John A. George Lincoln

By Angela Stout

20 July 2023

            John AGL Roberts was born 6 April 1870 to parents John Harrison and Mary “Pop” (Ramsey) Roberts.  John Harrison Roberts was shot and killed while plowing corn on Mine Lick Creek 19 July 1870 when John AGL Roberts was only a few months old.  After John Harrison Roberts’ murder, Mary took the children on up to Kentucky to live.  Unfortunately, Mary died sometime before the 1880 census leaving John AGL a child without living parents.  To keep the youngest children (Almeda and John) from going into an orphanage, the older sister Mary (Roberts) and her husband Benjamin Franklin “Frank” Coleman, went from TN up to KY to get them and bring them back to TN.  Mary and Frank had no children but instead raised Almeda “Meda” and John.  Not long Almeda marries John Franklin Jones on 11 Dec 1881 and John gets married about 1890 to Winnie Miller.  Here is a picture of John and Winnie.

They have five children together.  Winnie dies in 1900 and John remarries Sofrona Sutton on 1 Sep 1901.  Sofrona’s father deeds 11 acres of District 17 land on the “waters of Mine Lick Creek” and the south border of W.C. Stewart.  They have one child but both Sofrona and the infant child die of TB in 1904.  In the same year, John remarries Lillie Apple.  Here is John (#26) in an Apple family picture. 

John and Lillie have seven children together.  Lillie dies in 1927 and John remarries to Effie Phillips.  They have three children together.  Effie outlives John as he dies 15 Sep 1958 of pulmonary embolisms that may have been contributed to by the amputation of his left leg to the knee due to gangrene of left foot 2 weeks prior.  John is buried in the Boma New Home Cemetery.  He lived 88 years, had four wives and sixteen children.

                Recently, my parents and I went for a walk to find the specific location of John AGL Roberts home.  My father thought you could see the approximate location by an Interstate 40 advertisement signs.  He also knew that John AGL Roberts obtained land that was later inherited by his son, Walter Roberts in that same area.  Walking along the railroad, we found the gate to John AGL Roberts land and were able to obtain a map of that area of the railway that shows his land.

            This winter and spring we may explore his land some more.  We are told by Dorman Herd that his dad, Woodrow Herd, was hired to tear down the house to get it off the interstate right of way so they could begin construction.  The job was going slowly and the deadline was approaching so he just burned it down to get it out of the way.  There might still be some evidence of John’s house…and maybe come spring we will see some jonquils or buttercups there marking the location of his home.