William J. McRoberts, M. D. Biography


	This biography appears on pages 728-731 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				WILLIAM J. McROBERTS, M. D.  

	Dr. William J. McRoberts has for the last fourteen years resided 
continuously in Fall River county and in that time has won a large and 
representative practice. His birth occurred in Monaghan, Ireland, on 
the 18th of December, 1858. His parents, William and Eliza (English) 
McRoberts, were both born in Ireland and passed their entire lives in 
that country. The father was head constable in the Royal Irish 
constabulary, which is under the control of the government.  

	Dr. McRoberts, who is the eldest in a family of five children, 
received a public-school education in Ireland and remained in that 
country until fifteen years of age. He then left home and shipped as a 
cabin boy across the Atlantic to Nova Scotia. Upon reaching port he ran 
away from the ship although he had but twenty cents in his pocket and 
his only clothes were those which he wore and for which he had paid 
sixty cents in Liverpool. He soon obtained employment as engine wiper 
at Truro, Nova Scotia, but did not remain there long as he obtained 
employment as a clerk in a freight office in Moncton, New Brunswick. 
After spending several months in that position he went to Salmon River, 
New Brunswick, where he was a clerk and bookkeeper for three years. At 
the end of that time he came to the United States, first locating in 
Bay City, Michigan, where he learned the lumber business in principle 
and detail. After remaining in that place for three years he went to 
Lansing, Michigan, where he engaged in the mercantile business, 
becoming a partner in a well established store after two years. Five 
years later he engaged in business at Ironwood, Michigan, where he 
remained for three years, after which he became a traveling salesman, 
selling goods in Wisconsin and Michigan.  

	While Dr. McRoberts was still on the road he began the study of 
medicine and continued to travel until eighteen months before the 
completion of his medical course in the Beaumont Hospital Medical 
College at St. Louis, Missouri. Following his graduation with the 
degree of M. D. he practiced at Jefferson City, Missouri, for a year 
and then located in Edgemont, South Dakota, being surgeon for the 
Burlington Railroad there for five years. At the end of that time he 
removed to Hot Springs and has practiced here continuously since, or 
for ten years. He specializes in chronic diseases and he has met with 
gratifying success in that difficult field of practice. He studies his 
cases carefully, taking into consideration all of the symptoms, the 
past history of the patient and his habits of life and is generally 
able to prescribe a course of treatment that brings about marked 
improvement or a complete cure. He devotes his entire time to the 
practice of his profession and is generally recognized as an efficient 
and conscientious physician and surgeon. The Doctor has a most unusual 
record to his credit of about a month's post graduate work in great 
medical centers every year since his graduation. This explains why he 
is able to keep in touch with the methods so recently developed and 
practiced in leading clinics of the great centers of medical research. 
His equipment of modern medical apparatus and therapeutic appliances is 
the most complete and advanced in the Black Hills country.  

	Dr. McRoberts was married in August, 1884, to Miss Sarah Alice 
Carrier, who was born at Marshall, Michigan, and is a daughter of Edwin 
B. and Cornelia (Root) Carrier, both natives of New York. They became 
pioneers of central Michigan, the father for many years engaging in 
business as a stock dealer. He several times visited in South Dakota 
and passed away at the home of one of his sons, who is president of 
Carroll College at Waukesha, Wisconsin, his demise occurring in 
February, 1914, but the mother died in 1887. Dr. and Mrs. McRoberts 
have four children: Annie Myrtle, the wife of Dr. S. J. Hanks, a 
physician and surgeon employed by the Guggenheim mining interests at 
Hurley, New Mexico; Vesta Willa, who married Ethan W. Young on the 30th 
of December, 1914, and resides in Ashton, this state; Neara C., who 
graduated from the domestic science course at the State Agricultural 
College in 1914; and Edwin W., who is a high-school student.  

	Dr. McRoberts is independent in politics and has never desired to 
hold office although he has served on the board of education. His 
religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Presbyterian 
church, and fraternally he is connected with the Masonic blue lodge, 
the Independent Order of Foresters, the Royal Arcanum and the Yeomen. 
He is one of the prominent physicians and surgeons of Hot Springs and 
has not only won the confidence and respect of his fellow citizens as a 
representative of the medical profession but has also gained their 
esteem and warm regard as a citizen and man.