Transcribed from "An Illustrated History of The Big Bend Country, embracing
Lincoln, Douglas, Adams and Franklin counties, State of Washington",
published by Western Historical Publishing Co., 1904.
ALEXANDER D. ROBERTS, a pioneer
of 1886, lives about one-half mile north from Tipso, where he owns an excellent
farm which is well supplied with everything needed both for comfort and
utility. Mr. Roberts started in life amid the greatest adversity
having no money and no acquaintances and was forced to make a little dugout
for himself and wife and children to live in the first winter. A
couple of rough boards with a flour sack stretched over the aperture served
for a door and a window and it was with the utmost endeavor that he obtained
the barest necessities of life. In early spring he packed his blankets
from there to Spokane, a distance of one hundred and twenty miles, and
had but one meal enroute. He had left five pounds of flour and three
pounds of bacon for his wife and children, but he soon secured work and
had plenty of provisions. From that time until the present, Mr. Roberts
has labored incessantly and all that he now owns is the result of his wisely
bestowed labors. Those days of hardship and deprivation to the frontiersman
have passed away forever in this part of the country, but they never can
be too eloquently told for it is utterly impossible to explain to succeeding
generations the efforts made, the obstables overcome, or the trying ordeals
passed through.
Alexander D. Roberts was born in Missouri
on February 25, 1855. His father, J. William Roberts, was born in
Kentucky and went with his parents to Missouri when an infant. His
father bought land in Missouri at that time at twenty-five cents per acre
and became a very worthy and influential farmer. The mother of our
subject, Sarah (Walker) Roberts, was born in Kentucky and moved to Missouri
when young. Our subject was educated in the common schools of Missouri,
then engaged in farming and in due time came to Spokane. He labored
there and in the Palouse country until sufficient was made to land him
in Lincoln county. Perhaps there is no one in this part of the county
who has seen greater hardships and borne them with more excellent fortitude
than Mr. Roberts and his wife. They now have everything that a first
class farm can produce and are among the prominent and esteemed people
here. Mr. Roberts has the following brothers and sisters, Joseph
A., Franklin T., David C., Samuel, deceased, W. W., Mary A., deceased,
Susie, Jennie and Carrie.
In 1881, Mr. Roberts married Miss E. Esther
Page, a native of Nebraska. Her parents, Alfred and Elizabeth Buchannon,
were early pioneers in Nebraska. To Mr. and Mrs. Roberts, the following
named chlidren have been born: Mrs. Della M. Funk, in Spokane; Mrs. Anna
B. Lewis; Mrs. Carrie Nellie Stevenson, Mrs. Sadie E. Stevenson, Roxie
L., Eliglah L., Enoch F., I. Pearl, Paul L., and Joseph D.
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