Thomas Stratton Roberts, M. D. Biography


	This biography appears on pages 860-864 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				THOMAS STRATTON ROBERTS, M. D. 

	For thirty-eight years Dr. Thomas Stratton Roberts has 
concentrated his efforts upon the practice of medicine and surgery with 
results that have benefited mankind as well as promoted his individual 
success. He makes his home at Sioux Falls and has been a resident of 
the state for more than forty-two years.

	The birth of Dr. Roberts occurred in Montezuma, Indiana, in 1844, 
and he is a son of Dr. Joseph and Sarah (Halsted) Roberts, the former a 
native of New Jersey and the latter of Ohio. The paternal grandfather 
was likewise a native of New Jersey, but his grandfather came from 
Wales, founding the family in America and settling in New York. The 
great-grandfather of Dr. Roberts of this review removed from the Empire 
state to New Jersey, and there occurred the birth of the grandfather, 
who, on removing westward, settled in Clermont county, Ohio, where his 
last days were passed. His son, Dr. Joseph Roberts, was one of the 
first physicians in what is now Sioux Falls. He was a graduate of the 
Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati and made the practice of medicine 
his life work. In 1852 he removed with his family to New London, Ohio, 
and it was some years afterward that he became a resident of South 
Dakota. At the time of his arrival in Sioux Falls, Dr. Phillips, for 
whom the principal avenue in the city has been named, was located 
there, and these two physicians cared for the sick over a wide area. 
Dr. Roberts took up a homestead ten miles north of Sioux Falls and a 
portion of this land is now in the possession of his son, Thomas S. 
Roberts. 

	In Ohio Dr. Roberts had married Miss Sarah Halsted, a daughter of 
John Halsted, a native of North Carolina, who as a pioneer had gone to 
Ohio, settling on a portion of the well known Sims, purchase. To Dr. 
and Mrs. Roberts were born five children, of whom two arc deceased, 
while a son and daughter are residents of California, leaving Dr. 
Thomas S. Roberts as the only representative of the family in South 
Dakota. The mother passed away in Ohio in 1864, prior to the removal of 
the family to the northwest. 

	Dr. Joseph Roberts built a story and a half house in Sioux Falls, 
which was the second residence in the town above one story in height 
and the fourth dwelling of any kind. He contracted with ax-Senator R. 
F. Pettigrew to erect the building, and during its construction 
returned to Ohio to bring his family. The house was but partly 
completed on his return. He dug the first well that gave a continuous 
flow of water on the property at No. 115 East Twelfth street, where the 
home of the family has since been maintained. He blasted through the 
rock and secured so copious a flow of pure water that the people of the 
little town went there with their pails to supply their needs in that 
direction. The Cataract Hotel was built and water was conveyed to it 
from this well. With various events which have left their impress upon 
the history of the state Dr. Roberts was connected. He was the first to 
advocate the purchase of land for cemetery purposes, with the result 
that the land east of Sioux Falls was secured that is now included 
within Mount Pleasant cemetery, and there his remains rest today. He 
was one of those hardy, hard-working pioneer physicians who never 
stopped for stormy or inclement weather, nor did distance prevent his 
services being extended. On one occasion an urgent call came from La 
Verne, sixty miles east of Sioux Falls, a man having been terribly 
frozen, Dr. Phillips and Dr. Roberts started together in answer to the 
call, although one of the terrible blizzards of those early days had 
swept over the prairies and piled the snow. From early morning until 
late at night they rode, and at last reached a dugout in which lay the 
man with both legs frozen. Amputation was necessary. By candle light 
there on the dirt floor they administered the anesthetic and Dr. 
Phillips cut off one leg, and then, changing about, Dr. Roberts cut off 
the other. The next day they retraced their course to Sioux Falls. 
Crude as the operation had been and notwithstanding the fact that no 
doctor returned to visit or aid the man, he recovered and lived for 
years. It was seldom in those early days of medical practice on the 
frontier that a patient who was far from town ever saw the physician 
again after a leg had been amputated or a broken bone set. In other 
ways, outside the path of his profession, Dr. Roberts took an active 
part in shaping the early history of the state and was a member of the 
legislature during territorial days. He died in the year 1883. 

	Dr. Thomas Stratton Roberts was but a child at the time of the 
removal of the family to New London, Ohio, where he was reared and 
acquired his preliminary education. He read medicine with his father 
and when the rides were long and the v. Bather bad he began to take the 
calls that with the advance of years were not so eagerly accepted by 
the father, who thus was called by a growing practice away from his 
herds and land. He supplemented the instruction received from his 
father by a course in the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, from 
which he was graduated in 1870. The following year he made his way to 
Sioux Falls, traveling by prairie schooner from Bloomington, Illinois, 
the trip requiring many days. There he preempted one hundred and sixty 
acres and hater homesteaded a similar tract. He afterward began 
practicing medicine, although the early period of his residence here 
was devoted to farming and stock-raising. He began medical practice 
first by looking after his father's patients, but gradually he dropped 
his cattle business and devoted his time to professional service. It 
was about 1875 that he became a regular practitioner, that is, devoted 
most of his time to the profession, although he still lived upon his 
farm ten miles from Sioux Falls. Gradually his practice has grown and 
for many years he has occupied a prominent position among the most 
capable and successful members of the medical fraternity in his part of 
the state. He has ever kept in close touch with the work of the 
profession, knows the advanced ideas promulgated by eminent 
practitioners and is familiar with improved methods. He belongs to the 
Seventh District Medical Society, to the South Dakota State Medical 
Association, to the Tri-State Medical Society and the American Medical 
Association. For several years, however, he has been gradually putting 
aside the duties and cares of his profession and now is practicaly 
hiving retired, attending only to the office practice or responding 
only to the call of olt-time patients who are reluctant to surrender 
the services of a well loved family physician. 

	At College Hill, Ohio, in 1884, Dr. Roberts was united in 
marriage to Miss Carrie Hammitt, a daughter of Professor Samuel 
Hammitt, a native of Ohio. They had one daughter, Sibyl, now at home. 
In January, 1911, the family were called upon to mourn the loss of the 
wife and mother. Dr. Roberts and his daughter reside at No. 115 East 
Twelfth street, in a dwelling which stands on the same site whereon was 
built the first Roberts home in Sioux Falls. 

	Dr. Roberts is a supporter of the republican party and has served 
on the city council of Sioux Falls. He has also for three terms been 
coroner of Minnehaha county and has been a member of the board of 
education. His interest in affairs is that of a public spirited citizen 
who recognizes his duties and obligations as well as his privileges, He 
has always been loyal to the best interests of the city and state and 
has cooperated in many plans for the general good. At the same time he 
has never neglected his professional responsibilities, which are ever 
discharged with a sense of conscientious obligation, and he is ever 
interested in anything which tends to bring to man the key to the 
complex mystery which we call life.