LaDu Prescott Roberts was born Jan 21, 1879 and died May 30, 1956. No one knows for sure how the name "LaDu" came about. Literature that I have read indicates that it probably meant something like "Of the House of". Thus, his name would be "Of the House of Prescott Roberts". Since LaDu's father, Wilbur, never knew his parents, they may have wanted to make sure that LaDu knew his origins. What ever the reason, the name is awkward by today's standards. LaDu dropped the "Prescott" and went by just L. D. Roberts in the later years of his life.
LaDu, as he was called by many, was born in Sunbury, Ohio and probably received his early education there. He attended Denison University in Granville, Ohio and graduated from there in 1900. Granville is just 30 miles south east of Sunbury. His degree looks something like the following:
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Doan Academy
A DEPARTMENT OF
DENISON UNIVERSITY
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This Certifies that La Du Prescott Roberts has
completed in a satisfactory manner the Scientific Course of Study
prescribed for this Academy by the Board of Trustees of Denison University.
In testimony whereof this Diploma is given at Granville, Ohio,
this twentieth day of June, Anno Domini One thousand, nine
hundred _______________.
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Of course, the original looks like a diploma and has a lot of fancy scroll work all over it. LaDu was the secretary of his senior class. His year book shows him front row center of a class of 43 graduating students. He was a member of the Beta Theta Pi Fraternity. He was a member of the Irving Literary Society. No year was written in the trailing blank because the year was 1900. One thousand nine hundred and nothing.
After LaDu graduated from Denison, he went on to earn a certificate in Pharmacy. The Certificate looked something like the following:
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National Institute of Pharmacy
INCORPORATED A.D. 1885.
CHICAGO , U.S.A.
This Certificate
IS AWARDED TO
La Du Prescott Roberts
In testimony of having completed a Course of Lectures
and of having passed a satisfactory examination in the Sciences of
Botany, Materia Medica and Chemistry
AND IN THE
ART OF PHARMACY.
Dated at the City of Chicago, attested by the Director and by the Secretary of the
Department of Examinations and the Corporate Seal of the Institute affixed
by the President this first day of April A.D. 1901
No. 1496
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Of course we are completely struck with the appearance of this document. It is identical to the one his mother earned only ten years prior. Hers was Number 420. LaDu's was number 1496.
LaDu then went to work as a Druggist in a small town called Marysville in Ohio. Marysville is just east of Sunbury by about 30 miles. He joined a social organization of about 50 young people called "The Dutch Company". These young people played ball, sang songs and went camping. Once a year they had a major camping trip down on the banks of the Scioto River about three miles north of Dublin, Ohio. This was about a 15 or 20 mile trip by horse and wagon. There they would play ball, go swimming, boating, put on charity singing performances for local churches and take day trips to town and other places of interest. One walking day-trip was to a grave site marker of an Indian Chief named "Old Leatherlips". The marker should still be there. The camp was pitched on the west bank of the Scioto in close proximity to the famous Boulder dam. LaDu was known as ZuZu the Medicine Man which was a corruption of LaDu the Druggist. They called their camp "Camp Winchester".
The Dutch Company went camping at least three years that I can trace. The last that I have record of was in 1904. LaDu attended camp at least in 1903 and 1904. During the 1904 camping trip he wrote the following poetry.
Talk about your Southern Belle all the day long
Praise your Washingtonian for whome Dwight is strong,
Then think of the girls from your own little town.
You surely know them, they've all won renoun.
Often to the old Spring some couples will stray
They say its Ethel and ZuZu today.
If the chappies knock, we softly will say-
You did the very same thing in your day.
Come! Come! Come and make eyes with me;
Down in the old ravine
Come! Come! Come and hunt boards with me,
You know we cannot be seen.
Hear the old dinner horn toot - - - - - - - -
Just give us cold chicken Ya!!
Do! Do! come and have a neck or two.
Down by the Scioto's stream.
Talk about the place where your swells go to bathe
Picture the Dutch in the river today
Some wear ruffels and some wear trains
Some wear red stockings which frighten the swains.
My how indignant the Dutch all became
When Pasco thoroughly splashed Dixie's frame
But we with nady forgiveness to burst
When he brought into camp Stale weinerwurst.
"Chappies" I believe is a reference to their chaperones. I don't understand hunting "boards". Maybe I misread the handwriting. Ethel was Ethel Cross. Pasco was John Pasco. Dixie was the nickname for Edith Randall of Alabama.
LaDu was also a member of the Masons in Marysville. He belonged to :
Palestine Lodge No. 158, F. & A.M.
Marysville Chapter No. 99 R A.M.
S. S. Jewell Council No. 89, R. & S.M.
Raper Commandery No. 19, K. T., Urbana, O.
This doesn't mean much to me because I am not a Mason and don't know a lot about them. I only record it here because it might be important to some one else. He never practiced Masonry after moving to Florida.
LaDu was still in Marysville as of June 19th, 1905. At this time he re-registered with the Ohio Board of Pharmacy. This was a registration by examination and he was given permission to practice Pharmacy as a Proprietor or Manager of a Pharmacy or Retail Drug Store. This certificate No. 4750 was good for three years or until June 14th, 1908.
I have been told that LaDu never really cared for the Drug business. He only went to college because his parents wanted him to. That may be, but he certainly was an active student as noted earlier. Maybe he did not really want to work as a Druggist. When his parents headed south, he may have thought that would be a good time to get into something else.
After LaDu left Marysville, he passed through Kelly's Ford, Virginia. No one knows why he went to Kelly's Ford. But if you look at a map, you find that it would be a logical route to get to the Atlantic and take a boat to Florida. Heading straight south from Marysville would have brought him through hostile territory where there were still many Indians living and transportation was poor. I think it was just a happen-chance that he went to Kelly's Ford. However, once there, he might be inclined to stay a little while.
The town was very small. It only had one small store, a blacksmith shop and a grist mill. But the Jennings lived there with a whole house full of pretty daughters. They often took in travelers and salesmen for overnight room and boarding. It was here that LaDu met his future wife Carrye Lillian Jennings, the oldest of eight children.
It was Carrye's job to organize the children. One would plan the menu, one would cook, one would serve and wash up, etc. Then next week they would all rotate jobs. That way everyone learned the skills required to run a family. I can personally testify that this must have worked well. I know that Mayme was a good cook , ran two restaurants and was a caterer during her lifetime. I ate with Nell many times while she lived in Cottage Hill, Florida. She always had something good for me. My Grandmother Carrye also demonstrated her cooking skills many times as I was growing up. She could even make cow's tongue taste good. She was also the head cook at the Dickerson Resort House in Rabun Gap, Georgia for many summers.
LaDu must have stayed at Kelly's Ford a while and worked some odd jobs. I have a picture of him chopping a large pile of wood at the Jennings homestead. He then moved to Penola, Caroline County, Virginia. This was very near by, but the town of Penola is gone and I have not found out exactly where it was. Carrye had the same picture of him printed on the back of a penny postcard and sent it to him in Penola with the words "What do you think of this?". The date on the card is Feb 10, 1908. I believe that LaDu moved to Penola and got a job at a lumber saw mill so that he could be near Carrye. I got this piece of information about the saw mill from his obituary. See later.
LaDu was popular with more than one of the Jennings sisters. Nell also sent him a picture postcard at Penola on Jan 3, 1908 with the following message. "Guess you are home now. We miss you terribly. Earnest is here tonight. Hope all are Well.
Yours truly, Nell." The picture on the card was of the Rappahannock River.
It is my belief that there was, about that time, an advertisement for a mechanic at the Atwood Grapefruit Grove in Manavista, Florida. I recall LaDu telling me something about such an advertisement when I was a small child. Possibly Wilbur P. , LaDu's father, saw the advertisement and sent it to LaDu. He then went to Manavista and got the job. Note that Manavista no longer exists today. It would have been on the north side of the Manatee River near present day Ellenton. What ever the case, it was clear that LaDu could not get Carrye off of his mind.
On May 20, 1908 LaDu and Carrye were married at Washington, D.C. John Mills and Mayme Jennings were witnesses. LaDu went back to Manavista to work at the Atwood Grapefruit Grove after that. It is not clear as to whether Carrye went with him at this time. Her obituary indicates that she did not come until 1911 which is a little hard to believe. Maybe it took LaDu that long to prepare a place to live, I just do not know.
I do know that on May 1st, 1909 the Ohio State Board of Pharmacy granted LaDu a continuation of his registration as a Pharmacist. The certificate, No. 4341, clearly specifies that LaDu at that time was a resident of Manatee County, Florida. Believing that the mail in that day was very slow, and official paperwork often takes a while, LaDu was probably living in Manavista by 1908.
LaDu registered with the Selective Service Draft Board on September 12, 1918. His registration card shows him living in Manavista city and Manatee county and state of Florida.
As noted earlier, LaDu came to Manavista to work at the Atwood Grapefruit Grove. He was the head person in charge of all aspects of the packing plant. He kept all of the machinery running, performed any required maintenance, did construction work, assembled and disassembled loading docks. Carrye came to be with him in 1911. In 1912 she was pregnant with Wilbur Jennings Roberts, their first son. When her time came due, she traveled back to Kelly's Ford to deliver the baby. What better place to be! Her mother, while not an actual midwife, was very experienced in such matters, having eight children herself. She was also well known in the Kelly's Ford area as a very knowledgeable person to call on if the doctor was not available. Also, there were no medical facilities in the Manavista area at that time.
Carrye's family tree as best we know it is as follows:
John Walker Jennings Born March 14, 1852 Died December 18, 1922
Burried at Mt. Holly Cemetery, Virginia
Son of Joseph Jennings and Sarah Jane Curtis.
Odessa Clifton Jacobs Born March 8, 1880 Died January 25, 1917
Burried at Mt. Holly Cemetery, Virginaia
Daughter of George W. Jacobs and Bettie Ann Reynolds.
They were married at Neck Field, Virginia on December 23, 1877
Children of John Walker Jennings and Odessa Clifton Jacobs Jennings:
Carrye Lillian Born May 7, 1879
Nora Kate Born October 10, 1880
William Edgar Born August 16, 1882
Sarah (Bessie) Elizabeth Born November 13, 1884
Mayme Ella Born October, 30, 1887
Nellie Yager Born January 12, 1890
Harry Judson Born February 15, 1892
Everett James Born September 23, 1894
MARRIAGES:
Carrye Lillian Jennings and LaDu Prescott Roberts
Married at Washington, D. C. , Calvary Baptist Church May 20, 1908
Nora Kate Jennings and John B. Paton
Married at Kelly's Ford, Virginia October 12, 1912
William Edgar Jennings and Elizabeth Blair Hancock
Married at 1808 Hanover Ave., Richmond, Virginia October 24, 1918
Sarah (Bessie) Elizabeth Jennings and Ira Elmon Belch
Married at Washington, D. C. May 13, 1920
Mayme Ella Jennings and John Duncan Glazier
Married at Kelly's Ford, Virginia July 31, 1912
Nellie Yager Jennings and Cameron Thornton Jones
Married at Washington, D.C. Calvary Baptist Church by Rev. S. Green Nov. 28,1916
Nellie Yager Jones and Samuel Aenon Cross
Married at Palmetto, Florida Rev. S.B. Cole December 20, 1931
Harry Judson Jennings and Ada Maude Grenfell
Married at St. Petersburg, Florida April 22, 1924
Everett James Jennings and Elenore G. White
Married at St. George, Staten Island, N.Y. Sept. 1926
It is believed that Carrye traveled alone to Virginia to have her baby. I have many pictures of the grandparents with Carrye and Wilbur Jennings Roberts, but none of them show LaDu. The same thing is true two years later when she again traveled to Kelly's Ford, this time to deliver Leslie Harland Roberts, her second child. Once again, I have many pictures, but none of them show LaDu. She did however bring Wilbur J. with her as he is in most of the pictures. Most of the pictures show the grist mill in the background.
LaDu, Carrye, Wilbur and Leslie lived at the Atwood grove for about 13 years. See the story on Wilbur and Leslie later for a little insight into this time of their lives.
On January 24, 1924, LaDu became the Postmaster of the little community of Manavista, Florida. I have the signed document that appointed him to that position. I won't reproduce it here because it is rather uninformative. However there is one part of the document that I did find interesting. At the close we find these words:
"IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the Post Office Department to be affixed, at the city of Washington this twenty-fourth day of January , in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and twenty-four, and in the year of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and forty-eighth."
Underlining is mine for emphasis of area of importance. WHR
On December 28, 1922 LaDu's father, Wilbur P. Roberts, died. He was living in Manatee, Florida, a little town just across the Manatee River. This is present day East Bradenton. LaDu recognized that his mother, Alida, could not remain there by herself, so he began construction of a second dwelling place on her property. He resigned his position with the Atwood Fruit Company and moved across the river to be near his mother about September 1925.
LaDu now becomes a carpenter, roofer, house painter and many other things as his obituary points out. When his mother died on June 24, 1926, LaDu and his family moved into his parents' house. I call it the big house on 17 th. street. Later my father, Wilbur J. , lived in the small house, called the garagette, and so did I for a short time after I was born. Both of these houses are now empty and have been condemned by the county (February 1996). But this is getting way ahead of my story.
LaDu became very active in Boy Scouts as his obituary has indicated. He was for many years the Scoutmaster for Troop 9. He was also one of the most significant contributors there was in the building of Camp Flying Eagle for the Scouts out on Highway 64. For these outstanding achievements he was awarded Scouting's highest honor, the "Silver Beaver Award" on February third, 1934. LaDu was the camp director for six straight years in the early 1930's.
Boy Scouts in those days received a magazine called "Boys' Life". There was always a small section in there that showed how to carve the neckerchief slides that scouts wear. This is the only part of the uniform that is not dictated. They could use their imagination and create their own. LaDu started making simple ones that looked like arrow heads. He then progressed to some that looked like an Indian sitting cross-legged. From here he began to carve small cartoon looking people. Every stage got better and better. Soon he was carving dogs, giraffes, monkeys and horses. They were beautiful. His ultimate was when he began carving very beautiful people. These wood carvings are now located in the homes of many of his descendants. I can remember very clearly the day my grandmother Carrye called me into her dining room and asked me to pick out some that I would like to have. This is my strongest recollection of my grandfather, just watching him sit there and carve. Of course, I would always want a knife and a piece of wood also. But, I never could get the knack of it.
LaDu was always interested in anything to do with Natural History. He helped Montague Tallant excavate a number of Indian mounds which also included finding the remains of ancient mastodons. He had a good library of books on nature. I can remember going into his bedroom and looking through the bird books. He was interested in rocks and stones. When he and Carrye would go to Georgia on vacation, he would always go out to the back roads and dig for crystals and other rocks. I still have some of them today that he collected.
This is about all I remember about my grandfather. I was only 16 when he died, but he had an influence on my life that still remains today.
LaDu is buried at the Skyway Gardens Memorial Park just north of Palmetto, Florida and just south of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Enter either gate, go half way around the first circle, and then walk about 50 feet toward the entrance. Funeral Home Shannon along with Rev. Pierce Hendry and Rev. John Clark conducted the service. LaDu was the second person to be buried in this graveyard.
CARRYE LILLIAN JENNINGS - ROBERTS
Carrye was a unique person in her own right. As pointed out earlier, she came from a large family where she was the oldest of eight children. Carrye learned to play the pump organ and would play for church services at Mount Holly; one Sunday for the Methodists and the next Sunday for the Baptists. These were traveling preachers and would alternate coming to town.
Carrye was a writer. She kept track of everything. She kept records on what meals she prepared at the Dickerson House in Georgia. She kept records on Christmas presents given to children and grandchildren. She loved poetry and had many memorized. Her scrap book contained dozens of short stories and sayings from famous people like Lincoln, Dickens, Whitman, etc. Most were labeled with the name of the author but there were a few that had no name. These could have been written by her. The following poems, sayings and speeches were probably written by her; if not, they are at least representative of the kind of things she liked.
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An Ode To a Cigarette (Known to have been written by Carrye)
Why do we mortals the warnings not heed,
That cigarette smoking is bad, bad indeed.
A little fluff of paper, and a few shreds of weed,
Make a mighty danger that to cancer leads.
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Morals (Known to have been written by Carrye)
Morality demands loyalty, Not to a practice or even to a trend, But to what is good.
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Heaven and earth may pass away, But God's promises will not fail.
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If you want to know what you really are, Watch what you do.
Whatever God calls us to do, He makes possible for us to accomplish.
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Lord help us to stand for something, Lest we fall for nothing.
THE GREEDY GRASSHOPPER believed to be by Carrye Roberts
A GRASSHOPPER LANDED FROM THE NORTH ONE DAY,
AND AS HE SAT AND RESTED I HEARD HIM SAY.
"THE SKIES ARE BLUE, THE FIELDS ARE GREEN,
AND THE PRETTIEST FLOWERS I'VE EVER SEEN."
"I CAME FROM A LAND OF SOME RENOUN,
AND FOLKS ARE HONORED THAT I VISIT THIS TOWN.
THE INSECTS HERE ARE LAZY AND SLOW,
AND WHILE I'M HERE THEY HAVEN'T ANY SHOW.
I'VE BID FAREWELL TO THE NORTHERN CLIME,
OF ICE AND SNOW AND MUD AND SLIME.
SO NOW I'LL FEAST AND FIDDLE ALL DAY,
THERE'S GREEN IN ABUNDANCE, SO WHY NOT BE GAY."
HE WENT FORTH TO FIND HIM A NICE GREEN SHRUB,
A LITTLE AWAY FROM THE DAILY HUB BUB.
"MY STOMACH IS EMPTY, AND NOW WON'T I FEAST,
FOR I HAVE NO FEAR OF MAN NOR BEAST."
SO THIS HOPPER FEASTED DAY IN AND DAY OUT,
AND ALL OTHER HOPPERS HE SOON PUT TO ROUT.
"I CAME FROM THE NORTH IN A CAR SO GRAND,
WHY SHOULDN'T I TAKE WHAT I WANT IN THIS LAND?"
HE BRAGGED AND BOASTED AND GREW SO FAT,
I AM SURE HE WAS MOST AS BIG AS YOUR HAT.
BUT ALAS! IT'S EVER SO SAD TO RELATE,
WHAT OVERTAKES HOPPERS THAT LIVE AT THIS RATE.
NOW ONE FINE DAY, AFTER A HEARTY MEAL,
SAID HE, "O MY! HOW BAD I FEEL,
MY HEAD'S IN A WHIRL, AND THEN, BESIDES."
I'VE A TERRIBLE PAIN IN MY LITTLE INSIDES."
HE CALLED FOR HELP, BUT HE CALLED IN VAIN,
IN GREATEST AGONY HE CALLED AGAIN!
WHEN ALL OF A SUDDEN, A TREMENDOUS POP!
AND THAT GREEDY HOPPER NO MORE WOULD HOP.
NOT A SINGLE FRAGMENT HAS BEEN SEEN YET,
NOT A LEG, NOR A WING, NOR A WHISKERETTE.
THE SKIES ARE STILL BLUE, THE GRASS JUST AS GREEN,
AND NOT ONE SOUL KNOWS OF THIS TRAGEDY, I MEAN.