William Mason Roberts

A very well known and successful man, one of the pioneers of the town of Los Banos and rancher of the west side, where he has engaged in the blacksmithing business for may years, and also a man ho has served in official capacity in both town and country, is William Mason Roberts, who was born in Smith County Tenn on April 10, 1866, the son of Oliver W Roberts and Lucy A Whitley, the former born in Virginia and taken to Tennessee when he was eight years old and there reared and lived his entire life as a planter.

On the maternal side the forebears were of English descent. Grandfather Roberts came from Scotland and made settlement in Virginia, Oliver and Lucy Roberts had the following children: Elizabeth deceased; Wiley of Tennessee; Tempa, deceased; William Mason; and Dona, James, Melonee and Robert S all of Tennessee; and Inus of Long Beach, Cal.

William M was educated in the grammar school of his native state, and in 1889, at the age of twenty-three, started out to work for himself, doing odd jobs, blacksmithing chiefly, until 1890, when he came to California and first stopped in Madera County, being employed in various places doing work and running a harvester each season for the large grain farmers in Merced and Madera Counties, continuing some ten or twelve years, finally settling in Los Banos, when the town was first started. He started in the draying business, but sold out after a short time; then, in company with H C M Reuter, he opened a blacksmith shop. When the people were looking for a reliable man for constable of Township No 3, they selected Mr Roberts, who was already serving as a deputy sheriff of the county; hew was elected and served for sixteen years, up to 1917. His partner carried on the blacksmithing while Mr Roberts look after official duties. As he began to be a man of substance he purchased fifteen acres, just outside the city limits of Los Banos and lived there until 1923, then he purchased the old Charles Aker place of eighty aces five miles from Los Banos and moved there. This ranch is devoted to alfalfa and will com under the new canal.

William M Roberts was married in Merced in October 9, 1897, to Miss Drusilla Mills, born in Santa Cruz County but reared on a ranch near Soledad, Monterey County, the daughter of John Boardman Mills and Louisa Christina Bickmore, natives of Maine, among the pioneers who braved the dangers of the water and over;and routes to locate in the West. Mrs Mills crossed the plains in 1849, Mr Mills came about the same time. Mrs Roberts is a second cousin to the late D. O. Mills, pioneer banker of Sacramento, and she is one in a family of twelve children; William, deceased; Sylvina, of Gonzales; Rose, of Salinas; Oliver ,deceased; Clara, of Chico, Drusilla, Mrs Roberts; Emma, of Corvallis, Ore.; Edgar, deceased; Mary, of San Jose,; George, of Oakland; Phoebe, Mrs O E Phillips of Los Banos; and Rachael, of Long Beach. Mrs Robert's father, [John Mills], was a carpenter and farmer and died when he was fifty-eight; her mother died at the age of fifty-four. Mr and Mrs Roberts have two sons, William Mason Jr and Marvin Mason. Politically, Mr Roberts is a Democrat. Fraternally he is a member of Merced Lodge No 1240 BPOE, Los Banos Lodge No 312 FAM, Mountain Brow Lodge No 82 IOOF, of which he is a Past Grand; and he belongs to the Woodmen of the World in Los Banos.

John Outcalt's 1925 "History of Merced County"* Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Jan 8 2019, 18:31:34 UTC