John Newton Roberson was born in Georgia about 1844. While still a young man, he and his brother were working in the timber when his father became angry with the younger boy and began beating him severely, knocking him down and then kicking him. Young John picked up a neck yoke and told his father to stop kicking his brother or he would use the neck yoke on him. His father stopped kicking the boy but ordered his son John to leave home and never return. He also stated that he never wanted to see his son's face again.

The young boy left home, and soon after that time the Civil War broke out. John was drafted into the Confederate Army where he served until the war's end. He was wounded in the battle of Lookout Mountain in Tennessee. Later, he was taken prisoner when Vicksburg was captured by General U. S. Grant. Vicksburg was entirely surrounded by the Union armies, and no supplies of any kind could reach the southern defenders. Food became so scarce that even cats and dogs were eaten John Roberson stated that the last food he had to eat before the surrender of the city was about one pound of raw meat from the carcass of an army mule that had been killed in battle. After being a prisoner of war he was later returned to the Confederate Army through an exchange of prisoners. He remained active in the army until the close of the war and was with General Kirby Smith in Texas, the last Confederate Army to lay down its arms.

John Roberson's father was named Wiles Gorham Robinson. There were so many "John Robinsons" living in the area at that time, that young John changed his name from Robinson to Roberson.

On September 22, 1864, he married Martha Ann Davenport, and they had eight children. The Roberson family joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while living in western Georgia. After joining the Church, the Roberson family moved west to the San Luis Valley Colorado. They did not remain there long due to the difficulty of earning a living. Their next move was to Grand Junction, Colorado, where John Roberson secured employment on the railroad as a section foreman. They remained there about two years. At that time John purchased a team and wagon and moved his family to Moab, Utah. He made a living in Moab by working with leather, doing such jobs as repairing shoes and mending harness and saddle goods. As long as he lived in Moab, he was the town's sole source for these services.

While living in Moab, John Roberson received word that his father was not expected to live much longer and was constantly calling for him. He returned to Georgia to see his father but found him to be both deaf and blind. He tried in every way he knew to let his father know he was present but was unable to communicate with him. His father's rash statement, uttered in anger many years before when John was a young boy, stating that he never again wanted to see his son, had this unhappy ending.

At the age of seventy-two, John Roberson returned to his old home in Georgia to visit his brother Joseph and other relatives whom he had not seen for many years. While there, he became ill with an attack of jaundice, an illness from which he had suffered as a child. This proved to be his last illness, and he died in Georgia. He was buried there among the scenes of his early childhood. His wife Martha Ann lived until the age of eighty-eight with her youngest daughter, Martha May Roberson Bingham, near Vernal, Utah.

Pioneer Pathways

Daughters of Utah Pioneers

Vol 4 , Page 291