Roberts, Charles H. - Dr.

DR. CHARLES H. ROBERTS.

"Dr. Charles H. Roberts was born Jan. 14, 1821, in the town of Moreau, Saratoga Co., N.Y. From necessity he grew to manhood in habits of strict economy and industry, and, like the sons of most farmers of those times, he was required to go in the field early and work hard and late in the day.

"At the age of sixteen the bonds of his attachment for home were greatly lessened by the loss of his mother, and he soon began to resolve upon efforts for a livelihood beyond the limited sphere of farm surroundings and associations. Denied the advantages of good schools near his home, and yearning for better opportunities, he quitted the parental roof at the age of eighteen, since which time he has been the architect of his own character and fortune.

"Circumstances were by no means propitious at this time for the youth who had thus taken his fate in his own hands; his wardrobe was scanty, and the lack of means and influence threw many and painful difficulties in his way. Yet, sustained by honesty of purpose, a consciousness of strict integrity, and a laudable ambition to strive and to win, he commenced a manly battle of life by attending school during the winter seasons and laboring on farms through the busy mouths of summer.

"Some years of perseverance in this manner enabled him to change his season of labor by attending school during summer and teaching through the winter months; and, after spending a few summers at the Glens Falls Academy, he commenced the study of medicine with Dr. N. Edson Sheldon, of that village, in 1842. Then followed several years of diligent application, alternating in the meantime teaching with studying, until, with some kindly assistance from his preceptor, he was prepared to enter the Albany Medical College.

"When it became necessary to enter the college above named, young Roberts, not being able to pay the tuition of less than one hundred dollars for the first course, ascertained that the charter of that institution required it to admit two worthy and promising students, one term each, gratuitously at each session, to be appointed by the regents of universities.

"On learning the course necessary to pursue to obtain such appointment, he wrote to William Wilcox, member of the Legislature from his native county, who knew his circumstances, and through his influence secured the appointment.

"After the close of the term which he, with but ten dollars in his pocket, went to attend, followed another season of teaching and studying, and then the final struggle, the second and last courses, and taking the diploma conferring the title of ‘Doctor of Medicine,’ if found competent, after the closing rigid examination.

"To defray the expenses of this second course without waiting still another year seemed quite impossible, but arrangements were eventually made with the attorney of the college to take a joint note of N. Edson Sheldon and C.H. Roberts for the tuition, payable one year after date. This note was given, the term attended, and the diploma received.

"The year soon passed and the note matured, but money enough had not been accumulated, after meeting necessary engagements, to pay in full.

"The amount on hand, however, was promptly applied on the note the day it matured, and satisfactory arrangements were made for paying the balance, principal and interest, in installments, which were subsequently promptly met.

"In his days of poverty and embarrassed circumstances Dr. Roberts’ credit was always good, owing to his promptness in fulfilling his agreements. In latter years it has been a subject of boastful pride that his name was never protested as payer of an obligation.

"To achieve what the doctor has accomplished may appear as an easy task to those living in these days of liberal compensation for services and far greater educational facilities, but young Roberts labored and struggled in different times. He was an extra man who commanded thirteen dollars per month for the eight farming months of the season, and an extra teacher that received fifteen dollars per month in a country district school, with board alternated among his patrons.

"Dr. Roberts returned to Glens Falls after the close of the term at medical college, in the spring of 1846, with diploma in hand and his profession as his only present or prospective means of support. In his usual thoughtful habit he calmly comprehended the situation and surveyed his chances of success.

"The medical profession at that time appeared to him to be preyed upon by pretenders and charlatans of every kind, and the man of pretensions stood fully as good a chance for temporary success as the man of worth. To begin the struggle backed only by a diploma seemed too unpromising to Dr. Roberts, inasmuch as he was wholly dependent upon his exertions for a livelihood, and already in debt for tuition at the medical college. He could not, therefore, afford to enter the contest in the practice of medicine, and await the uncertain result. So he carefully looked about for some vocation to which his previous studies would best qualify him, and one that would give more immediate compensation. He finally decided on dentistry as the profession of his choice. After qualifying himself for practice, he visited professionally several villages in Saratoga, Washington, and Dutchess Counties.

"He devoted the winter of 1848 to the study of chemistry and surgery in the city of Philadelphia, and in May, 1849, first located permanently in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., where his success was far better than could have been anticipated. In 1848 he commenced using the painless process for destroying the exposed nerves of teeth with a minute portion of pure crystalline white oxide of arsenic mixed with morphia and tannic acid.

"This process was so effective in the purposes for which it was intended, that it materially aided him in the commencement of his practice.

"He was among the first to introduce in the practice the use of continuous-gum work on platinum plates, and claims to be the first who covered the entire plate over the roof of the mouth with gum and body, thus giving the roof of the mouth the appearance of nature. He commenced this practice in 1853.

"In 1856, as his health was impaired by close and unremitting attention to business, he sought rest and recreation in a visit to Europe, where he had flattering offers by dentists to resume the practice of his profession both in Paris and Vienna. But he had determined when he took leave of his office in Poughkeepsie to take also leave of the practice of the profession.

"In 1859 he commenced the manufacture of Roberts’ ‘Os-Artifiiel,’ a preparation of the silicate of the oxychloride of zinc, which, in time, was used wherever dentistry was practiced.

"He prosecuted the practice of his profession in the same rooms for nineteen years, and numbered among his patrons many of the most prominent families of the State.

"During this period he became interested in numerous operations outside of his profession, which were directed with good judgment and prudence that led to success. Among the more prominent of these may be mentioned the entering of public lands in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Missouri, which he commenced in 1855, entering all such only after personal examination of the lands.

"During the crisis of 1857, and until 1861, he went into large operations in Western railroad securities, which proved abundantly successful. Securities purchased by him during these years to the full extent of his ability, and against the advice of his friends (as they were considered worthless and sold for nominal prices), enhanced in value as the war progressed.

"Western lands became valueless and a dead weight to carry over these years of depression, owing to increased taxation. Dr. Roberts not only carried his, but added many more by purchasing from those who desired to sell.

"The ancestors of this branch of the Roberts family were distinguished both in diplomacy and in the sterner realities of war. The great-grandfather on the maternal side, Van Braam, was the second ambassador of the Dutch East India Company to the Court of Pekin, China, and in this capacity perfected the treaty with the Chinese government that enabled the Hollanders to hold and control the trade of that peculiar people so many years, to the exclusion of all other nations.

"He was also the author of one of the first books in the English and French languages detailing the habits, customs, and peculiarities of that wonderful people.

"The great-grandfather on the paternal side was a distinguished officer in the Revolutionary war. He was a native of Wales, Great Britain, and at one period an officer in the British army.

"When the mother-country resolved to subdue her rebellious colonies in America, Col. Owen Roberts was a citizen of Charleston, S.C., and patriotically espoused the cause of his adopted country.

"He was, however, tendered his commission in His Majesty’s service, which he promptly and indignantly declined, defiantly returning as his answer his assurances of devotion to the land of his adoption, and an avowal of his determination to ‘Stand by her fortunes, come weal or come woe.’ When hostilities began he was commissioned colonel of the 4th South Carolina Artillery, and was subsequently killed at the battle of Stono, while gallantly leading his command in an effort to prevent the landing of British troops at that point. Mortally wounded by a cannon ball through one of his lower limbs, he was carried from the field and placed under the shade of a tree, and out of range of the battle still raging.

"His son, Richard Brooks Roberts, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, learning of the terrible disaster to his father, hastened to his side. (See Alexander Garden’s ‘Anecdotes of the Revolution.’) His father, observing the emotions of his son, said: ‘Take this sword, which has never been tarnished by dishonor, and never sheath it while the liberties of your country are in danger. Accept my last blessing and return to your duty.’ A short time after he breathed his last upon the spot where his comrades had placed him. His son, Richard Brooks Roberts, was a youth scarcely eighteen years of age, holding a captain’s commission in his father’s regiment.

"He faithfully and patriotically lived up to his father’s dying injunctions, remained in the service of his country until the close of the Revolutionary struggle, and was afterwards commissioned a major in the regular army by Gen. Washington. He died at the early age of thirty-seven, leaving three sons, the eldest of whom was Lucius Quintius Cincinnatus Roberts, father of the subject of this sketch. This name was given him in honor of the Cincinnati Society, of which, as the oldest son, according to the rules of the society, he became a member upon the death of his father.

"Dr. Roberts was married, Dec. 20, 1866, to Miss Catharine Freeman, youngest daughter of the late Samuel Freeman, of Poughkeepsie, and passed the remainder of that winter in Havana, Cuba. In May, 1868, he surrendered his practice in Poughkeepsie to his nephew, Dr. C.L. Houghton, and retired from the profession to his farm on the Hudson River opposite and near that city, in Ulster County, where he now resides, devoting his time chiefly to agricultural and horticultural pursuits, although he is also largely interested in the manufacture of paper. At this writing (1874) he is spending the greater part of his time in Wilmington, N.C., as president of the Carolina Central Railway Company.

"This brief record of a successful business career offers an instructive and encouraging lesson to the young who are struggling, as Dr. Roberts struggled, under manifold difficulties to push onward and upward in life. It is a success achieved despite obstacles that would have discouraged any but the most resolute, a triumph due not to any special brilliancy of genius, but to strict attention to business, rigid economy, good, strong common sense, a persistency amounting almost to pertinacity, never yielding when in the right, but at the same time respecting the rights of others; and, above all, an unquestioned integrity that never fails to inspire confidence and consideration."

The above is extracted from the third edition of " Representative Men North and South," published in 1874, to which it would be proper to add a brief sketch to cover the time to the present.

In 1855 the Wilmington, Charlotte and Rutherford Railroad Company was organized to build a railroad from Wilmington, in North Carolina, to the Tennessee State line.

In order to appease the jealousies of the people of Wilmington and Charlotte, construction was commenced at both of those towns, and from each the work was pushed westerly.

In 1871 the eastern division was constructed from Wilmington to Lilesville, a distance of one hundred and thirty miles, and the western division from Charlotte to Cherryville, a distance of forty-one miles, when the company failed to meet its engagements and foreclosure proceedings were commenced, and Dr. Roberts was appointed one of the receivers.

Under the receivers the eastern division was extended to within three miles of Wadesboro’, and the western division to Buffalo Station.

During the session of 1872-73 of the Legislature of North Carolina, a charter was procured for the organization of The Carolina Central Railway Company, authorizing it to purchase the Wilmington, Charlotte and Rutherford Railroad Company, and requiring it to complete the entire line from Wilmington to Shelby, a distance of two hundred and forty-two miles, which required the construction of sixty miles within two years.

The road was completed through a rolling and expensive country to grade, in compliance with the terms of the charter, at a cost of about $1,400,000, including the necessary additional rolling stock.

The Carolina Central Railway Company was organized in April, 1873, and Dr. Roberts was elected president of the company May 6, 1873, and, in accordance with a resolution of the board of directors, the president put the entire uncompleted portion of the eastern division under contract in July following, a distance of fifty-six miles, which was completed December 15, 1874.

In September, 1873, when the contractors were at work in full force on the whole line of the uncompleted eastern division, the unprecedented financial crisis set in. The contractors were to be paid for each month on the fifteenth day of the succeeding month.

On the 16th of October the contractors called in a body on the president for their September pay; but, so severe was the first few weeks of the crisis, to raise any amount of money under any circumstances was an impossibility.

The contractors understood the financial condition of the whole country, and their mistrusts led them to unnecessary fears, and some became threatening and turbulent.

The president quietly invited them all into his private room, and explained the difficulty fully, and told them they had only a choice of two plans to pursue,—either to go on with their work and take their chances of payment, or stop at once and look to the company for damages; that if the company was not good for the amounts due them, it would not be good for the damages; that he would not advise which course to take, but believed if they kept on with their work payments would be resumed as usual in a few weeks.

Some demurred, and were inclined to discuss the matter, when Mr. W. Ames, of Massachusetts, the principal contractor, said, "Boys, you may do just what you please; I have made up my mind what I shall do." (Many of his associates were sub-contractors under him.)

Several eagerly asked what he had decided to do. He coolly replied, "I am going back to work, and take my chances." This decided the matter, and every man went "back to work;" and although they went back without a dollar of their pay, they worked with a will, and on the 15th of November they received their September estimates, and on the 15th of December they received the October dues, and on the 15th of January they were paid for November and December, and regularly thereafter.

The 23d of September, 1873, will long be remembered by business men, and never be forgotten by railroad men. The Carolina Central Railway was about the only road under construction in the United States that did not stop work within thirty days after the crisis set in, but unremittingly pressed on to an early completion through the unprecedented stringency of money, particularly for railroad purposes. It was, to some extent, a railroad crisis, and no borrowers were more closely scrutinized than railroad companies or railroad men, or those having connection with either. Had Ames decided on that critical day not "to go back to work," and sought redress in litigation, the result would have been different.

Owing to the debts contracted in building and equipping the Carolina Central Railway, and the continued depression, shrinkage of business, and a strong competition for freight, the company found the receipts inadequate to keep the property in good condition and pay the interest on the large mortgage debt; therefore, in April, 1876, it was placed in the hands of receivers, who appointed the president their general manager, and he, at the first meeting of the bondholders held after the appointment of receivers, recommended the payment of every honest obligation of the company before paying any interest to the bondholders.

Although this was an extraordinary course, quite unparalleled in such affairs, it was approved, and an order of court procured for the purpose; the recommendation was strictly carried out, and the entire floating debt of the company was paid in full from the receipts of the road, after which the net receipts were judiciously spent in building stone culverts, and filling in trestles and other betterments. In August, 1876, a new general superintendent was appointed in place of the one resigned. As Dr. Roberts originally accepted the position to remain only while the road was being constructed, he gave the directors and receivers notice in January, 1880, that he considered a change of climate a necessity, and besides his personal affairs required him at home; consequently, he could not consent to spend another summer in Wilmington, and should again retire to his farm in Ulster County on or before the 1st of June, 1880.

His children, in the order of their ages, are Frances Parcells, Grace Van Braam, Charles Henry Van Braam, Owen Freeman, Irving Bruce, and Thornton Delano.

Many minor instances might be mentioned to illustrate the practical common sense of the subject of this sketch, such as large importations of evergreen trees in Iowa from France and Scotland, to afford the much needed screens for man and beast on the bleak, windy prairies of that State, which he did as early as 1858, and proved a perfect success. His personal courage is attested by his adventures in southwestern Missouri, in the counties adjacent to the Arkansas line, among the timber thieves of that section, from whom he protected the pine timber on lands entered by him in 1857.

The destiny of every individual is often controlled by insignificant circumstances, considered trivial at the time, which, if utilized with tact and common sense, can be moulded to their advantage. The safest road to success is persistent industry, honesty of purpose, and unyielding integrity; being, at all times, no less willing to concede the rights of others than to claim those of their own.