BENJAMIN MORGAN ROBERTS, JR.
12 Aug 1857 – 1 Feb 1938

Benjamin, my second great grandfather on my mother’s mother’s side, was born in a wagon box in Fort Supply, Wyoming, the first child of parents Benjamin Morgan Roberts and Mary Ann “Polly” Bullock Roberts. It is said that he was the first man of Caucasian descent to be born there.

Benjamin was just six weeks old when Johnston’s army came into sight. The family was forced to retreat back to Utah. Their wagons were loaded with whatever they could hold and everything else was burned so as not to leave any provisions for the army, which Brigham Young considered to be an enemy of the Mormon people.

The family then settled in Provo, Utah, and Benjamin Jr. helped his father farm the land. He had many “old west” adventures, including meeting three hundred migrant Chinese workers who had walked all the way to Utah from San Francisco to find work on the railroad. One worker gave Benjamin a teakwood box, saying he was the first white man he had ever seen, and it became a family heirloom and the subject of much family lore.

Later, Benjamin Jr. himself worked for the Utah Southern Railroad to bring it to Provo from Salt Lake City and then on through Sevier Canyon.

On 5 Oct 1882, when he was twenty-five, Benjamin Jr. married Sarah Ann Milner, the oldest daughter of judge John B. Milner.

To support his family, Benjamin Jr. farmed and raised livestock including cows, chickens, horses and pigs. In his spare time, he hauled wood from the canyon or coal from Coalville. At night, he’d make adobe bricks that he could sell to local builders.

Benjamin was a veteran of the Black Hawk War and had many stories about the Indians. He also enjoyed telling people about the time he got to see the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show.

He passed away in Los Angeles, following a heart attack, and was buried 6 Feb 1938 in the Provo City Cemetery.