My Genealogy Hound

JOHN McROBERTS, retired, post office Homestead, was born May 12, 1806, near Lebanon church, in Mifflin township, a son of James McRoberts. The latter was born in Franklin county, Pa., where his parents were pioneers, and where his two brothers and three sisters were captured by Indians, in a schoolhouse; the girls were murdered, but the boys were held prisoners, and, having been adopted into the tribes, they refused all inducements to return to their parents. James McRoberts, who was a farmer, came to this county in 1799, and married Nancy Wishart, of Scotch descent, by whom he had six children: James, John, Jane, Ann, Mary and Elizabeth. John learned the blacksmith’s trade with his uncle, Henry Baird, a brother of Rev. Thomas Baird, and later in life farmed successfully. In the fall of 1874 he came to Homestead, where he has lived a retired life. He married Jane, daughter of Samuel McCutchen, who was driven off by the Indians and fled to Franklin county, where he became a blacksmith. Mr. McRoberts is the father of the following named children: James H. (a civil engineer), William (a farmer), Mrs. Nancy A. Smith, Mrs. Mary Willock, Mrs. Gussie Nolan, Emily and Margaret. Mrs. McRoberts died over thirty years ago. The old people were members of the Presbyterian Church, and were stanch democrats.