Other Activities
Roberts active public life resulted in his appointment to many committees. In 1830 he was part of a committee to distribute remonstrances (protests) in Earl Township, in response to a proposal to form Conestoga County from parts of Lancaster, Chester, and Berks counties.
On April 5, 1841, Roberts was chosen as a secretary of a meeting in which citizens of Lancaster adopted resolutions to express their sorrow and grief over the unexpected death of President William Henry Harrison. On June 13, 1848, Roberts was appointed to a committee to solicit contributions to mitigate the losses suffered two weeks earlier in a devastating fire in Allentown. After the death of President James Buchanan in 1868, Roberts was appointed as one of the vice-presidents of a committee to arrange the president’s funeral services. Roberts also served for a time as chairman of the visiting committee of the School Board in Lancaster.
Roberts owned a lot of real estate in and near New Holland in Lancaster County. He seems to have used his real estate holdings to promote education and the general public welfare. On October 22, 1845, he bought a plot of ground with a brick house on it known as the Methodist Meeting House. Six years later he sold it to the Earl School District.
In 1850, he completed construction on what was then the largest dwelling in eastern Lancaster County. The construction's purpose was mysterious until its completion, when Roberts announced that a select school would be opened in part of his home. He also assisted in freeing many pieces of property from rent structures that harmed the common people dwelling in New Holland. In 1860, in the City of Lancaster, he was one of the incorporators of an institution dedicated to providing homes for poor and uncared for children. One biographer notes that " looked upon him as their friend and champion of their rights". As a close friend of Thaddeus Stevens, Roberts was designated one of the executors of Stevens' will.
Read more about this topic: Anthony Ellmaker Roberts
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