BIOGRAPHY: John D. ROBERTS, Cambria County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Lynne Canterbury and Diann Olsen. Portions of this book were transcribed by Clark Creery, Martha Humenik, Betty Mirovich and Sharon Ringler. USGENWEB ARCHIVES (tm) NOTICE All documents placed in the USGenWeb Archives remain the property of the contributors, who retain publication rights in accordance with US Copyright Laws and Regulations. In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, these documents may be used by anyone for their personal research. They may be used by non-commercial entities so long as all notices and submitter information are included. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit. Any other use, including copying files to other sites, requires permission from the contributors PRIOR to uploading to the other sites. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cambria/ ____________________________________________________________ From Wiley, Samuel T., ed. Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Cambria County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Union Publishing Co., 1896, p. 39-41 ____________________________________________________________ JOHN D. ROBERTS, cashier of the First National Bank of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, is a man of unusual financial ability; a successful man whose success has been gained by industry and thorough mastery of his business. It is surprising how many of our best men have been reared on a farm and educated largely in the common schools. Mr. Roberts spent the first nineteen years of his life on a farm, meanwhile attending for a number of those years the common schools, which had a three or four months' session each year. In April, 1864, he entered Iron City college, graduating in June, 1864. After this he came to Johnstown, and for eleven months held the position of clerk in the mercantile house of Wood, Morrell & Co., of which business James McMillan was manager. At the end of this time he obtained a position in the First National Bank as a clerk and bookkeeper, holding it for four years. August 1, 1869, he formed a partnership with John Dibert, and organized a private bank under the name of John Dibert & Co. This partnership continued twenty years, less two months, and was dissolved by the death of Mr. Dibert in the Johnstown flood. The business of this firm was conducted so carefully by the advice of Mr. Dibert and the experience of Mr. Roberts, that within nine months after the flood every dollar was paid to the depositors and the business entirely settled. The cashier of the First National Bank, Howard J. Roberts, having lost his life in the flood, the directors of the bank tendered the position to our subject, and he has continued in it ever since. The responsibility of his position may be better understood by appending the following statements concerning the First National Bank. It started in 1863 with a capital stock of $60,000. The first charter was for nineteen years and expired in 1882, when it was reorganized with a capital stock of $100,000. Daniel J. Morrell, the first president, held the office till his death in 1885, when James McMillan succeeded him. The business of the bank under our subject as cashier has been eminently successful, it being the leading bank in the county and having a surplus fund of $150,000. Because of the eminent worth and the business integrity of its officers and directors it is regarded as one of the solid banks of the country. In 1895 the building was enlarged to twice its original capacity. A new steel vault and burglar-proof chests were put in, making it one of the best equipped banks in the State. Mr. Roberts is not only esteemed as a bank official of superior merit, but as a neighbor and citizen of good judgment and character. Consequently, we frequently find him serving as guardian and in various positions of trust. He had also been a member of the town council for eleven years. He is a leading member of the Presbyterian church, and at present is superintendent of the Sunday school. His fraternal affiliations are with Cambria Lodge, No. 278, and Portage Chapter, No. 195, R. A. M. It is interesting to note that the ancestors of our subject were substantial people also. His father, Evan H. Roberts, was born in Cambria county near Ebensburg, in 1810, and resided at the old homestead up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1851. He was a substantial citizen and a good farmer, but was likewise one of those rare geniuses who can turn his hand to anything, for, along with his other attainments, he added those of a competent shoemaker, blacksmith and dentist. He was a member of the Welsh Congregational church. His father, Hugh Roberts, was a native of Wales, who came to Ebensburg with the first settlers. He was a farmer and tailor by trade, following the former occupation here. The grandfather of our subject died near Ebensburg in 1843, aged seventy years. His mother was Margaret Hughes, also a native of Wales, who came to this country in 1841. She now resides with her three daughters and one son near Iowa City, Iowa. She is a daughter of Hugh Hughes, a native of Wales, who died in 1866, aged seventy-five, near Ebensburg, on his farm, adjoining that owned by the father of John D. Roberts. The father and daughter both professed the faith of the Welsh Congregational church. She is now seventy-five years old. The subject of this sketch was born near Ebensburg, Cambria county, July 13, 1845, and was married October 5, 1869, to Miss Mary C., daughter of the late Samuel Kinter, of Johnstown. Frank H., employed as a clerk in the First National Bank; Ella F., a student at Wells College, Aurora, New York, where she will soon graduate after a five years' course, and Kinter, a student at the Kiskiminetas school, Saltsburg, Pennsylvania, are his children. These children have the inheritance which can be bequeathed only by a father belonging to a good race, and possessing good habits and intelligence.