W. P. "Perry" Roberts    

W. P. ROBERTS. W.P. Roberts of Bridgeport, better known to Wise County people as Perry Roberts, is another of those sterling, industrious citizens who came to Wise County at an early time with practically nothing to start with, but who, by hard work and frugality has surrounded himself with comforts and plenty, reared a respectable family and forced his way into the good esteem of all who know him. He was born in Randolph County, Alabama, July 21, 1851. At twenty years of age, he came with his father to Johnson County, Texas, locating near Alvarado. Then in 1879 Mr. Roberts moved to Cooke County and staid two years, after which he came to Wise on November 26, 1881, settling on Osteen Branch, north of Paradise, where he lived until 1884. After this date Mr. Roberts’ home was in Pleasant Valley Community, about five miles southwest of Bridgeport; where he accumulated considerable property and came to be a substantial citizen. In later years, off and on, Mr. Roberts had been a successful merchant at Bridgeport, and resides there now, conducting a popular grocery store.

Mr. Roberts has been twice married, first to Miss Ann McDonald in Johnson County in 1873, then in 1893, following her death, to Jeanette Fullingim, daughter of Archer Fullingim, a pioneer citizen of Wise County. Mr. Roberts came into Decatur the day after the old courthouse in the center of the square burned, which was November 26, 1881, a fact that has been instrumental in establishing the exact date of the burning of this building for the purposes of this record.

Pioneer history of Wise County : from red men to railroads, twenty years of intrepid history, Decatur, Tex, 1907, pages 377-378. View the image of this page on line.   Search Hundreds of 1880s-1920s Texas History Books for biographies and historical information on your ancestors.  View the book page images on line and print them out for your genealogy file!  Try the family history collection for free for 14 days!