John Roberts

Who was John Roberts?

John Roberts was a Welsh Anglican priest, writer and missionary in the Bahamas and Wyoming.

Roberts was born in 1853 at Llewfllyd, in Dyserth, which was then considered in Flintshire but later placed in Denbighshire, in north Wales. Educated at Ruthin grammar school and St David's College, Lampeter, Roberts graduated in 1878. He was ordained a deacon by the Right Rev. George Augustus Selwyn in Lichfield Cathedral, and briefly served as a curate at Dawley Magna in Shropshire. However, Roberts yearned to become a missionary, possibly because of Selwyn's work in New Zealand. By year's end, Roberts had sailed to Nassau, Bahamas, where he was ordained a priest and made chaplain of St. Matthew Cathedral. Rev. Roberts concentrated his ministry among "coloured people" and lepers. However, those were already Christian, and the priest wanted greater challenges, particularly among American Indians.

Two years later, Roberts sailed to New York and applied for the mission he always wanted, among American Indians. He met Bishop John Spalding of Wyoming and Colorado, and asked for missionary work in the diocese's most difficult field. He was told that was at the Shoshone and Bannock Indian Agency in Wyoming Territory