Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/132

 ROBERTS

ROBERTS

elected U.S. senator, but congress declared the recoiistructiun nets non-effective, and lie did not take his seat. He inaclised law and taught a law scliool in Gilmore. Texas. 1868-74. and in 1874 he was restored as olnef justice of tiie supreme court of Te.X!V<. He was re-electeil under tlie constitu- tion of 187(5. serving. 1874-78. In 1878 he was elected governor of Texas, ^^=i^^?$^ and was re-elected in 1880, ?rving, 1879-83. He was not a candidate for re-election ill 1882, and in 1883 he ac- ..■pted the professorship of law in the newly organized University of Texas at Aus- tin. He is the author of: Governor Roberts's Texas (1881). He died in Austin. Texas. May 19, 1898.

ROBERTS, Robert Richford, M.E. bishop, was born ill Frederick county. :\M.. Aug. 2. 1778; son of Robert Morgan and Mary ( Ricli ford) Roberts ; grandson of Thomas Riciiford of Kent county, Md. His paternal great-grandfather was a native of Wales. He removed to Ligonier valley, West- moreland county. Pa., with his parents in 1785, received a limited education and worked on a farm until 1802. He united with the Method- ist Episcopal church in 1792, and in 1796 re- moved to Shenango. now Mercer, county, Pa. He was married in 1798 to Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Oldiiain of York county. Pa. He was licensed to preach in 1800. and was received on trial in the itinerant ministry of the Methodist Epi-scopal church by the Baltimore conference in 1802, and app<:>inted to the Carlisle, Pa., circuit. He was inade deacon by Bishop Asbury, April 20, 1804. and elder. March 20, 1806, and served on various circuits in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia until consecrated bishop in the Method- ist Episcopal church by Bishop William McKen- dree, May 17, 1816. In 1819 he removed to Law- rence county, Ind., where he accomplished much for the western missions. See his " Life "by the Rev. Ciiarles Elliott (1853). He died in Lawrence county. Ind.. Marcli 26. 1843.

ROBERTS, Thomas Paschall, civil engineer, wa.s Ix.rn in Carlisle. Pa., April 21. 1813; son of William Milnor (4. v.) and Anna Barbara (Gib- son) Ii«jberts. He attended the Pennsylvania Agricultural college and later Dickinson college, Carlisle, Pa. He served as engineer under his father in the construction of the Dom Pedro II. railway in Brazil, 1863-65, and was employed by the U.S. government as assistant engineer on the Ohio river improvement. 1866-70. He was mar- ried. June 8, 1870. to Juliet Emma, daughter of James Monroe Christy, an attorney-at-law of Pittsburg. Pa. He was assistant engineer of the Montana division of the Northern Pacific railway,

1870-72 ; examined the navigation of the Missouri river, including that portion of the river above the Great Falls, and his report was printed by the war department in 1874. He conducted the U.S. government surveys of the Upper Monongahela river in West Virginia in 1875. and was chief en- gineer of several railroads. 1870-84. He became chief engineer of the Monongaliela Navigation company in 1884; conducted the surveys for a ship canal to connect the Oliio river with Lake Erie, via the Beaver and Mahoning rivers, in 1895, and was closely identified with river im- provements for several years. He was vice-pres- ident of the Ciiamber of Commerce of Pittsburg, Pa., 1895 to 1901, president of the Society of Engi- neers of Western Pennsylvania, and a member of the Academy of Science. He is the author of : Memoir of the Late Chief -Just ice Gibson of Penn- sylvania (1890).

ROBERTS, William, clergyman, was born in Llamerchymedd, Anglesea, Wales, Sept. 25, 1809 ; son of Richard and Mary (Hughes) Rolierts. He completed his education at the Presbyterian Collegiate institute. Dublin, Ireland, in 1831, meanwhile assisting in founding the Welsh Pres- byterian church in that community. He was licensed to preach in 1829 and supplied churches in various parts of the principality until 1835, when he established a preparatory academy for young men at Holyhead, Wales. He was married first, Jan. 16, 1835, to Mary, daughter of John Evans of Abergele, Wales, who died, June 6. 1836 ; and secondly, March 4, 1843. to Katharine, daugh- ter of Henry Parry. He was pastor of the Mo- riah Welsh Presbyterian church, 1835-49 ; pastor of the Countess of Huntingdon's chapel at Run- corn, England, 1849-.55 ; of the Welsh Presby- terian church, New York city, 1855-68 ; in Scranton, Pa., 1869-75, and in Utica. N.Y., 1875- 87. He edited Y Traethodydd (The Essayist), 1867-71, and YCyfaill (The Friend). 1871-84. He was several times moderator of the general as- semblies of his church, and was prominent in the organization of the Alliance of the Reformed churches, representing his denomination at the formation of the Alliance in New York city. 1873. He received the honorary degree of D D. from the University of the City of New York in 1865. His biography was written in Welsh by E. C. Evans (1890). He died in Utica. N.Y., Oct' 3, 1887.

ROBERTS, William Charles, clergyman and educator, was born near Aberystwith, Cardigan- shire, South Wales, Sept. 23, 1832. His mother is said to have been related to the Welsh branch of the Jonathan Edwards family. His maternal uncle was president of Bala college. North Wales, and his cousin. Tiiomas Charles Edwards. D.D., principal of the University college of Wales. He left the Evans academy in Wales, March, 1849, and