Household #129: Roberts, Octavia

Back to the 1900 Census & Household Index

In the 1900 Barney census, Octavia Roberts headed a 6-person household. The table below preserves the exact names, relationships, ages, birthplaces, and occupations recorded for the household.

Household Snapshot

Octavia Roberts headed a 6-person household in the 1900 Barney census with 4 children and 1 extended-family member.

Octavia Roberts's listed occupation was Farmer.

All listed household members were reported as born in Georgia.

Newspaper and Public-Record Trail

This section flags public-record leads separate from the census table. The detailed discussion stays in the family narrative, research status, and source citations below.

1900 Census Household

Children and Later Trails

This section is reserved for later-life child evidence. No later spouse, death, burial, obituary, probate, separate household, or descendant-line identification has been added here yet from direct records.

Family Narrative

• Octavia Roberts appears in Barney in 1900 as a 48-year-old widow heading a household of daughters and one granddaughter.
• Later records tie her to the Asbell family and carry her forward into the households of her married daughters in Lowndes County.
• The best-documented daughters are Lucy Roberts, later Lucy Zipperer, and Sallie Roberts, later Sallie Catridge and then Sally Russell.
• Susan Roberts, Lula Roberts, and granddaughter Jessie Roberts remain only partly identified beyond the 1900 household.

Octavia Roberts was born in Georgia and appears first as Octavia E. Asbell in the 1860 and 1870 censuses. She married Stephen T. Roberts in Brooks County on 31 December 1878. In 1880 she appears in Stephen Roberts's household, though the transcription is incomplete and the census image is more reliable than the index alone.

By 1900 Octavia was a widow in Barney, Brooks County, heading household #129. The census describes her as born in September 1851, a farmer, and mother of four living children. In the same household were daughters Susan, Lucy, Lula, and Sallie, along with granddaughter Jessie Roberts.

The later family trail is strongest through Lucy and Sallie. Lucy Roberts married Charles Edward Zipperer and appears with him in Clyattville, Lowndes County, in the 1920, 1930, and 1940 censuses, then in 1950 in the household of her son Stanley Zipperer. The 1920 census is especially useful because it places Octavia Roberts in Lucy's household as mother-in-law. A 1930 death certificate for Lucy Vivian Zipperer names her mother as Lucy Roberts, which supports the Roberts-to-Zipperer identification.

Sallie Roberts married C. W. Catridge on 5 November 1905 in Lowndes County. In 1910 she appears in his household, where her mother is listed literally as Mrs. S. T. Roberts, age 61, relationship mother-in-law. By 1930 Sallie had remarried and appears as Sallie R. Russell in Florida. She continues as Sally R. Russell in later records. Her 1970 obituary names her sister as Mrs. Lucy Zipperer of Valdosta, which firmly connects the Russell woman back to the Roberts family.

The evidence for Stephen Roberts is good enough to place him as Octavia's husband, but his military career should be stated carefully. Octavia's 1927 Confederate widow's pension application says that she married Stephen Roberts on 31 December 1878 in Brooks County and that he served in Company G, 18th Georgia Infantry. Other military records for a Stephen T. Roberts are consistent with that claim, including service and prisoner-of-war material, but the widow's pension file is the clearest bridge between the soldier and this household. The same pension file says Stephen died in north Georgia in 1883.

Susan Roberts, Lula Roberts, and granddaughter Jessie Roberts remain less certain after 1900. Online records reviewed so far do not securely prove later identities for Susan or Lula, and no later record has been tied confidently to Jessie Roberts. Those individuals should therefore be left in their 1900 forms unless stronger evidence is found.

Military Service

The military-service evidence for this household comes through Octavia's husband, Stephen T. Roberts. Octavia's 1927 Georgia Confederate widow's pension application says she married Stephen on 31 December 1878 in Brooks County and that he served in Company G, 18th Georgia Infantry. Other Stephen T. Roberts military records appear consistent, but the widow's pension file is the clearest bridge between the soldier and this household, so the service history should remain narrower than broad secondary summaries until the full service file is reviewed.

Connections to Other Barney Families

• HH#129 Lucy Roberts became Lucy Hilden Roberts Zipperer.
• HH#129 Sallie Roberts became Sallie Catridge and later Sally R. Russell.

Open Research Questions

• The 1880 Stephen Roberts household should be cited from the image rather than from the incomplete transcription.
• Stephen Roberts's wider Confederate service history should be kept narrower than some secondary summaries unless the full service file is reviewed.
• Later identities for Susan Roberts, Lula Roberts, and Jessie Roberts remain unproved.

Research Status

Well-researched. Octavia Roberts, her marriage to Stephen T. Roberts, her widowhood, and the later identities of Lucy and Sallie are well supported. Some members of the 1900 household remain unresolved.

Sources

• 1860 U.S. census, Brooks County, Georgia, Octavia E. Asbill in parental household.
• 1870 U.S. census, Brooks County, Georgia, Octavia Asbell in parental household.
• Brooks County, Georgia, marriage license and return, 31 December 1878, Stephen T. Roberts and Octavia/Detavia Asbell.
• 1880 U.S. census, Stephen Roberts household, image review correcting incomplete transcription.
• 1900 U.S. census, Barney Precinct, Brooks County, Georgia, ED 9, sheet 6, dwelling 129, family 129, Octavia Roberts household.
• Lowndes County, Georgia, marriage record, 5 November 1905, Sallie Roberts and C. W. Catridge.
• 1910 U.S. census, C. W. Catridge household, Clyattville, Lowndes County, Georgia, including Sallie Catridge and Mrs. S. T. Roberts, mother-in-law.
• 1920 U.S. census, Clyattville, Lowndes County, Georgia, Charles E. Zipperer household, including Octavia Roberts.
• 1927 Georgia Confederate widow's pension application, Octavia Roberts, Lowndes County.
• 1930 U.S. census, Clyattville, Lowndes County, Georgia, Charles Zipperer household, including Octavia Roberts.
• 1930 Georgia death certificate for Lucy Vivian Zipperer, naming mother Lucy Roberts.
• 1930 U.S. census, Marion County, Florida, Benjamin F. Russell household.
• 1940 U.S. census, Clyattville, Lowndes County, Georgia, Charles E. Zipperer household.
• 1940 U.S. census, Orange County, Florida, B. F. Russell household.
• 1950 U.S. census, Clyattville, Lowndes County, Georgia, Stanley Zipperer household.
• 1950 U.S. census, Orange County, Florida, Sally Russell household.
• 1932 death certificate and funeral-expense papers for Octavia Roberts, Lowndes County, Georgia.
• 1970 obituary for Sally R. Russell, naming sister Mrs. Lucy Zipperer.
• Georgia death index entry for Lucy R. Zipperer, died 30 March 1971, Lowndes County, certificate 012970.
• Find a Grave memorials for Octavia Asbell Roberts, Lucy Hilden Roberts Zipperer, Sally Roberts Russell, and Charles Edward Zipperer, used as secondary support for burial and family-link context.

Share Additional Information

If you have photographs, family records, oral history, corrections, or additional information about this family, please contact the project with the details.