JOHN H. ROBERTS
                  Jennings, Calcasieu Par., LA


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Source: Southwest Louisiana Historical and Biographical by William Henry Perrin
published in 1891; page 190.
Typed by Margaret Rentrop Moore

JOHN H. ROBERTS, Jennings.- John H. Roberts, post-master of Jennings, was born
in Pennsylvania, October, 1843. He is the son of David and Theresa (Gaenlich)
Roberts, the former a native of Chester county, Pennsylvania, and the latter of
Germany. David Roberts removed with his family from Pennsylvania to Illinois in
1870.   He was a blacksmith. He and wife are now living in Wayne, Dupage county,
Illinois. Mrs. Theresa Gaenlich Roberts came to America with her parents when
she was eight years of age.
The subject of this sketch is one of a family of eleven children, four brothers
and seven sisters. He received a common school education in the schools of his
locality, and at the age of seventeen years enlisted in the United States army,
and served through the whole of the Civil War, in Company K, Twenty-fourth Ohio
Volunteer Regiment. He was wounded in the battle of Stone River, from the
effects of which he was disabled, and retired from active service. He was
detailed to duty as clerk in the Adjutant General's office at Cincinnati, Ohio.
He was also in the military detective service at the same place, where he was at
the close of the war. For several years after the war he traveled in different
sections of the United States.
In I87o he was married to Miss Minta, daughter of Perry Hearwood, of Jefferson,
Texas. She died in Biloxi, Mississippi, 1886, from yellow fever. For several
years prior to 1882 Mr. Roberts was engaged in the mercantile business in
Georgia. From here he removed to Northern Louisiana, where he remained for two
years, then located in Jennings in 1884, where he engaged as clerk in the store
of A. B. McFarlain. He was married, in 1888, to Mrs. M. L. Evarts, daughter of
K. Freeman. Mrs. Roberts is the mother of two children as a result of her first
marriage, viz: Charles, and Maud. The former resides in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Mr. Roberts is one of the leading citizens of Jennings; he was its first
mayor, and in 1889 was appointed post-master, and is now serving in that
capacity. He is commandant of the G. A.R. Post at Jennings, and is a
prominent member of the Masonic fraternity. He has been quite successful
since locating at this place, and now owns seven hundred and fifty acres of
land, one hundred being under cultivation and one hundred and sixty-eight in
the corporate limits of the town.