The Skaggs-Files

MILITARY SERVICE--WAR OF 1812: National Archives Pension No. 20031--Served as Drummer boy under Capt James Turnell, Col Johnson's 3rd Regiment, East Tennessee Militia. Called into service 19 Sep 1814 in Anderson County, TN..." Know all men by these presents (presence) that I JACOB ROBERS of Anderson County & State of Tennefce (Tennessee) do constitute make and appoint Humes Campball (unk) of Knoxville & State aforesaid my true and lawful attorney for me and in my name to ask demand and reiceve (receive) from the person who is or may be appointed paymaster such sum or sums of money as is due me from the United States for my services as a Drummer in Capt James Tunnels company and in the Regiment commanded by Col Johnson cominencing(commencing) on the 20th day of September 1814 and ending the 3rd day of May 1815 and I do hereby empower my said attorney or either of them to sign receipts for the same and to do all things in and about the premises in a full or manner as I could !
do were I personally present as witnefs(witness) my hand & seal this 9th day of August 1815. his (signed) Jacob (X) Roberts mark ... "State of Tennefce" Knox county ... This day Jacob Roberts appeared before me Robert Grayhead a justice of the peace for said county and duly acknowledged the execution of the above Power of Attorney fo the purposes therein mentioned Given under my hand August 9th 1815 (signed) Robt. Grayhead J. P."

CENSUS: 1840 Hamilton County, TN (No Township listed)
Jacob ROBERTS, 147, 89, AIS 1374

CENSUS: 1850 Swan Twp., Taney County, MO Page: 341A #21 21
J ROBERTS (*Jacob) Age: 62 Occupation: Farmer 300 Birthplace: TN (*Jacob)
B BUCKHART (*Dolly) Age: 45 Birthplace: -- Deaf, Dumb

CENSUS: 1860 Marion Twp., Christian County, MO
535 Jacob ROBERTS Age: 70 Occupation: Farmer Birthplace: TN
535 Dolley BURKET Age: 40 Birthplace: TN

CENSUS: 1870 Marion Twp., Christian County, MO #796 26
Jacob ROBERTS Age: 81 Occupation: Farmer Birthplace: TN
MATILDA (wife) Age: 50 Birthplace: IL
Isaac (son) Age: 22 Birthplace: MO
Dangerfield (son) Age: 20 Birthplace: MO

MISSOURI LAND PATENTS:
Patent Description MO5620__.471 Cancelled: N Document Nr. : 24928 Misc. Document Nr. :
Patentee Name: JACOB ROBERTS Warrantee Name:
Authority: April 24, 1820: Cash Entry Sale (3 Stat. 566) Signature Present: Y
Signature Date: 1 JUN 1859 Metes/Bounds: N Survey Date: Subsurface Reserved: N Land Office: Springfield Comments: Legal Land Descriptions Nr. Aliquot Parts Sec/Blk Township Range Fract. Sect. Meridian Acres Counties 1 NWSE 22/ 26-N 19-W N 5th Principal Meridian 40 CHRISTIAN.
Patent Description MO5980__.075 Cancelled: N Document Nr. : 8569 Misc. Document Nr. : 12589
Patentee Name: JACOB ROBERTS Warrantee Name:
Authority: May 20, 1862: Homestead Entry (12 Stat. 392) Signature Present: Y
Signature Date: 18 OCT 1892 Metes/Bounds: N Survey Date: Subsurface Reserved: N
Land Office: Springfield Comments: Legal Land Descriptions Nr. Aliquot Parts Sec/Blk Township Range Fract. Sect. Meridian Acres Counties 1 SESW 1/ 25-N 19-W N 5th Principal Meridian 0 CHRISTIAN
2 SWSE 1/ 25-N 19-W N 5TH PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN 0 CHRISTIAN
3 NENW 12/ 25-N 19-W N 5TH PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN 0 CHRISTIAN
4 NWNE 12/ 25-N 19-W N 5TH PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN 160acres CHRISTIAN

TAX LIST: Christian County, 1875: Jacob ROBERTS, 120 acres, $600

BIOGRAPHY: Jacob Roberts - Father of William and Caswell by Harley Dunn * 806 East Diane * Ozark, MO 65721

There is a weather-beaten stone in the Old Boston Cemetery at Old field. Around it are other gray old markers that stand watch over the sleepers from another time. The air is chilly, but clear, and the only sound is the breezes telling stories to the rattling brown leaves of Autumn. Overhead is the blue, blue November sky. Engraved in the stone are the words, "Jacob Roberts, Father of William and Caswell", and nothing more. (NOTE* The tombstone actually reads Jacob Roberts, Father of Wm & Caswell Roberts and Anny Bookout at rest.) But there is more. According to an account in the book Christian County -- Its First 100 Years, Jacob and his family came to this country on a wagon train with the Joel Hall family in 1840. His story, however, begins much earlier in Virginia, when it was still a colony of the Crown, and the birth of this Nation was at hand. The first Roberts was one of two brothers who came to the New World from Ireland. Neither left a record of their first names, !
except verbally, and this information has been forgotten with the passing of time. They settled in Virginia in the early colonial days, and little is known of them from that time until the Revolutionary War, though they doubtlessly hunted and fished and in a small way tilled the soil and suffered the usual hardships of other pioneer families. It is known that the brothers raised tobacco as their chief money crop, and the work of cultivating was done entirely with the hoe. When the tobacco matured and was harvested and cured it was packed into 'hogshead" barrels and shipped to England. History records that men in the early colonial days of Virginia sometimes purchased their wives with tobacco. Whether these brothers acquired their wives in this manner is not known, but it would seem a Surgeon General's warning on tobacco might apply here.
In 1663 King Charles II granted land between Virginia and Florida to eight colonial proprietors, and in 1729 the Crown bought the rights of the Carolina proprietors. North and South Carolina became separate Royal Colonies. South Carolina consisted of wealthy aristocracy owning large plantations, but North Carolina was settled by migrants from Virginia. It became primarily a farming country with democratic principles. At the time of the outbreak of the Revolutionary War the brothers lived in North Carolina near the Virginia border. It was here that one of them had two sons, who were named Jacob and William. When the call went out for arms and able-bodied men Jacob, being the eldest, enlisted with the new Continental Army and fought the British under the command of General George Washington, and for a time served as one of Washington's personal bodyguards. Un-fortunately nothing more is known of this Jacob following the conclusion of the war. The younger brother, William, was !
only fourteen years old and not eligible for military service, but stirred by the patriotism of the times, ran away from home and, lying about his age, joined without the knowledge or consent of his parents. During the years of 1779-1780 sections of the Carolinas and Virginia were captured by the British, but in 1781 Washington trapped Cornwallis and his British Army at Yorktown, and the resulting surrender of the English commander brought the war to an end. William was honorably discharged and returned to his home in the Old North State to resume his life as a farmer. If not actually a soldier-of-fortune, however, he did seem to have acquired a liking for the military way of life. After a season of discontentment on the farm he took himself to East Tennessee and resumed his service with the new government. His role there was to assist in driving the Cherokees out of the vicinity of Lookout Mountain. This campaign was of short duration and there were no hard-fought battles, !
only several small skirmishes. William's's company of 25 men !
suffered only one man killed and a few wounded. He settled in Hamilton County on the Tennessee River near the present site of Chattanooga, and built a home in which he lived with his wife and two sons --also named Jacob -- and William (named for himself and his brother). In the year of 1812, when once again this country found itself embroiled in a war with England, William's son, Jacob, enlisted with General Andrew Jackson's renowned "Tennessee Rifles" and fought alongside Old Hickory in the battles of New Orleans and Mobile. The Battle of New Orleans, fought in 1815, was a decisive victory for the United States, but was fought after the signing of the peace treaty because of slow communications regarding the end of the war. It was during this war that Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner.(War of 1812). After his tour of duty Jacob returned to his home in East Tennessee and, prior to his migration to Christian County, Missouri, had six children: Lucy, Anna, Caswe!
ll, Katie, Eliza, and William. When Jacob had settled in East Tennessee the country there was a wilderness. There was no Chattanooga, but from a single store and blacksmith shop a village began to grow, and the Roberts clan became restless. Feeling crowded, they longed for a new frontier, and along about 1838 several families loaded their ox- drawn wagons with their meager personal effects, and with little money trekked from their old homes to new lands west of the Mississippi. It has been recorded that Jacob had four dollars and seventy-five cents left when he reached Christian County. Along with Jacob were all his married children and their children. When the Roberts-Hall wagon train reached what is now Christian and Green Counties in Missouri, most of them liked the country and decided to locate there. Jacob settled near where Sparta now stands, and his son William settled on Barber Creek but later moved to near the site of Sparta. Jacob's father and brother (both named W!
illiam) took their families and settled in Texas County, Miss!
ouri, near where the town of Cabool now stands. It was there that Jacob's father, Old William, died and was buried. Prior to the Civil War the Roberts family ties were very strong, but the issues leading up to the war, as in many other cases along the border of the North and South, caused the family was to be divided. Jacob and his sons, Caswell and William, sided with the North, while his brother and his sons in Texas County sided with the South. Caswell and William enlisted in the Union army and served under the commands of Generals Lyons and Siegel, while their cousins enlisted with General Sterling Price of the Confederacy. These cousins fought on opposite sides in the Battle of Wilson's Creek, but it is not known if either set of brothers were aware that the other was present at the time. General Lyons of the Union army, on his way to Springfield and eventually to Wilson's Creek, camped his troops one night near Swan Creek nearby the home of Joel Hall (who'd migrated to!
Missouri with Jacob) and it very well could have been at this time that Caswell and William joined. (William married Joel's daughter, Mandy). Caswell's and William's cousins in Texas County were named William Mattison (Billy) and James David (Davey) Roberts. Both of these brothers were wounded at Wilson's Creek. The extent of Davey's wounds are not known, but we do know that he eventually recovered and lived to a very old age. Billy, however, at one point in the exchange of gunfire, was struck a glancing blow to the head by a pennyball. It plowed a furrow across his forehead and knocked him to the ground, blinding him with pain and blood. One of his buddies by the name of Johnny House led and dragged him to a ravine out of danger of the enemy's view. They were there only a short time until they discovered not far away General Siegel using his field glasses. Billy, after having his wound dressed by House, crawled to the bank of the ravine to see and recognized the general an!
d tried to kill him, but House remonstrated, fearing a report!
from Billy's rifle would bring the Yankees down on them. Billy said that after several attempts had been made he finally gave in to House and the pain and slid back down into the ravine. After a time Siegel and his Aides moved on, and were soon out of sight. General Lyons was killed in the battle not long after this incident, becoming the first general to be killed in the Civil War. Captain James Sailee, a companion of Caswell and William, said that Lyons was "Very intoxicated-- sitting on his horse and screamed at the men not to retreat, but to turn and fight, and he beat at them with his sword." In the latter years of the war Billy and Davey became Wanted and hunted men because of their sympathies with the South, and often had to resort to living and hiding in the dense forests of this region for days, traveling heavily armed at all times. Then in 1863, while the boys were thus compelled to absent themselves a band of Bushwhackers raided the home of their father, William,!
and drove off a herd of horses, including a favorite race mare that was a prized possession of the old man. He and two neighbor men tracked the gang into Howell County and retrieved the horses, but in the getaway William was overtaken by the outlaws and riddled with bullets. His and Davey's wives, after a two-day search, found his body and had no alternative but to bury him where he lay, in a shallow grave that remains to this day unmarked and unknown. Caswell and William returned to their homes and lived in peace for the rest of their days, except for the rift between the older members of the family over the war. Thirty-one years passed before the cousins ever spoke to each other again. In 1896 Billy was driving a small herd of cattle from his home in Polk County to Ozark County, and on his way stopped at his cousin William's home near Sparta for the night. He said William didn't recognize him at first, but they had a good visit and William treated him very nicely. As far !
as is known Billy and Davey did not speak to or visit with Ja!
cob or Caswell any time after the war. William made his home near Sparta and lived there for the rest of his life. After he'd had a son of his own-- which he named William-- the family came to refer to him as 'Old Bill" and his son as "Young Bill". William's home was situated on the main road used by freight wagons (which is now Missouri State Highway 14) to haul goods to and from Chadwick's railroad station, and by jobbers and wholesalers from Springfield shipping merchandise to the southern counties of Missouri and the northern counties of Arkansas. The home was a frame house complete with lightening rods and high open fireplaces. Often the freighters would camp nearby for a night and be treated to a hot home-made meal by William's family. William has been described as being of "medium stature, lean and lithe of body and limb, with square firm jaws and deep piercing blue eyes. He talked very fast and was quick in his movements, and could curse rather fluently and effective!
ly...". William had arrived in this new country with his father, Jacob, penniless and without education, but he was industrious and possessed of good common sense and an iron will. He saw the possibilities of the future of this country and he took advantage of them. He engaged in the sawmill and lumber business, farmed, raised and dealt in livestock, and by reason of his hard work and frugality he became one of the wealthiest men in Christian County. At one time he owned several hundred acres of the best farm land around the town of Sparta. In his later years he assisted in the organization and establishment of the first bank of Sparta and became its president. He could neither read nor write but had a good memory and a wonderful mind for figures. William belonged to the Christian County Chapter of the Baldknobber Vigilantes, but fortunately was not involved in the Greene-Eden killings of March, 1887. A group of the masked riders did, however, come to the aid of William's co!
usin, Davey. When a man secretly and wrongfully entered in th!
e Land Office of the United States a forty-acre tract that Davey had possessed and made claim of for several years, and upon which he had made valuable improvements, but had delayed complying with the Federal law of entering it in the land office, people generally resented it. The man was Davey's tenant on this forty-acre tract, and Davey had taken him into his confidence and had revealed to him the facts concerning the title. When it was learned that the man had taken advantage of Davey a vote was taken for punitive action. A bundle of switches was one night left at his door with a written notice that he leave the country at once. The man was indignant and purchased ammunition for his shotgun, and made public threats that he would shoot to kill if an attempt was made to evict him by force. Not many nights thereafter a number of hooded men dragged him from his bed and with switches whipped him until he tearfully promised to vacate the premises and leave the country that very!
night. William died at his home in 1912, at the age of 90 years. He and his son, "Young Bill", are buried in the Roberts Cemetery about two miles west of Sparta on Highway 14. Caswell died at his home in 1891, at the age of 74 years, and is buried in the Old Boston Cemetery, just east of Old field on highway T, alongside his wife, Rachael, and his father, Jacob. Jacob, who fought with "Old Hickory" against the British in the Battle of New Orleans, and was named for an uncle who served as George Washington's bodyguard, lies close by beneath the old gray weather-beaten stone with this simple epitaph: "Jacob Roberts-Father of William and Caswell". And it is very peaceful here. And the breezes still rattle the dry brown leaves of Autumn. And overhead is the blue, blue November sky.

Additional Source: "Relatives of Ralph and Pat Roberts," Ralph Roberts, 2003.

(Christian County Marriage Book 1, Page 132)