The Republican journal., 1915-01-21
OBITUARY..

active part in politics. had never held. or de-
sired. public office, he was ever a loyal and
steadfast Republican. Something also should
be said of his long connection with heUnitarian
church, he having served for years as clerk OF
the parish. His uncle, Daniel Haraden, work.
ed on what was then called "the new meeting
house," the present Unitarian church. erected
In 1878. and his father, P. P. Quimby, and Tim
othy Chase. made the clock now in the tower
of the church. The works were built in a ma
chine shop at the Head of the Tide At the
time OF Mr.. George A. Quimby's death the
Unitarian church was without settled pastor.
and it seemed eminently fitting that rela-
tive, Rev. Haraden 3 Pearl, the young pastor
of the Congre gational church. should officiate
at his funeral. The services were brief and
simple. as the deceased would have had them.
Mr. Pearl paid this feeling and eloquent tribute
to the departed:
In the common impulse of respect and affec-
tlon we have drawn aside for few moments
from the rush and strain of our daily tasks to
bring tribute to the friend and kinsman who
has passed.
Tribute may mean anything or nothing. The
figure of the heroic warrior is drawn Gathering
past upon gun carriage in splendor and pomp.
The popular idol is carried to rest amidst solemn
tolling of bells and booming of guns And a
saddened nation stops moment to mourn.
But the world holds no tribute so magnifi-
cent so victorious, as that yield ed by the boy
hood and manhood friends of a man, whose
name, when he has fallen en- sleep, is men,
toned with choking voice, and with tears un-
ashamed on cheeks. The personal. the init
mately personal tribute, of those with whom
he has lived closely always
1t would seem that this is the true and
standard tribute. The tribute stripped of
splendor or pomp or notoriety, lacking the toll
ing of bells or the booming of guns; but the
dumb tribute of the lonely and aching heart
tribute as magnificent and majestic as death
itself.
And it is such a gift-the tribute of the ach-
ing heart of whole community that we bring
here this day. He belonged to more than his
own precious home circle-more than TO those
who were proud to call him kinsman; he be-
longed to the entire city, and section and State.
Many gifts were Divinely given him in
stewardship. Gifts of a genial and happy
nature: of wit; of intellect of business sagaci-
ty; of great and homely sympathy. What
might have been the fruits of his gift and
trick with the pen, had the droll mind been
trained under academic influences, we can only
surmise. AS it was, it brought him fame. And
so, with all these things in precious keeping
by him as steward, it is only natural that his
friends were without number.
Coming from strong, fine line of descent,
he had raised himself by sheer force of per-
sonality and character to a natural leadership
of men. Popular he was-aye-more than
popular, for that is cheap and fleeting term
He was beloved by all of his native city, by
rich and by poor, by old and by young, by those
above the line, and by those below, alike.
And it is this priceless wreath of personal
tribute-not only in recognition of his deep in
Ill.
matters in which he took an interest, in lodge,
in church, and in city affars-out the added
tribute of personal bereavement, in the heart
of the city, aching over the void which has
come with the passing of our very dear and
precious friend:
II cannot say and will not say
That he is dead-he is just away;
With CHEEKY smile and wave of hand.
He has wandered into the unknown land.
Think of him as the same-I say;
He is not dead,-he is just away"
Freeman Myrick Roberts, who died in New
port, Maine, January /, 1915, was born in
Jackson. December 81, 1s4O, and resided there
until 1866, when he purchased farm in New
port and removed there. The early death of
his mother and the delicate health of his
father, who also died when he was but nine
years old, led to his youthful years being
passed at the respective homes of his uncles,
Hamlin and Barnabas Roberts, until he finally
found home in the family of Deacon Benja-
min York. whose daughter he subsequently,
married. He enlisted in the Brooks Company
of the 4th Maine regiment and served the full
tel i of three years with that command from
which he never separated by sickness, wounds
or furlough, participating in every one of its
battles and skirmishes. He was especially
mentioned in the address of Colonel Elijah
Walker at the dedication of the monument of
the Fourth Maine at Gettysburg, who said that
Sergeant Mowry and Corporal Roberts saved
him from capture and perhaps death, Corporal
Roberts shooting Confederate soldier in the
melee. He kept a diary during the entire
period showing every movement of the regi-
ment and his own personal acts during that
time, which would be invaluable to the much
belated history of that distin guished regi-
ment of Waldo, Knox and Lincoln counties.
He married Aurelia Julana York, February /,
1866. who died September IL, s99, She was a
niece of Joseph Higgins of Thorndike, who
recently died at the age of SO years. Their
living children are Ellen Mabel, wife of Doctor
Oscar R. Emerson of Newport; James Everett.
a graduate Of Bates College. former principal
of several High schools in Maine and now Su-
perintendent of the schools of Fond du Lac,
Wisconsin, and Amorena Gertrude, wife of
Bella Burrill of Newport About five years
after the death of his wife he married Miss
Addie Miles, woman of exceptional char
acter, who for many years had been a school
teacher. most congenial companion, who
made his closing years of life extremely happy.
His father was Jacob Wellington Roberts, one
of the six sons and four daughters of Doctor
Jacob Roberts of Brooks, all school teachers
in Maine and other States fifty and sixty years
ago. His great-grandfather Joseph Roberts,
a soldier of the Revolution, was the first set
tier of Brooks and the father of his grand
mother Roberts Badziel Myrick of Hebron
also served in the army of the Revolution. His
Isaac Abbott of Jackson, prominent man and
surveyor of his day. Mrs. Emily Fletcher,
wife of the late Deacon Loren Fletcher of Bel
fast, younger sister of his mother, is the
only survivor of that family. He leaves one
brother, E. J. Roberts, d. D. s., of Augusta,
and one sister, Mrs. Omorena Grant Historian
of the Roberts family of Boston. Freeman
Roberts was deacon and trustee of the Union