Kewaunee County & The Arrival of the Roberts

Just as the cement mixer was pulling out of the drive, threatening storm clouds began brewing in the west. Within seconds, and just as a farm pick-up pulled in, the rain began coming in torrents. A very agile, slightly older fellow jumped from the truck and came running with tarps that were quickly spread over the setting concrete. Emery Roberts introduced himself, told us where the tarps could be returned, jumped back into the truck and continued down the road.

It is said nobody is truly forgotten until his name is mentioned for the last time. Since that July day over 30 years ago when rain was not in the forecast, Mr. Roberts has remained in our minds. Our patio is a wonderful place, in part because of Mr. Roberts' kindness. Over the years, one Roberts or another kept surfacing in all kinds of research projects. In reading about earlier generations of Roberts, it seems the hard-working Emery was always going forward, following in the footsteps of the family that came before him.

Farmer John Roberts arrived in Wolf River* in 1856 and Jonathan Roberts, Wolf River's first blacksmith, arrived a year later. Jonathon set up in a small log shanty in  the newly platted Youngs and Steele Block 11 on land that was later George Sachtleben's shoe and harness shop on the south side of Steele, just around the corner from Jane Lovell's 1st Street Union House. Roberts held the location for some time before moving to larger quarters near the bridge, which was then at the foot of Church Street.

Jonathan, 24, and Joseph R., 17, were living with 20 year old Evan in 1860. They appear to be the sons of Godfrey. The Record referred to Jonathan as John Roberts when it reported that he was still at his craft in 1907. At the time, he was located on S. Water, now called Navarino.  Roberts purchased Lots 4 & 5 in Block 3 from Abram and Elvira Eveland and Roberts, along with Utnehmer and Perlewitz, smithed on that river site for years. Roberts was operating his blacksmith shop as late as 1907.

John married Mary White who was listed as Kate when they sold land to Ed Decker in April 1893. As early as 1861 John Roberts - not Jonathan - bought Lots 14 & 15 in Block 9 in Youngs and Steele Plat** from G.W. Elliott. John sold to Charles Hennemann a year later and Hennemann built his Cream City House, home of the most delectable 5-cent pies. Steele Street Floral is there today. During the late 1870s, one of the Roberts was engaged with Meverden in the tannery along the river on the west side of 4th, the approximate site of Bearcat's Fish Shop today. There was no 4th Street bridge at the time.

There was another blacksmith named Roberts. The Welsh-born Godfrey was listed on the 1860 census with his sons David and George, 14 and 12, respectively.  Early accounts have him living about three miles upriver on the Forestville road. Whether it is indeed true, those same accounts say his wife was the sister of John Jones, a prominent English millionaire and Queen Victoria's private banker. True or not, it made for heady gossip in the sparsely populated area. Joseph Roberts was yet another blacksmith who was running ads for his Forestville shop in 1883. Born in Wales, he too arrived in Wolf River in 1860, married Bertha Paape, and died on Christmas Eve 1905.

John and George are names found throughout the early generations and it gets confusing. George Roberts - but not the one who was a 12-year old boy in 1860 - relocated from Carlton Town to Ahnapee and was contracted to supply piles and timber for harbor work in 1871. The 1870 census for the Town of Carlton says George was 35 and born in Illinois. His 3 year old son, another George, was born in Wisconsin. George and his business partner, Mr. Johnson, got out 1,000 Norway pine timbers 22' to 30' by 12" in diameter. In the days of axes and cross-cut saws, they were busy! The spot along the river that Roberts bought from Math Kumbalek in February 1872 - Lots 1 & 2 in Block 2 - was a good place for that harbor work. There was another Roberts from Carlton who was no doubt connected to George. Thomas R. Roberts was a Civil War corporal in Kewaunee County's Co., A. His short stint in the military began on August 15, 1862 in Captain Cunningham's contingent of county men. Contracting disease, Tom Roberts was sent home to die and did so on November 6.  Also a blacksmith, George D. Roberts sold his 5th Street business in 1902 to move to Baileys Harbor where he intended to open another such venture. George D. appears to be the son of Godfrey.

An 1874 Record  article said John Roberts was remodeling the extra space in his 4th store. Roberts' Hardware stood on the site later purchased by Tifft and Hay, the northwest corner of 4th and Steele. It is not clear whether this is John the farmer or a case of Jonathon being called John.

In its first edition in 1883, the Kewaunee Times reported that Christian and James Roberts had just purchased the Ahnapee Drug Store. Dr. James A. Roberts practiced in both Algoma and Kewaunee where he and Christian had another drugstore. Christian married Kewaunee's Lizzie Wallender and James A. was involved in county government, elected coroner in 1886.

Evan Roberts was 20 when he arrived in Wolf River. Listing his occupation as a laborer, Evan bought land following  his 1860 arrival and then sold it to David Campbell. Evan seems somewhat elusive, but he must have been a carpenter because it was he who remodeled a house purchased in 1892 by his brother George D.

The 1870 Clay Banks census indicates 38 year old George M. Roberts was a fisherman. Living in household was another fisherman, Elijah Phillips. George had a son who was also George M., a 16 year old born in Maine.

George M. Roberts owned one of the six known piers in the Town of Clay Banks. His pier was at the foot of what is known as Mt. Lookout. It was one of Clay Banks' ghost piers in a forgotten community that existed only during the lumber boom following the Civil War. George M. operated a boarding house and pier in addition to his sawmill on Woodard's Creek where the small body of water that formed behind the dam was called Mirror Lake. When Roberts purchased his pier in the 1870's, he built a logging road along the lakefront north of Mt. Lookout. Because Roberts' logs were rafted out to waiting ships, it would seem his pier was probably not as long as the other Clay Banks' piers. Roberts made the Door County papers in 1873 when he rescued the crew of The Glenham, a ship loaded with bark that had just left Clay Banks' pier.

An August 1936 Algoma Record Herald reported the purchase of Mt. Lookout, Clay Banks' most historic site, and recounted its history. The paper said that when a sawmill was erected on the old mill stream in 1856, the creek was diverted across the road and a wooden dam was built. Then a water-wheel was constructed. As water became low late in summer, an engine and boiler were put in to run the mill. George Roberts - the one born in 1845 - said it was his father who purchased the land from the government and built a cabin on the creek bank.*** Roberts' property had a number of owners including Lee Woodward for whom the creek appears to be named. The article went on to say that Mr. Roberts, Sr. was the one who opened the road north of Mt. Lookout and up the hill. It was written that was the road on which logs for the mill were hauled and later brought down the hill to be made into rafts that could be towed to Spear's mill in Sturgeon Bay.

Clay Banks' historian D. Weimer said, "The creek bed goes north under the road, but there is another creek bed that runs parallel to the road!  One of those, probably the one running next to the road, is likely the streambed from the original mill.  My bet is the one next to the road, in the south ditch and the cedar trees." The lay of the logging road remains evident. Weimer further points to "the remains of a tram road running through the lawn" of a nearby home and felt the road served to transport logs from above the dam down to the mill.

One hundred fifty years after the arrival of Kewaunee County's first Roberts, descendants can be found all over Kewaunee and Door County. Glancing through a phone books reveals a couple of Johns, a James, Ivan and Tom. No Georges. More than likely, most of them are like Emery.

* Wolf River was the first name of the place that was renamed Algoma from Ahnapee in 1897. **Youngs and Steele Plat makes up most of today's downtown Algoma. It runs from the lake and river and includes the east side of 4th, making it a triangular plat. ***Patent searches do not indicate that a Roberts Patented any land in Clay Banks. Samuel and Benjamin Roberts did receive Door County land as a result of their military service, but the land was in the northern part of the county. George Roberts Patented two parcels in Kewaunee County's Town of Carlton.