshall Owen, merchant, b. in New York city, 22 March, 1814; d. in Saratoga Springs, N. Y., 11 Sept., 1880. His father, a phy- sician, came from Wales and settled in New York in 1798. The son received a good education, and would have been sent to college, as his father wished him to adopt his own profession, but the boy preferred a mercantile life. After leaving school he became first a grocer's clerk, but soon afterward secured a place with a ship-chandler. By the time he was of age he had saved enough money to begin business for himself, and in two years he obtained a contract to supply the U. S. navy department with whale-oil, on which he real- ized a handsome profit. He was among the first to recognize the advantage of finely equipped steamers for Hudson river, and built the " Hen- drik Hudson." He next turned his attention to railroads, was one of the early advocates of the Erie, and projected the Delaware. Lackawanna, and Western railroad. When the "California fever" began in 1849 he made a contract with the U. S. government to transport the mails to California by the Isthmus of Panama. He owned the "Star of the West," which was sent with provisions to Port Sumter, and when Port Monroe was threatened in the spring of 1861 he raised 1,000 men at his own expense and sent them in his steamer " Amer- ica " to re-enforce the garrison. He took a great interest in the Texas Pacific railroad, and invested nearly $2,000,000 in the enterprise, and he was also largely interested in other railroads throughout the United States and Canada. He was also one of the earliest friends of the Atlantic telegraph cable. In 1852 he was nominated for congress by the Whig party, but was defeated. In 1856 he was a delegate to the first National convention of the Republican party which met in Philadelphia and nominated John C. Fremont for the presi- dency. In 1865 he was nominated for mayor of New York by the Union party, but again was un- successful. The value of his gallery of pictures was estimated at $750,000.

ROBERTS, Oran Milo, jurist, b. in Laurens district, S. C., 9 July, 1815 ; d. in Austin, 19 May. 1898. He was graduated at the University of Ala- bama in 1836, began to practise, and served in the Alabama legislature in 1839-'40. Removing to Texas in 1841, he was appointed district-attorney in 1844 and district judge in 1846, holding this office for five years. In 1857 he was elected to the supreme bench as associate justice, which post he held until the beginning of the civil war in 1861. He was elected president of the Secession conven- tion, and was colonel of a regiment in the Confed- erate army from 1862 till August, 1864, when he was called from the field to become chief justice of the supreme court. In 1866 he was elected to the U. S. senate, but was not allowed to take his seat. From 1868 till 1874 he taught law in private schools. In 1874 and 1876 he was again elected chief justice of the Texas supreme court. He was governor of Texas from 1879 till 1883, in which year he was made professor of law in the Univer- sity of Texas, which post he continued to fill. He published a description of Texas entitled "Gov. Robertas Texas " (St. Louis, 1881).

ROBERTS, Rohert Ellis, author, b. in Utica, N. Y., 3 .June, 1S09: d. in Detroit, Mich., 18 Feb., 1888. He was educated by his father, the Rev. John Roberts, a Congregational clergyman, and in 1827 went to Detroit, where he engaged in business. In 1832 he was a volunteer in the Black Hawk war, after which he again entered mercantile life. He was identified with the interests of Detroit, be- ing active in causing the thoroughfares to be paved, in organizing the fire department, of which he was the first president, and in establishing the water- works. He served on the board of education, es- tablished the public library, and held local offices. Mr. Roberts contributed " to the Detroit " Free Press," and was the author of Sketches of the City of Detroit " (Detroit, 1855), and " The City of the Straits," illustrated by his daughter, Cornelia H. Roberts (1884).

ROBERTS, Robert Richford, M. E. bishop, b. in Frederick county, Md., 2 Aug., 1778; d. in Lawrence county, Ind., 26 March. 1843. His father was of Welsh and his mother of Irish ancestry, and they were communicants of the Church of Eng- land. They removed in 1785 to Ligonier Valley, Westmoreland co., Pa. The son united with the Methodist Episcopal church when he was four- teen years old. Un- til he was twenty- one he lived a thor- oughly frontier life, with few books and simple habits. Be- ing drawn gradual- ly toward the min- istry, he began to study, and in 1802 entered upon that work, being licensed at Holmes's meet- ing-house, near Cadiz, Ohio. About the same time he was admitted to the Baltimore conference and put in charge of a circuit including Carlisle, Pa., and twenty-nine other appointments, requiring a month to visit them all. He studied constantly, and in 1804 a senior colleague reported that " his moral character was perfect and his head a complete magazine." On 14 May. 1816, he was elected bishop, and he passed through all the, dis- cussions that culminated in the establishment of the Methodist Protestant church. Bishop Simpson, writing of him, says : " While during these excite- ments severe and exciting denunciations of the bishops were publicly made while they were called ' popes ' and ' usurpers ' the patriarchal appear- ance and the humble and loving manner of Bish- op Roberts disarmed prejudice wherever he went." He emigrated to Indiana, and accomplished much for the western missions. He was a man of fine presence, simple and benevolent, and an eloquent preacher. He is buried at Greencastle, Ind., on the grounds of De Pauw university. See his " Life," by Rev. Charles Elliott (New York, 185:! i.

ROBERTS, Samuel, lawyer, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 8 Sept., 1763; d. in Pittsburg, Pa., 13 Dec., 1830. He was admitted to the bar of Philadelphia in 1785, and after practising law there for a short time removed to Lancaster, and thence to Sunbury.