TRUMBULL COUNTY OHIO - BIO: ROBERTS, Hon. James W. (published 1925)
***************************************************************************
OHGENWEB NOTICE:  All distribution rights to this electronic data are
reserved by the submitter.  Reproduction or re-presentation of copyrighted
material will require the permission of the copyright owner.
***************************************************************************
File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by
Gina Reasoner
AUPQ38A@prodigy.com 
February 16, 1999
***************************************************************************

HISTORY OF OHIO, The American Historical Society, Inc., 1925
Volume IV, page 249, 250

        HON. JAMES W. ROBERTS, who has made a distinguished record on the
Common Pleas and Appellate bench of Ohio, began the practice of law forty
years ago, and for practically twenty years has been on the bench. He is
now judge of the Court of Appeals of the Seventh Judicial District, with
home and offices at Jefferson in Ashtabula County.
        Judge Roberts was born in one of the interesting communities of the
old Ohio Western Reserve, Kinsman, in Trumbull County, on August 3, 1858.
His ancestors came from New England, his grandfather being a native of
Massachusetts, but came to Ohio from Vermont during the '30s. He settled at
Madison, Ohio, and followed the trade of cooper until his death. The
grandmother of Judge Roberts was Elvira Kemp, a native of Connecticut. His
father, Lorenzo W. Roberts, was born in Vermont in 1833, and was a small
boy when his parents came to Madison, Lake County, Ohio. He was reared
there, and as a young man went to Kinsman, where he married and where for
many years he was a blacksmith and farmer. He died at Kinsman in 1905. He
was a staunch republican in his political affiliation, and was an honored
veteran of the Civil war. He served three years with the Tenth Ohio
Cavalry. He was under that great cavalry leader General Kilpatrick, and was
with Sherman on the March to the Sea. During the concluding scenes of the
war, just before the surrender of General Johnston, he was wounded, on
April 14, 1865, and possibly was the last Union soldier struck by a rebel
bullet. Lorenzo W. Roberts married Mary J. Ward, who was born at Kinsman,
in 1834, and died there in 1910. She was a daughter of Alexander and Ellen
(McConnell) Ward, both natives of Kinsman. She was the mother of five
children, Judge Roberts being the oldest, Harriet A. lives at Kinsman,
Frank A. is a hardware merchant at Kinsman, Perry M. is a carpenter and
builder at Geneva, Ohio, and Arba L. is the blacksmith at Kinsman.
        James W. Roberts spent his boyhood days at Kinsman, attending the
grammar and high schools there. For six years, however, his parents lived
across the state line from Trumbull County, in the vicinity of Jamestown,
Mercer County, Pennsylvania. While on the farm there Judge Roberts attended
the Jamestown Seminary until 1876. For three years he worked on the home
farm, teaching terms of winter school, and about that time he began the
study of law. He continued teaching and studying in Mercer County until
1880, and was then in Trumbull County, until 1882. Judge Roberts for a time
read law in the office of Clarence S. Darrow, at Andover, Ohio, his
preceptor having since become the famous criminal lawyer of Chicago. Judge
Roberts was admitted to the bar in May, 1881, and from the fall of 1883
until 1897 he practiced at Andover. In the latter year he moved to
Jefferson, becoming a member of the law firm of Northway Perry and Roberts.
After the death of Congressman Northway in 1898 the firm continued as Perry
& Roberts until 1905.
        Judge Roberts was elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas in
1905 to fill out the unexpired term of Judge Theodore Hall. In 1906 he was
elected for the regular term of six years, and he was reelected in 1912 and
again in 1918. However, he resigned midway of this term, in 1920, to accept
the nomination for judge of the Court of Appeals. He was elected, and on
February 9, 1921, went on the Appellate bench, representing the Seventh
District, comprising fourteen counties in Eastern Ohio. As an attorney and
as a judge Mr. Roberts has been before the public for over forty years, and
he has deserved all the honors that are a mark of successful achievement
and high character.
        He is a republican, is affiliated with Tuscan Lodge No. 342, Free
and Accepted Masons, at Jefferson; Jefferson Chapter No. 141, Royal Arch
Masons; Cache Commandery of the Knights Templar at Conneaut; Ashtabula
Lodge No. 208, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; Kinsman Camp of the
Modern Woodmen of America. He is a member of the Ohio State and Ashtabula
County Bar associations. He was one of the incorporators and a director of
the Jefferson Banking company, and has a number of business interests. He
owns a fine home on West jefferson Street in Jefferson, and other real
estate at Lake Shore Park. During the World war Judge Roberts accepted the
duties of director of the Ashtabula County Chapter of the Red Cross, and is
still a member of the board.
        On May 24, 1883, at Girard, Pennsylvania, he married Miss Clara C.
Brockway, daughter of Jeremiah and Caroline (Herriott) Brockway, now
deceased. Her father was a farmer. Mrs. Roberts finished her education in
the Jamestown Seminary in Pennsylvania. Judge and Mrs. Roberts are the
parents of three children. Ethel E. is official stenographer of the
Ashtabula County Court. Burke B. is a civil engineer living at Cleveland,
Ohio. He married Charlotte Heym, of Cleveland and they have two children,
James W. and Burke B., Jr. Mary Caroline married Ralph A. Van Wye, who was
in France two years as a member of Pershing's Military Band during the
World war, and is now a chemical engineer at Cincinnati. They have one son,
John R., and a daughter, Nancy.


==== Maggie_Ohio Mailing List ====