Horace Roberts

Horace Roberts, 1850-1885
Clerk and Accountant

Buried in Masons Cemetery, Block 6, Lot 1, Grave 2

(Grave marker photograph courtesy of the
​Pioneers’ Cemetery Association, Inc.)

---

Roberts was born on December 5, 1850, in Gwynedd, Lower Gwynedd Township, Montgomery, Pennsylvania. The son of Job Roberts and Hannah Pickering, he had brothers named William Preston, Ellwood R. and Richard. The family were Quaker farmers. 

By 1860, Horace and his three brothers were living with their widowed mother in the same community. While they may have experienced some financial hardship, they were apparently able to hold on until their situation improved. Brothers William Preston and Ellwood both served during the Civil War. Ellwood died in 1864, but William Preston, the oldest, became a successful lawyer and a Grand Master Mason.

The federal census of 1870 records Horace as clerking in a local store and living with his widowed mother, his paternal grandfather, and his younger brother Richard. By then, the family’s fortunes had recovered and Hannah’s financial worth was $3000. 

On October 17, 1877, Horace married Edith Robinson Hooper. She had been born in Mobile, Alabama, and was still there in 1860; however, by 1870 she was in Titusville, Pennsylvania. Since her parents seem to have been New Englanders originally, perhaps they left Alabama when the Civil War broke out.

In 1880, Horace was employed as an accountant in Titusville, Crawford County, Pennsylvania. The Robertses do not seem to have had children.

Horace was only 34 when he and Edith came to Phoenix in 1884 on account of his health. In March 1885, he was hunting in the Salt River bottom when an accidental blast from his shotgun so damaged his hand that it had to be amputated. The wound refused to heal and he died five weeks later on April 15, 1885. 

Horace Roberts was buried in Phoenix’s Masons Cemetery, where he has a marble grave marker. There is also a cenotaph bearing his name in the Roberts family plot in the Gwynedd Friends Cemetery that confirms his death in Phoenix.

His widow Edith survived him by many years, dying in 1939.

© 2026 by Donna L. Carr. Last revised 26 August 2026.
-----------------------------
Take care not to confuse this Horace Roberts with a different Horace Roberts who was related to George and Gideon Roberts.  Both may have been in Phoenix at about the same time, but the second Horace Roberts was from Virginia and his wife’s name was Mary.

​​​​​If you would like assistance researching our interred, you can find more information on our website. You can contact us at [email protected] at any time. Thank you for your interest to preserve the history of Arizona's pioneers!