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Justice John A. "Tack" Roberts
was born in 1855 to William and Eliza Roberts.
He married Elnora Hundley.
Together, they had nine children: Emma Sarah (b. 1880), Edna Beatrice (b. unknown), Mary Elizabeth (b. 1887), Pearl (b. 1893), Otelia (b. 1895), Leroy (b. 1897), Katherine Edmonia (b. 1900), Queen Victoria (b.1901), and John Wise (b. 1905).
Justice John A. "Tack" Roberts
Courtesy: Jacquelyn Gardner
Mr. John "Tack" Roberts was appointed as
the first Black Justice of the Peace
in York County when living in the Reservation - a position he held for 33 years. Justice Roberts was an honorary title given to him while he served in this position. When his family was displaced from the Reservation and moved to Grove in James City County, Justice Roberts was named County Registrar. He continued in this position until his death. As the family recalls: "Justice Roberts had another title: he was called Pa Roberts by his loving children."
As his family explains, "He worked hard to secure many things for the community. Family and friends urged him to slow down in the late 20s and early 30s, but he said,
“I can’t slow down, there is still much work to be done for our unborn children.”
According to family records, "Elnora, his beloved wife, was a member of St. John Baptist Church until her death on March 18, 1932. Justice Roberts passed in September 18, 1932. He was eulogized at First Baptist Church and buried in St. John’s cemetery beside his beloved “Nora”."
"People looked toward him as a leader in both James City County and York County. He was a man for his people."
- John W. Roberts, son of John A. and Elnora Roberts
Source: John W. Roberts as quoted in News clipping, "Family Reunion Brings Folks From Everywhere," July 11, 1977, Available: W&M Special Collections Research Center.
Justice of the Peace
As Justice of the Peace, John Roberts was a highly respected community member. Listen to Mr. Alexander Lee describe Justice John Roberts’ responsibilities in this position:
Source: Alexander Lee (1984:30)
Granddaughter, Ms. Grace Radcliffe, recalls how her grandparents did not have access to formal education but her grandfather nevertheless taught himself the law and became a Justice of the Peace:
Source: Grace Radcliffe (1984)
Farming, Oystering, and Self-Sufficiency
In addition to his public service, Justice Roberts was an oysterman and farmer. He and his wife, Elnora, owned and worked land in the Reservation community.
Listen to brothers, Knox Ratcliffe and Harold Radcliffe, John and Elnora Roberts' granchildren, discuss how their family planted and harvested oysters:
The family praticed self sufficiency to forge a livelihood in the Reservation, as Knox Ratcliffe and Harold Radcliffe, John and Elnora Roberts' grandchildren, describe:
Source: Knox Ratcliffe and Harold Radcliffe (1984)
In this 1984 oral history, Ms. Grace Radcliffe recalls her grandmother, Elnora Roberts, sewing clothes for her family and lending her sewing machine to others in the Reservation community.
Source: Grace Radcliffe (1984)
Displacement and Activism
In 1918, when the U.S. government announced it would be commandeering the land in the Reservation community, Justice Roberts was among a group that organized the Prayer Petition, calling on the government to give families more time to relocate. He was among the first to sign the petition.
Source: Roberts, John A., Moses Lee, Annie E. Roberts, Cyrus Jones, and L. Redcross. 1918. Petition submitted to Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, by residents of York County threatened with eviction by Presidential Proclamation #1492 dated November 15, 1918. General Correspondence, Records of the Bureau of Ordinance 1818-1967; Record Group 74; National Archives Building, Washington D.C.
Renewed Advocacy
After the family's displacement from the Reservation, Justice Roberts continued his advocacy on behalf of the community. In addition to his position as County Registrar in James City County, he was also known for his activism in support of education. When the family moved to Grove, there was only one school, and as Grace Radcliffe explained, "it was for the white children."
But, for Grace’s grandfather, Justice Roberts, segregation was a poor reason to make Black students travel six miles to the closest school for Black children in Williamsburg.
Justice Roberts argued that the Black students should study at the white school in Grove that was both closest in proximity to where many families from the Reservation had relocated and was under-enrolled with only 8 students. Ms. Grace Radcliffe recalled that:
“My grandfather just insisted that we have an education.”
However, in the height of Jim Crow laws enforcing segregation, the James City County School Board refused to let the students attend the white school and refused to build a school for Black children in their neighborhood. Instead, the School Board required Black students to travel the six miles to school in Williamsburg – and refused to provide them the transportation to get there.
Justice Roberts and other families who had just lost most of their assets, as well as their livelihoods, to the U.S. government now faced a new expense: they would need to organize and pay to transport their children to school.
“That’s when my grandfather formed this league,” Grace Radcliffe explained, “And each person had to pay $1.35 a month for their children to go to school.”
John T. Minkins drove the first school bus, and, when he moved from the area, Mr. Robert Williams took over. After a few years, Justice Roberts "decided to buy a bus himself to get the children to school," his granddaughter Grace Radcliffe remembered. His bus was “a truck and he put a canvas top on it, and that’s the way we went to school." Finally, with the help of Judge Armistead, Justice Roberts was finally able to procure free bus transportation for Black school children in James City County to attend the James City County Training School.
Sources: Radcliffe (1976, 1984)
Students at the James City County Training School, circa 1930s
Source: Albert Durant Collection
Courtesy: Media Services, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Justice John A. "Tack" Roberts' contribution to the community was so profound that Grove’s election district—the Roberts Magisterial District—was later named in his honor.
In the years following his passing, Justice John "Tack" Roberts' family gathered to honor him. The reunion was reported in The Virginia Gazette and featured photos of family members who had gathered from ten states and the District of Columbia and of his daughter, Katherine Roberts Crump, holding his great-great-great-grandson, Damon Statten Radcliffe.
Courtesy: The Virginia Gazette, via the Roberts Family
The Descendants of Justice John A. "Tack" and Elnora (Hundley) Roberts
The Descendants of Justice John A. "Tack" and Elnora (Hundley) Roberts
Justice John A. "Tack" Roberts and Elnora (Hundley) Roberts had nine children: Emma Sarah (b. 1880), Edna Beatrice (b. unknown), Mary Elizabeth (b. 1887), Pearl (b. 1893), Otelia (b. 1895), Leroy Johnson (b. 1897), Katherine Edmonia (b. 1900), Queen Victoria (b.1901), and John Wise (b. 1905). The descendants of some of their children have provided the information and photos below. We invite others to contribute more information about the Roberts' descendants.
Leroy Johnson Roberts
was born in 1897 to John Augustus "Tack" Roberts and Elnora (Hundley) Roberts. He married Laura Powell.
Leroy was in his 20s when the family moved out of the Reservation community. He worked as an electrician at the Naval Weapons Station, Yorktown on the land where his family once lived. He passed away in 1932. He was working on wiring in a building at the Naval Weapons Station and fell through a window. He didn't seek immediate medical attention and died. Laura and the children received pensions from the government following the accident.
Laura (Powell) Roberts (center) with her son, Daniel Leroy Roberts, and eldest daughter, Rosa Lee (Roberts) McKinney, standing in front of their home in Grove
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Leroy and Laura (Powell) Roberts had four children. The eldest child was
Rosa Lee Roberts who was born on September 11, 1920 and passed away on February 2, 1984. Rosa married Caesar Grant. Rosa later married Louis Elmer McKinney, Sr. Louis had a daughter, Barbara Anne Spells Dawson, from a previous relationship. Together, Rosa and Louis Sr. had two children:
Louis Elmer McKinney Jr. was born on November 12, 1953. Louis Jr. married Towana Sherry Canaday.
Sylvia Jean McKinney was born on May 12, 1957. Sylvia has two sons. The oldest is Bernard DeShaun Skipper (born July 30, 1980-). His father, Bernard Lydell Skipper, passed away when he was very young on November 13, 1981. Bernard Lydell also had a son, Bernard Jackett from an earlier relation. Bernard DeShaun has three children: Kaiya Noelle Torres, Chanel Anise Skipper, and Denver LaDell Skipper. Sylvia's youngest child is Wayne Darnell Wyatt, Jr. (born September 1, 1985), whose father was Wayne Darnell Wyatt Sr., who later had son in another relationship names Desmond Turner. Wayne Darnell has one son, Xavier Tyree Wyatt.
Rosa Lee Roberts McKinney and her husband Louis Elmer McKinney Sr.
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Rosa Lee Roberts McKinney and her husband Louis Elmer McKinney Sr.
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Rosa Lee Roberts McKinney and her husband Louis Elmer McKinney Sr.
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Rosa Lee Roberts McKinney and Laura Powell Roberts
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Louis Elmer McKinney Jr., enlisted in the Marines
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Louis Elmer McKinney Jr. and his mother, Rosa Lee Roberts McKinney
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Rosa Lee Roberts McKinney with her children Louis Elmer Jr. and Sylvia
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Louis Elmer McKinney Jr.
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Sylvia McKinney
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Sylvia McKinney and sons Bernard and Wayne Jr.
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Sylvia McKinney
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Bernard DeShaun Skipper
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Wayne Darnell Wyatt Jr.
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Chanel Anise and Denver LaDell Skipper
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Kaiya Noelle Torres
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Sylvia McKinney and with son Wayne Jr. and grandson Xavier
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Xavier Tyree Wyatt, son of Wayne Wyatt Jr.
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Daniel Leroy Roberts was born in 1923, the second child of Leroy and Laura Roberts. Daniel married Marian Lomax. They adopted two children: Faith Vanessa Roberts and Martin Roberts.
Faith Vanessa Roberts had two children. Her daughter, Sonia Baugh, married Charles Hunter III and the couple had one child, Charles "Charley" Hunter IV. Faith Vanessa's son was Edmund Baugh. Edmund has four sons and is married to Tameka.
Martin Roberts had one daughter "Trecie" with Beverly Harris.
Faith Vanessa Roberts Baugh, her daughter Sonia Baugh, and her grandson Charles Hunter IV
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Faith Vanessa Roberts Baugh and her son Edmund Baugh
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Edmund Baugh
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Sonia Baugh and her husband Charles Hunter III
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Martha Elizabeth (Roberts) Morton Walker Jr. was born in 1929, the third child of Leroy and Laura Roberts. She married Thomas Morton and had two children, Gayle Cameron Morton (born March 31, 1948) and a son who was stillborn. Martha later married David Walker Jr., who had two children from a previous marriage, David III and Debbie.
Martha's daughter, Gayle, married Henry "Jack" Wright, who had a daughter, Monica Tyler, from a prior relationship. Together, Gayle and Henry had three children. The oldest, Shannon Francine Wright married Chris Vaughan, who had a daughter, Dara Ellis, from a prior relationship. The second child, Kenya Mecole Wright married Emmanule Ayalogu and had two children, Victoria and Cameron. Gayle and Henry's youngest child, David Leroy Wright married and had one son, Isaiah.
Martha Roberts Morton Walker Jr. (center) with Towana McKinney (wife of Louis McKinney Jr.) and Cab Roberts
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Martha Morton and baby Gayle at the Wellness Baby contest at St. John Baptist Church, front row, far right
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Grandchildren and great grandchildren of Martha Roberts Morton Walker Jr.: Victoria, Shannon, Kenya, Monica Tyler, David, Isaiah, and Cameron
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Gayle (Morton) Wright (r) and daughter Shannon (Wright) Vaughan
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Shannon (Wright) Vaughan and Kenya Mecole (Wright) Ayalogu
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
David Leroy Wright, Kenya Mecole (Wright) Ayalogu, Gayle (Morton) Wright and Shannon (Wright) Vaughan
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Descendants of Leroy and Laura Roberts: David Wright, Louis McKinney Jr., and Wayne Wyatt Jr.
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Kenya Ayalogu, Gayle (Morton) Wright, Shannon Vaughan, and Thomas Morton
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Shannon (Wright) Vaughan with Isaiah (David Wright's son) and Cameron (Kenya (Wright) Ayalogu's son)
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
David Wright and his son Isaiah
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Elnora (Roberts) Anderson Banks is the youngest child of Leroy and Laura Roberts. Her name was later changed to Eleanor and was known to family as "Aunt Toots". She married Warren Anderson, and they adopted a son, Darren Leroi Anderson. Darren had two children with Angel: Davon Kyree Banks and A'leah Banks. He later had two more children with LaCrystal Harold: D'aria Banks-Harold and Darrin Banks-Harold.
Warren passed away and Eleanor remarried to Charles Melvin Banks Sr. who had three sons from a prior relationship. The oldest, Charles Melvin Banks II married Seleana and had two children, Charles Melvin III and Chelsey. Eleanor and Charles Sr.'s second child, Mark Anthony Banks, married Tracie and had two children, Erica and Evan. Eleanor and Charles' youngest child, Alvin Banks, married three times. He married Kim and had three children, Alvin II, Jasmin, and Robin. His second marriage was to Katrina, who passed away. They had two children Adrian and Layla. He then married Latifa and had two children, Allen and Luna.
Eleanor Roberts with Harris "Sonny" Lee, son of Harris and Irene Lee
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Eleanor (Roberts) Banks with great-neice, Shannon (Wright) Vaughan
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Eleanor (Roberts) Banks with Louis Elmer McKinney Jr., son of Rosa (Roberts) McKinney
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Katherine Edmonia Roberts
was born in 1900 to John Augustus "Tack" Roberts and Elnora (Hundley) Roberts. Katherine grew up in the Reservation community. She was about 18 years old when her parents learned that the U.S. government was using eminent domain to commandeer their land to build what is now known as the Naval Weapons Station, Yorktown.
Katherine married Arthur Crump. The couple purchased a home on Wales Alley, just off of Francis Street in Williamsburg. Together, the couple had eleven children.
In the late 1920s, the family would again be compelled to move - this time from Wales Alley to York Street to make way for the restoration of downtown Williamsburg to its colonial façade.
Katherine (Roberts) Crump and Arthur Crump
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Shirley (Crump) Hundley, Mary "Mae" (Crump) Daniels (died October 22, 2022 at 93 years), and Doris (Crump) Rainey, daughters of Arthur and Katherine (Roberts) Crump, granddaughters of John A. and Elnora Roberts
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Katherine Crump;s daughters Shirley and Doris (sitting) with Doris' daughters Orelia and Ciara
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Katherine Crump's daughter Doris Crump Rainey with her daughters Deirdra and Orelia and great-grandchildren Ciara and Alex
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Katherine Crump's granddaughter Deirdra, and her husband, Franco
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Ciara and Orelia, grandaughter and daughter of Doris (Crump) Rainey, descendants of Katherine Crump
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Shirley (Crump) Hundley with children, Minister Michael Hundley, Carolyn Hundley, and Minister Gary Hundley
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Jimmy, Michael, Carolyn, Gary and Shirley Hundley, Katherine Crump's descendants
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Carolyn (Hundley) and "E Dub" Wisdom
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Front row, R to L, Elizabeth Daniels, Dorothy "Dottie D" , Leeda Hundley, Orelia Rainey, Ericka Byrd, Stephanie, Carl, Crystal; Back row, L to R, Carolyn Hundley Wisdom, MInister Michael Hundley, Minister Gary Hundley
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
"E Dub" Wisdom and Mary "Mae" (Crump) Daniels
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Wallis, Elizabeth "Liz", Jewel "Bazie", and Linda Daniels (in back), children of Mary "Mae" (Crump) Daniels, grandchildren of Katherine (Roberts) Crump
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Jewel Daniels, Mary (Crump) Daniels' son, Katherine Crump's grandson
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Jaimie Byrd (standing) and Ericka Byrd, children of Ruth (Crump) Byrd
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Sandra Byrd and daughter, descendants of Ruth (Crump) Byrd
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Ericka Byrd, Ruth (Crump) Byrd's daughter, Katherine Crump's granddaughter
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Ericka, Sandra, James, and Jaimie Byrd, descendants of Ruth (Crump) Byrd
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
John Wise Roberts
was born in 1905 to John Augustus "Tack" Roberts and Elnora (Hundley) Roberts. He was a teenager when his family was forced to move out of the Reservation community. He married Redell, and they had five children: Jacquelyn (Roberts) Gardner, Delphine (Roberts) Driver, Calvin "Cab" Roberts, Morris Roberts, John Roberts, and Edna Roberts.
Jacquelyn (Roberts) Gardner, daughter of John Wise and Redell Roberts, granddaughter of John A. and Elnora Roberts
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Calvin "Cab" Roberts, son of John Wise and Redell Roberts, grandson of John A. and Elnora Roberts
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Reshawa Atkinson with her father, Richard. Reshawa is the granddaughter of John Roberts, great-granddaugther of John Wise and Redell Roberts, great-great-granddaughter of John A. and Elnora Roberts
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
John Roberts, son of John Wise and Redell Roberts, grandson of John A. and Elnora Roberts, with his daughter Tara
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Jacquelyn (Roberts) Gardner and her husband Dennis Gardner
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Redell, granddaughter of John Roberts, great-granddaugther of John Wise and Redell Roberts, great-great-granddaughter of John A. and Elnora Roberts
Courtesy: The Roberts Family
Sources:
Lee, Alexander. 1991. Oral History. In McDonald, Bradley M., Kenneth Stuck, and Kathleen J. Bragdon, “Cast Down Your Bucket Where You Are”: An Ethnohistorical Study of the African American Community on the Lands of the Yorktown Naval Weapons Station, 1865-1918. Williamsburg: William & Mary Center for Archaeological Research.
Lee, Alexander. 1984. Oral History. James City County Oral History Collection, Special Collections Research Center, William & Mary Libraries. December 19.
Radcliffe, Grace. 1976. Grove Festival: A Bicentennial Event, Roberts District, James City County, Virginia, July 31. Festival booklet.
Radcliffe, Grace. November 2, 1984. Oral History. James City County Oral History Collection, Special Collections Research Center, William & Mary Libraries.
Ratcliffe, Knox and Harold Radcliffe. November 2, 1984. Oral History. James City County Oral History Collection, Special Collections Research Center, William & Mary Libraries.
Roberts Family Reunion Booklet, July 1997.
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