WPA Interviews

INTERVIEW, April 2, 1940

Interview with Edwin C. Roberts, Albany, Oregon.

I am Edwin C. Roberts. I was born near Tangent, Linn County, Oregon on March 24, 1865. The neighborhood where I was raised has, since early pioneer days, been called "The Roberts Bridge" community from the fact that my father settled there.

Perhaps in this interview it would be best to being with my grandparents and come on down from there to later days. Isaac Roberts, my grandfather, was born in 1789. He was a blacksmith and a maker of edged tools. Early in life he worked for the Hudson Bay Company making knives, especially skinning and sticking knives. That was somewhere in the south and there he met a young woman by the name of Miss Katherine Conner. She was the daughter of a Captain John Conner who was an officer in the American Army during the War of 1812. Grandfather and Katherine Conner were married sometime in the 1820's.

I might give a little more here about the Conner family, my grandmother's people. There were three sisters, one married a man named Calhoun and became the mother of John C. Calhoun; one married a man named Houston and became the mother of Sam Houston of Texas; the third sister married Captain John Conner and became the mother of my mother. Her full name was Katharine Finney Conner, the name always spelled with a "K".

To Isaac Roberts and Katharine Conner Roberts were born the following children:

Thomas Roberts. Died in infancy.

James Bruffey Roberts (Narrator's father). Born Nov. 18, 1830 at a little place called Herculaneum (spelling uncertain) in Missouri. He died in Oregon on March 31, 1922. At the time of his death he was 92 years old. By occupation he was a farmer throughout his life.

Emily Roberts. Died in California.

Samuel Houston Roberts. Died in California many years ago.

The Roberts family started for Oregon in April, 1850. The original intention was to go to California but when they reached Eastern Oregon their stock was poor, their wagons becoming worn out and all their equipment badly run down so they came on to The Dalles. General Grant, then a young Lieutenant at the time came out to meet the train.

Perhaps before going further I should tell a few incidents that happened on the way to the Coast. My aunt Emily Roberts was a very pretty young girl. One day on the plains in the Sioux country a Chief came dashing into camp on a very spirited pony. He saw my aunt and immediately demanded, "How many ponies? How many ponies?" Grandmother did not wish to refuse him bluntly but of course she could not begin to bargain with him. To distract his attention she reached over the tail-gate of her wagon and taking down her violin case began to tune the instrument. Then she sat down on the wagon tongue and began to play "Money Musk," "Leather Britches" and such pioneer tunes. The Chief became very much interested in the music and forgot all about the young "squaw" and his desire to trade for ponies. You see music does indeed "Have charms to soothe the savage breast". After a while he jumped on his pony and rode away.

At The Dalles my father stayed for about a year working on the Portage Road around the falls there. Grandfather came on to Portland where he spent two years working at his trade of cutlery making. He took up a Donation Land Claim where the Portland Golf Course now is but did not like the situation very well. Finally my father came on to the Willamette Valley. He came down through the valley from Portland scouting out the country and found it good. Most of the early settlers had located along the foothills so they would not be drowned out but father settled at what is now called Roberts Bridge on the Calapooia, right in the center of the valley.

Among my father's close neighbors in pioneer days were such well known pioneers as Thomas Kendall, the Presbyterian preacher who had much to do with the forming of the first United Presbyterian Church at Oakville, in Linn County. Kendall was a fine old man but he had a brother who was a terror to snakes! Another near neighbor was Thomas Condon who later became Oregon's first great geologist. Another near neighbor was Mercer Thompson on whose claim, near the Calapooia, were held many great Methodist camp meetings. The grove on the Thompson place where the campmeetings were held was a beautiful site. Great maple trees gave shade and made the campground very pleasant.

Now I will tell you something concerning my mother's family. In 1853 Joel Bradshaw Houston and his wife came to Oregon. They were my grandfather and grandmother on my mother's side. Grandfather Houston was a nephew of Sam Houston of Texas, grandmother was a niece, for they were first cousins. Grandfather was a native of Tennessee, grandmother of Kentucky. They had ten sons and one daughter. The daughter's name was Martha E. Houston and she married James B. Roberts and became my mother. Mother died at Walula, Washington on April 28, 1870. (Birth date not learned).

The Houston family crossed the plains by ox team and settled in the Willamette Valley. They took claims joining the Roberts claim on the east. (This is in Sections 28 and 33. Township 12 South of Range 3 West.)

My father and mother had four children. They were:

Gordon Roberts. Died in infancy.

Clare E. Roberts. She married Elmer E. Gordon. She died in the autumn of 1939.

Emma H. Roberts. She married James Cochran who came from Kansas. They had one son, Reid C. Cochran who is a singer of Gospel songs.

Edwin C. Roberts. (Informant). Born August 6, 1861.

In the autumn of 1861 my father was appointed by President Lincoln to be the Superintendent of Farming on the Grande Ronde Indian Reservation. His connection with the reservation was terminated in this way:- Dr. Thomas Condon came to father and asked him to sign a paper. Father was always cautious abut signing anything and asked, "What is it about?" Condon said, "It is for my brother Jim to draw $75.00 a month from the Government for conducting the Indian Manual Training School". Father said, "I will sign no such thing. You know as well as I that there is no such thing as an "Indian Manual Training School." Condon's answer was, "If you know when you are well off, you will sign in." Condon then went to Dr. Miller, Reservation physician and asked the same thing. Miller, who by the way, was the father of Mrs. L.E. Hamilton of Albany, answered as father had done. Condon next went to a man named Wright with the same results. The upshot of it all was that father, Miller and Wright were all dismissed for insubordination.

After my mother's death my father married again. His second wife was Mary Jane Grate. She was a splendid woman and a wonderful mother to me. Father died in Virginia. (No date obtained).

In summing up the Roberts family history I might state that Roberts is a Welch name. My great-grandfather moved from Wales to England and then from England to America where he settled in Harkimer, Harkimer County, N.Y. I am unable at this time to give his Christian name.

I might also state that my mother's grandfather was William Houston, brother of Sam Houston of Texas.

I was born on the Roberts claim in Linn County on August 6, 1861. I was married to Miss Velma Elizabeth Marks. She was a daughter of James Marks and a sister of Attorney Willard Marks of Albany. She was born on September 14, 1867 and we were married on September 14, 1887, the bride's 20th birthday. She died on September 24, 1892. I have one son, Ray H. Roberts. He graduated from Oregon State College and then took his Master's Degree at the same place. Later he took a Ph. D. degree at Wisconsin University. He has been a Professor of Horticulture at Wisconsin State University for over twenty-five years.

My son has four children. They are:

Harold Roberts.

Davis Roberts.

Velma Elizabeth Roberts.

Mary Lou Roberts.

(All of Wisconsin).

I have engaged in the Real Estate Business in Albany in partnership with Mr. J.E. Howard. I was also the first secretary of the Albany Chamber of Commerce. I was also Superintendent of the Linn County exhibit at the Lewis & Clark Fair at Portland, 1906.

Just one more item which I have overlooked. My father, his brother and a sister were members of the first Methodist Choir ever organized in Portland. My father and his brother sang tenor and their sister soprano.

(Note: Mr. Roberts is in very poor health and is now being cared for in a Nursing Home in Albany. He is seriously afflicted with asthma and the interview was very slow and painful owing to the subject having often to pause and gasp for breath. Pauses of from fifteen minutes to half an hour were frequent for this reason.)

Copyright © 2000 Patricia Dunn. All rights reserved. This transcription may not be reproduced in any media without the express written permission by the author. Permission has been given by the Transcriber to publish on the LGS web site.