John Arthur Roberts, born September 22, 1854 in Cabaniss, Monroe Co, GA; died June 25, 1921 in Jasper Co, GA. He was the son of Wiley Jones Roberts and Mary Ann Spires. He married Martha (Mattie) Malinda Simmons December 03, 1874 in Monroe Co, GA. She was born December 25, 1855 in Monroe Co, GA, and died September 25, 1940 in Monticello, GA. She was the daughter of Marcus (Mark) DeLafayette Simmons and Sara Jane Johnson.

John Arthur Roberts’ parents gave him his grandfather Roberts name. My great grandfather Roberts lived for around forty years in Monroe County, but for some reason the family moved from Monroe County to neighboring Jasper County in 1896. In 1894 according to the Monroe Co, GA tax digest his family lived with his mother on 85 acres of land that his father Wiley J. Roberts purchased in 1839. At the time John Roberts had a net worth of $161. He owned this land in 1905/6 as a nonresistant according to the county tax digest. The 1880 Monroe Co, GA census and the 1900/1910/1920 Jasper Co, GA censuses listed him and his family: as a farmer living in a rented home with his wife and two/four/three children, respectively in 1880/1900/1910. In 1920 he and his wife Mattie lived with their son Zeph and his family. John purchased land and farmed it in Jasper County. The courthouse books on deeds list a purchase of lots #11 and #12 in Washington Park in Monticello on December 21, 1912 for the sum of $342.00 [Jasper County Deed Book R p41], 165 acres on 10/11/15 [Deed Book S p36] for $2000. He purchased of 50 acres east of Public Rd. on 12/14/1904 [Deed Book N p 25] for $300 and sold the land on 1/24/21 [Deed Book U p259] for $2140 paid over five years. His family sold the 165 acres on 10/26/39 for $1200 [Deed Books A-4 p579 and A-6 p86], which was $800 less than the land cost twenty-three years earlier.

I do not believe my great grandfather could read. He enjoyed attending functions such as county fairs and liked to have a drink at times according to his granddaughter Martha Lois. His youngest son Bridges died in France during World War 1 in 1918, and my great grandfather never fully recovered from his son's death. According to John A. Roberts’ death certificate he became ill in early 1920 and died from heart disease in 1921. During the time of his illness several of his out-of-town relatives visited him on his farm.²¹ His will is on file in Will Book #15 p160 at the Jasper County courthouse. He left everything to his wife and named his son Z.T. executor of the estate. The family buried him in West View Cemetery in Monticello, GA.

Mattie Simmons, named for her paternal grandmother Martha Malinda Dennis, grew up during and after the ravages of the Civil War. After the war she would not stay alone in her house and refused to sleep in the bedroom by herself because of a frightening incident that happened. In the latter part of the Civil War, while her father served in the Confederate Army in Virginia, Yankee soldiers, who were a part of Sherman’s Army that marched to the sea through Georgia, broke into her parents home at night in November or December 1864. At least one soldier entered my great grandmother's bedroom while she slept, crawled across her bed, and kidnapped a female slave who also slept in the room with her.²² The northern troops most likely took everything of value in the house, including any food and animals, as well as any other slaves living there. They may have even burned my great grandmother’s home as well. Can you imagine the fear a young girl experienced with such a sudden evasion into her life, when she was only ten years old? No wonder she lived with such fear the rest of her life.

In love at the age of 18 she married John Arthur Roberts on December 3, 1874 in Monroe Co, GA. Between her marriage and 1894 she gave birth to eight children²² of which five lived to be adults. Of the five children, four were boys named Verner, Will, Zeph, and Bridges and only one girl named Vallie (see Chapter One). I do not know the names or birth dates of the three children who died. Grandmother Mattie lived and worked hard on the family farms first in Monroe Co, GA and later in Jasper Co, GA. She, also, found time to be active in civic and religious affairs and to minister to the sick and needy. In 1918 her youngest son Bridges (see pages 14 – 18) died in France during World War I as a result of a machine gun wound to his abdomen, followed two and half years later by the death of her husband from heart diseases. I can only imagine how the deaths of these two family members and caring for the three young children so close to her must have affected her life. To add to her grief her granddaughter Mattie, who was named for her, shot and killed herself in 1931¹⁴ and her son Will murdered a man in 1937¹⁵ (see William Marcus Roberts pages 12 - 14).

In 1921 Mattie Roberts moved with her son Zeph, my grandfather, to Monticello and lived with his family until her death. Being a strong willed, likable woman she ruled the household,²² which must have made for a difficult situation for her daughter-in-law and my grandmother Bessie. In her later years she spent much of her time working on some sort of knitting or crocheting making small gifts for relatives, friends or her preacher who visited her. She would not let them leave without taking a small gift. She rarely left her home after her husband and Bridges deaths. When she did leave she visited the cemetery. After the death of her husband in 1921 one of her grandchildren always slept in the room with her. None of the grandchildren, including my father, seemed to mind sleeping in her room for they had a great affection for her.²² My parents named their youngest daughter Martha Malinda.

She died in 1940 and was buried beside her husband in West View Cemetery in Monticello, GA. Even with the tragedies in her life she lived an upbeat life to the age of 84. The children of John A. and Mattie Roberts are covered in Chapter One.