Articles of incorporation of the A. J. Roberts, Sons and Company, establishing the corporation, owned by A. J. Roberts, his wife, Ellen Wayles Hemings, and his children, Frederick, Myrtle E. Roberts Saunders, and William. Ellen Wayles Hemings Roberts was a granddaughter of Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson. Frederick Madison Roberts was a newspaper owner and editor, educator, and business owner. He was also the first African American elected to the California State Assembly. Roberts was a great-grandson of Sally Hemings and President Thomas Jefferson. A. J. (Andrew Jackson) Roberts attended Wilberforce University and Oberlin College. After graduation he taught school, married Ellen Hemings (a granddaughter of Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson) in Chillicothe, Ohio, and moved to California as an early pioneer in 1888. He founded a transfer and trucking business in 1905, sold it and founded the A. J. Roberts and Sons mortuary. The firm began at 12th and Los Angeles, moved to 1119-1121 S. Los Angeles, and to 1415 S. Central Avenue in 1922. William Giles Roberts ran the A. J. Roberts, Sons and Company mortuary from 1916 to 1955.
African American businesspeople Roberts, Frederick Madison, 1879-1952 Saunders, Myrtle Estelle Roberts, 1886-1969 Roberts, Ellen Wayles Hemings, 1856-1940 Roberts, A. J. (Andrew Jackson), 1852-1927 Roberts, William Giles, 1889-1975
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