The following brief biography of Roberts is found
in The Baptist Encyclopædia: a Dictionary of
the Doctrines, Ordinances, Usages, Confessions of Faith, Sufferings, Labors,
and Successes, and of the General History of the Baptist Denomination in All
Lands, (William Cathcart, editor, Philadelphia, PA: Louis H.
Everts, 1883, p. 993).
Roberts,
Rev. Joseph, was born in Virginia in the year 1770. Some time about the
close of the last century he left his native State in company with his father
and settled on Little River, Greene Co., Ga. He had married before leaving
Virginia, but had lost his wife, and therefore resided with his father for some
years; but at that time neither he nor any of the family cared for religion, being
intent upon the world and its pleasures and follies. Arrested in his wild
career by the grace of God in the year 1803, Mr. Roberts united with the church
at Whatley’s Mills, now Bethesda, and at once took a high stand as a member, attending
the Georgia Association as a delegate in 1804. He married in 1805, and settled
in Powelton, Hancock Co., where he was the companion and fellow-laborer of
William Rabun, the two representatives for a number of years of the Powelton
church in the Association. He soon manifested the possession of decided ministerial
talents, and in 1811 was licensed to preach; two or three years afterwards he
was ordained, and immediately entered upon a course of extensive and useful
labor. The churches at Powelton, Horeb, Bethel, and White Plains, besides
others, enjoyed the benefits of his ministry, the last mentioned, perhaps,
sharing most largely in his godly labors. For eighteen consecutive years he
preached to the White Plains church, being much esteemed by it and by all the
other churches he served. Few ministers possessed to the extent he did the
faculty of endearing their people to them, and this, perhaps, was one secret of
his usefulness. The doctrines of grace were his delight, and furnished the
staple of his sermons; yet, like Paul, he dwelt much upon practical godliness.
He ended his useful life on the 22d of October, 1837, in the sixty-seventh year
of his age.[ii]
[i] My note from the front of the
White Plains church minutes is “February 1818 - Oct. 1836.” But from the text
of the minutes I copied that Joseph Roberts was “…chosen by unanimous voice of
the church and congregation” (Aug 15, 1818; p. 35). Perhaps this is explained
that he tentatively arrived in February, but was not officially installed until
August. The January 10, 1818 minute says the church appointed “Shockley,
Veazey, Colwell, Parker, Ivy, and Grier to consult with Brother Joseph Roberts
about becoming pastor” (p. 33).
[ii] Other information I have
indicates that Joseph Roberts was born in Virginia in 1769 and died in Georgia
in 1836. The Christian Index obituary
for Roberts was published December 1, 1836 – meaning it is highly unlikely that
he died in October 1837!
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