Lincoln Johnson Roberts
Lincoln Johnson Roberts, of Seaman, Scott Township, Adams County, was born June 1, 1865, in Winchester Township. His great-grandfather, Stephen Roberts, was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, August 29, 1762. He moved into Fairfax County, Virginia, when a child. There he married Deborah Williams, who was a member of the Society of Friends. They had eight children, six sons and two daughters, all of whom grew to maturity, married and reared families. John Roberts, the third child, was the grandfather of our subject. He was born August 29, 1772. On the thirteenth of April, 1813, he enlisted in Captain Loudon Osborne's Company of the Fifth Regiment, Virginia Militia, and served for six months in the vicinity of Norfolk, Virginia. In the general call of 1814, he was again in the service and saw the British fires in the conflagration of Washington. He staid one month in the vicinity of Baltimore, and was one of the defenders, and had he remained in that vicinity, would, no doubt, have been one of the famous Society Defenders. He came to Adams County in 1835 and died there.
Isaac Roberts, the father of our subject, was born in Loudon County, Virginia, August 16, 1818. He was taught the necessity and dignity of manual labor. As a boy, he was apprenticed to a millwright in Washington County, Maryland, for three years and learned that trade. He afterwards worked at it for years and made money.
On October 18, 1846, he was married to Lucinda E. Wince, of Loudon County, Virginia, the daughter of Philip and Catherine Shaffer Wince. Mr. Roberts came to Adams County in 1850. He had eleven children, but he lost two sons and a daughter in childhood. He died in 1885.
Our subject attended the District schools, and attended the Normal school at Lebanon in 1881, 1884 and 1885. He began his career as a teacher in Adams County, and taught, when not attending school, until 1897. He was a resident of the city of Portsmouth in 1896 and 1897 and engaged in the grocery business in the Kendall Building. The business was not suited to his taste and he gave it up. From 1897 to 1899, he has been a teacher. He owns a farm oi one hundred and thirty-five acres on Buck Run in Scott Township, where he resides, and the writer having seen it, wonders why he ever left it for the city of Portsmouth, but does not wonder that he left city life and went back to the farm. He has as fine a farm and well equipped as any one would care to look upon. He owns another farm of one hundred and seventy acres in Winchester Township.
He was married May 11, 1887, to Miss Irene Chaney, of Hillsboro, Ohio, daughter of Adam L. Chaney. He has three children, Irving, aged ten years; Ralph W., aged four years, and Virginia, aged two years. His name indicates his politics. He was named for the two Presidents, Lincoln and Johnson. He is a member of the Methodist Church at Seaman, and is surrounded by everything which could make life agreeable and happy, and if he is not happy, it is not on account of outward conditions. He is a man of the highest character and principles. He was and is a successful teacher, a loyal citizen, and a prosperous farmer.
From History of Adams County, Ohio from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers - West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900