TIMELINE FOR LIFE OF ORAN MILO ROBERTS
1815 Born in Laurens District, South Carolina
1836 Graduated from the University of Alabama
1837 Admitted to the bar
1837 Married Frances Wycliff Edwards of Ashville, Alabama
1841 Moved to San Augustine, Texas
1844 Appointed District Attorney by President Sam Houston
1846 Appointed District Judge by Governor J. Pinckney Henderson
1857 Elected Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas
1862 Colonel of the 11th Texas Infantry Regt
1864 Elected Chief Justice
1866 Elected to the U S Senate but was not allowed to take his seat
1866-1874 Practised law at Tyler and Gilmer
1874 Appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
1879-1883 Governor of Texas
1883 Elected Professor of Law at the University of Texas
1883 Frances Eycliff Edwards Roberts died in Austin, Texas
1887 Married Mrs. Catherine E Border of Tyler, Texas
1893 Resigned as Law Professor at the University of Texas
1893 Settled in Marble Falls, Texas
1898 Died in Austin, Texas and buried there
ORAN MILO ROBERTS, son of Obe and Margaret (Ewing) Roberts was born in Laurens District, South Carolina, on 9 July 1815. He graduated from the University of Alabama in 1836, studied law and was admitted to the bar on 22 September 1837 and served one term in the Alabama Legislature. In 1841, he moved to Texas and opened a law practice at San Augustine. He was appointed district attorney on 6 February 1844 and in 1846 became district judge, serving until 1851. In 1845 and for some time thereafter he was president of the board of trustees and lecturer in law at the University of San Augustine. On 1 February 1857 he became associate justice of the Supreme Court of Texas.
A strong secessionist, Roberts, in January 1861 was instrumental in calling of the Secession Convention of which he was unanimously elected president. Early in 1862 he raised a regiment of the 11th Texas Infantry and served as its colonel until 1864, when he succeeded Royal T. Wheeler as chief justice of the Supreme Court, being removed from office at the end of the civil war. Roberts was a member of the Constitional Convention of 1866, serving as chairman of the committee on the judiciary. The Texas Legislature elected him and David G. Burnet to the United States Senate but because of their activities in behalf of secession they were refused their seats by the radical Republican Congress.
Roberts returned to private law practice at Tyler and Gilmer from 1866 to 1874, organizing a law school at Gilmer in 1868. In 1874, with the resumption of Democratic control in Texas, he was returned to the Supreme Court and served as chief justice until he was elected governor of Texas in 1878.
As governor, Roberts sought to reduce the state indebtedness by a "pay as you go" plan, reducing state expenditures. Outstanding in his administration was the opening of the University of Texas in 1883.
Upon his retirement, after serving two terms, in 1883 Roberts became a professor of law at the University of Texas where he was popularly known as "the Old Alcalde." He was an organizer and first president of the Texas Historical Association and contributed several articles to its Quarterly.
Oran Milo Roberts married Miss Frances Wycliff Edwards of Ashville, Alabama 12 December 1837. She died 25 November 1883 in Austin, Texas. As the first lady of Texas she was a simple and unassuming person, very gracious and showed great hospitality. They were the parents of seven children.
Governor Roberts married a second time to Mrs. Catharine E. Border in 1887. He died in Austin 19 May 1898 and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery.
FAMILY LINEAGE
OSA ROBERTS BORN 1769; DIED 1827
Married MARGARET EWING, b. 1776; d. 1859
Their children were:
1. UNITY ROBERTS BOURLAND, b. 1795
2. TELPE C. ROBERTS, b. 1799
3. JANE ROBERTS HOOPER, b. 1803
4. JOHN EWING ROBERTS, b. 1807
5. FRANKLIN F. ROBERTS, b. 1810
6. ORAN MILO ROBERTS, b. 1815; d. 1898
m. 12 December 1837 FRANCES WYCLIFF EDWARDS, b. 1819; d. 1883
Their children were:
1. SARAH JANE ROBERTS, b. 1839
2. ORA ROBERTS
3. ROBERT PICKNEY ROBERTS, b. 1846
Married CORRIE MURPHY, b. 1854; d. 1878
Their children were:
1. MAGGIE ADELIA ROBERTS, b. 1875; d. 1931
Married JAMES SIDNEY DILLINGHAM, b. 1868; d. 1920
Their children were:
1. CORRIE ELLEN DILLINGHAM
2. SIDNEY ROBERTS DILLINGHAM
3. GEORGE MILO DILLINGHAM, b. 1897; d. 1956
m. 15 September 1918 to RUTH B. WATSON
Their children were:
1. GEORGIA ELAINE DILLINGHAM, b. 1919
2. MARY EVELYN DILLINGHAM, b. 1921
3. JOY RUTH DILLINGHAM, b. 1931
m. 5 June 1951 to REX DOUGLAS MICHEL, b. 1928
Their children are:
1. REX DOUGLAS MICHEL JR., b. 1955
4. MARGARET ELIZA ROBERTS, b. 1851
5. PETER ROBERTS, b. 1853
6. UNA FRANCES ROBERTS, b. 1856
7. ORAN ROBERTS, b. 1861
