Born: Greenwich, New York

Died: March 17, 1963

Married: Roda Distin

Children: David, William and Donald

Charles F. Roberson was a co-owner of Boyce and Roberson, a Saranac Lake firm that dealt in ice, coal and wood, for heat; with Willard Boyce, he at one time owned the land on which the Rumsey Cottage was built. He came to Saranac Lake in 1903, and started his business with Boyce in 1909, retiring in 1958.

He attended Albany Business College. He came to Saranac Lake after contracting typhoid fever. He worked for a time as purchasing clerk at the State Hospital at Ray Brook, as a bookkeeper at the Saranac Inn, and for the contractor who built power plants for Paul Smiths at Franklin and Union Falls. He was a founder and secretary/treasurer of the Saranac Lake Golf Club. He was a member of the Masons for 50 years, and also the Shrine, Elks and Rotary Club. He was an elder in the First Presbyterian Church of Saranac Lake.

The family lived at 47 Riverside Drive, the Roberson Cottage.

 

Adirondack Daily Enterprise, March 18, 1963

Charles F. Roberson

Charles F. Roberson, a businessman in Saranac Lake since 1908, was found dead at his home at 47 Riverside Drive early yesterday morning by his wife.

Mr. Roberson came to Saranac Lake in 1900 and, in 1909 with the late Willard Boyce, founded Boyce and Roberson, Inc., a fuel supply business. In the early days the firm dealt in coal and wood, branching out and introducing oil when oil burners became popular. Previously Mr. Roberson had worked as a bookkeeper at Saranac Inn and the Ray Brook Hospital office. He retired in 1959.

He was a founder, and for many years, secretary treasurer of the Saranac Lake Golf Club. He was a 50-year member of the Masons and also a member of the Royal Arch Masons, the Shrine, the Elks Club, and Rotary. Club. He was an elder in the Presbyterian Church.

Mr. Roberson was born Sept. 26, 1879 in Greenwich, N.Y., son of David and Sophia White Roberson. Survivors are his wife, the former Rhoda [sic] Distin; three sons, David Francis, of Saranac Lake, William Douglas of Hopewell, Va. and Donald Charles of Niagara Falls; eight grandchildren and several nieces and nephews.

There will be an Elks service at the Fortune Funeral Home at 7:30 this evening and a. Masonic service at 8 o'clock. The Rev. W. James Erdmann, pastor of the Presbyterian Church, will conduct a funeral service at the funeral home at 2 p. m. Tuesday. Burial will be in the Pine Ridge Cemetery.

The family requests that friends wishing to remember Mr. Roberson make donations to the heart fund.

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