FRANK WHITMAN ROBERTS – The surname Roberts is frequently encountered in the early records of New England. There were Revolutionary soldiers, farmers, business men, and seafaring men of that name, and their progeny is today scattered over the land, while many descendants of the older settlers of the name still adhere to the original soil. The seafaring men of generations past in New England were venturesome and enterprising persons, some of them whalers, others traders with the West Indies, whose islands then had even more glamorous and romantic atmospheres than they have today, although they are still glamorous and romantic.
Among those of the later generations of the Roberts name was William Roberts, thought to have been born in Middletown, Connecticut He died in Feeding Hills, in the town of Agawam, Massachusetts. He is thought to have been the son of Simeon Roberts, of Middletown. He married (first) Beulah Hedges; and (second) Sarah Hedges. His children were: Isaac, of whom further; Horace, William, Henry, Eleanor, Betsy, Laura, Beulah.
Isaac Roberts, son of William Roberts, was born at Feeding Hills, Agawam, Massachusetts, March 3 1803, died at Feeding Hills in 1889. He was a farmer. He married, April 3, 1834, Cornelia Clark, born in Connecticut, October 29, 1810, died November 7, 1876. They had one child, Morton Samuel, of whom further.
Morton Samuel Roberts, son of Isaac and Cornelia (Clark) Roberts, was born at Feeding Hills, Agawam, Massachusetts, July 22, 1836, died in Northampton, Massachusetts, in August, 1922. He was a farmer. He married, September 10, 1856, Ellen S. Hedges, born at Feeding Hills, Agawam, Massachusetts, May 11, 1837, daughter of Henry and Phoebe (Tenant) Hedges. She was living in 1925. Their children: Lillian, born December 23, 1857; married Charles A. Wright, deceased. Frank Whitman, of whom further; Edward Henry, born December 14, 1862, died February 15, 1894; Stella Marion, born April 22, 1864 died October 8, 1878; Annie C. born March 22, 1868; married William Downes; Harrie Morton, Lewis Austin, Mary Jane; these three died young.
Frank Whitman Roberts, born at Feeding Hills, Agawam, February 23, 1860, was educated in the town schools, in the Connecticut Literary Institute at Suffield, Connecticut, and the Westfield Academy. When through with his studies he went to work in the Hampden Watch Factory, in Springfield, Massachusetts. In 1885 he went into the jewelry business at Adams, Massachusetts, and continued in this for thirteen years. During the first years in this business he had a partner, Mr. Glover, the firm name being Glover & Roberts, but after five years he bought out Mr. Glover and continued the business alone until 1898, when he came to Northampton and established a jewelry business, conducting it until 1915, when he sold it out to Arthur P. Wood and went into the automobile business. Mr. Roberts in this business has handled several makes of cars, but he now represents the Willys-Knight car in Hampshire County. He has a service station, and handles automobile accessories. Mr. Roberts is president of the Hampshire County Used Car Exchange, Inc.; he is a member of Jerusalem Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons; of the Royal Arch Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; the Council, Royal and Select Masters; the Commandery, Knights Templar; the Nonotuck Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and of Williamsburg Lodge, Knights of Pythias. He is an attendant of the First Church, and a member of the Edwards Church Men’s Club.
Mr. Roberts married, May 2, 1883, Mary A. Fales, born in Pelham, Massachusetts, daughter of William A. Fales. Their son, Albert Whitman Roberts, is with the National Equipment Company, of Springfield, Massachusetts. He married Bertha Graves, and they have four children:
- Franklin.
- William.
- Clara, who married Harold Harris, and they have a daughter, Margaret.
- Frank W., Jr., of Cleveland, Ohio, married Anna Beth Harris, of Montgomery, Alabama, and they have a daughter, Anna Beth.