One of the first merchants in Birmingham, he owned the first hardware store in the city, located on 2nd Avenue between 21st & 22nd Streets, according to THE PIONEERS CLUB: EARLY DAYS IN BIRMINGHAM (Birmingham, Alabama: A Printing of the Original Papers of the Pioneers Club whose Members were Eye Witnesses to the events of the founding of the city, January 1937, Pages 6 & 47).

Son of Dr. Willis Roberts and Asenath Alexander Roberts who moved to Cahawba, Alabama, in 1819 and to Mobile in 1824. His father, a former judge of inferior court in Georgia, was a personal secretary of William Wyatt Bibb, Alabama's first governor. He was a cousin of the wife of the second governor, Thomas Bibb. Willis Roberts was nominated but not elected as first state treasurer of Alabama; was appointed one of three managers of the first election held at Cahawba on Dec. 3, 1819; and on Feb. 14, 1818, was appointed the first clerk of superior court and clerk of Dallas County court.

Reuben Roberts moved from Mobile to Texas where he was a surveyor of Refugio County 1837-39. Served as lieutenant in the Texas Marines, participating in the disastrous Santa Fe Expedition, June 1841-1842 (New Orleans Times Picayune, Dec. 11, 1841, p.2). He served in the Navy of the Republic of Texas 1842-3. Postmaster of Buffalo, Henderson County, 1847. Returned to Mobile, 1849. Married Martina T. Quigley there March 4, 1851.
Civil War service in Alabama: 2nd Volunteer Militia Regiment, company A; 1st Mobile Infantry, co. F; and 4th Infantry Reserves, co. A.

Moved to Birmingham, 1872, where Martina died Feb. 19, 1873. Married January 1, 1874 to Mrs. Emma Augusta Alston May, daughter of Judge William Jeffreys Alston and Martha (Cade) Alston, and widow of Benjamin May.


Birmingham Iron Age, May 29, 1884 (founded by Willis Roberts, 1828-1892): "Mr. R.H. Roberts, the well known hardware merchant of this city, died Tuesday morning, about 5 o'clock, of typhoid fever, at the home of his sister-in-law, Mrs. Kent, near Oxmoor, on Shades' Mountain. He was unwell when he left the city several days ago, but it was not generally known here that his illness had taken a dangerous turn, and the intelligence of his death was therefore the greater shock.

"The funeral services were held at the Southern Methodist church in this city, and the remains buried in Oak Hill cemetery.

"Mr. Roberts was known only to be respected. The strictest probity was the rule of his life. He was an earnest Christian—a devoted member of the Methodist church—and his dealings with his neighbors were worthy of religious sensibilities so responsive and so genuine as his.

"He will long be remembered where-ever he was known for his sympathy and labors for his suffering fellow-man. In times that most tried men's faith and courage the best part of his nature showed most strikingly. His acquaintances in Mobile, where he lived until his removal to Birmingham in 1873, still tell of his tireless works of mercy during the yellow fever epidemics.

"The cholera visitation of 1873 was to him a call for work of the same kind, and he again responded with fearless and patient attentions to the suffering."

Clipping from a Mobile newspaper dated May 31, 1884, in the Pillans bible: "Death of Reuben H. Roberts. A telegram from Birmingham announced the death near that place, on Wednesday morning, of Mr. Reuben H. Roberts, for many years a citizen of Mobile. Mr. Roberts was born in Cahaba, in 1817, and with his father, Mr. Willis Roberts, moved to Mobile in 1824 where he grew to manhood. In 1838 he went to Texas and received the appointment of surveyor of Refugio County, Texas. Subsequently he became a Lieutenant in the regular army of the Republic of Texas, and was on the expedition to explore the route from the falls of the Brassos to Red river, during which the troops encountered severe hardships, many of them dying of starvation after eating all the mules used in the expedition. After the Texan army was disbanded he entered the navy as an officer of marines, continuing in this service until the navy ceased to exist, about when he came to Mobile. Here he was for many years engaged in the hardware business as clerk with H.L. Reynolds & Co., and O. Mangaze & Co., until he embarked in the same business on his own account, continuing until the time of his death. Mr. Roberts was the last of his generation in the family, all of his brothers and sisters having preceded him in answer to the last summons. He was a devout member of the Methodist Church, and enjoyed the reputation of being a correct and upright man."


Daughter Mary A. Roberts (b. 1862, d. after 1870)