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from Past and Present of Mahaska County, Iowa by Manoah Hedge The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. 1906
Dr. Jay G. Roberts, who in the practice of his profession is making a specialty of diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat, was born in Iroquois county, Illinois, on the 9th of August, 1874, a son of Sidney O. and Martha J. (Ramsey) Roberts, natives of Vermont and Illinois respectively. The father is a direct descendant of Roger Williams and his mother, who bore the maiden name of Louise Dyer, was a direct descendant of Mary Dyer, who was hanged on Boston Common for her belief in the religion of the Friends or Quakers. Sidney O. Roberts became a captain in the Civil war, serving for four years as a member of the Ninth Illinois Cavalry, his rank coming to him in recognition of meritorious conduct on the field of battle. After the war he went to Illinois, recognizing the value of the prairie land, from which he developed a rich and productive farm, whereon he also carried on stock-raising. For many years his attention was given to agricultural pursuits, but about eight years ago he retired from active life with a very desirable competency and died April 16, 1905, at the age of sixty-four years. His widow still survives him. In their family were two sons and a daughter: Jay G.; Kay C., who is living in Kankakee, Illinois; and Grace, also a resident of Kankakee. Dr. Roberts acquired his early education in the public schools of his native town and afterward attended Greer College at Hoopeston, Illinois, while subsequently he became a student in the department of pharmacy of the Northern Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso, from which he won his degree of Ph. G. He likewise attended Rush Medical College, the medical department of the University of Chicago, and was graduated with the class of 1899. He took post-graduate work in the Chicago Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat College and before his graduation from Rush Medical he entered upon active practice in Chicago in 1898, having taken the state board examination in that year. In 1899 he located in Hastings, Nebraska, whence he returned to Chicago in 1903, and in 1904 he came to Oskaloosa, where he has since practiced. While in Hastings, although he engaged in general practice, he also devoted special attention to mental and nervous diseases and occupied the chair in the section of nervous and mental diseases in the Nebraska State Medical Society. He is the author of a number of valuable articles on different medical subjects including "Neurasthenia," which was read before the Nebraska State Medical Society, May 8, 1901. He is also the author of a paper called "Autointoxication in Relation to Mental and Nervous Diseases," which was published in the American Medicine of Philadelphia and in the Philadelphia Medical Journal. He also read a paper before the Nebraska Pharmaceutical Society entitled "The Relation of Pharmacy to the Medical Profession." His writings have been received with favor, showing original investigation and deep thought, and their value has been recognized by the medical fraternity. He belongs to the Mahaska Medical Society, the Iowa State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. Since coming to Oskalmsa he has devoted his attention exclusively to the eye, ear, nose and throat, and in the line of his specialty has met with constantly growing success viewed from both a professional and financial standpoint. In 1902, Dr. Roberts was married to Miss Louise Carnehan, of Hastings, Nebraska, and they have one son, Gilbert J. They hold an enviable position in social circles of the city, having already won many warm friends here. While the hospitality of their own home is greatly enjoyed by those who know them because of its undisputed sincerity and warm heartedness. Dr. Roberts belongs to the Masonic fraternity, but his attenion has been chiefly given to his professional duties, which are discharged with a sense of conscientious obligation. He ever keeps before him a high standard of perfection which he is continually striving to reach and, broadening his knowledge by research and investigation, he has been enabled to perform valuable service for his fellowmen in the line of his specialty.
Past and Present of Mahaska County, Iowa
Mahaska County, Iowa Genealogy