NATHAN E. ROBERTS, Jr., druggist, Fairfield. One of the earliest pioneer settlers Wayne County was, Archibald Roberts, who came to Illinois from Virginia in 1818. By, trade he was a hatter, at which he worked but little after coming to this county, occupying himself with the pursuits of the farm. He was a zealous Christian man, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he sustained the relation of local preacher.
He had a family of ten children, of whom but two are now living. Nathan E. Roberts, Sr., was the eldest of this family, and was born in 1808 in Virginia.
He married, in Wayne County, about 1826, to Mary Bovee, who was born in the State of New York in 1809. They made their first settlement within the present, limits of Jasper Township, but later entered a tract of land in Leech Township, where they remained until 1859, when they remove to Union Prairie Township, which continued to be his home until his death.
Nathan E. Roberts was, in politics, a leading Republican, and like his father, was a Methodist minister; professionally, a physician, and died suddenly while on a trip in Kansas in 1869. <
His wife still survives, and now resides with her son, J. Roberts. They had also ten children, the subject of these lines, Nathan E. Roberts, Jr., being the ninth. He was born in, Wayne County April 26, 1849, and was chiefly reared in the village of Johnsonville, where he attended the public schools.
After a brief experience as a teacher, he came to Fairfield in 1870, and engaged in the drug business, which he continues with fair success. Owns a good store building, which he erected in 1873, at a cost of about $4,000.
N. E Roberts was married, in Fairfield, January 18, 1872, to Hannah Rea. She was born June, 1849, in Ohio, but descends from Scotch ancestry. Her parents, Madison and Elizabeth Rea, came to Wayne County about 1862, and settled in Indian Prairie, near Blue Point, where they died.
Mr. Roberts family consists of three children, viz.,
N. E. Roberts is a member of the Fairfield Lodge, No. 206, F. & A. M.; Fairfield Chapter, No.179, R. A. M.; Gorin Commandery, No. 14, K. T., and Peoria Consistory, S. P. R. S.
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