Elfreda Josephine "Freda" Roberts (nee Seifert) was born in San Francisco to immigrants from northern Germany, Charles and Christine Brarens Seifert. In the early 1890s she met a tall, good-looking, lantern-jawed and taciturn young man named John Arthur Roberts. They married on Monday, August 6th, 1894. They were wed by Reverend Edgar J. Lion, at 573 Webster Street. Their witnesses were Silas H. Roberts, John's 20-year-old brother, and Mrs. Mary Roberts (either John's mother or his older sister). They move into a flat of their own in the Noe Valley of San Francisco. Her husband John was making a good living as a saddle and harness maker. The following year, 1895, they had a son, who was to be their only child. She was active as a member of the California Hive of the Ladies of the Maccabees, a large national women's fraternal and mutual benefit society. She was also active in Manzanita Council No. 49 of the Degree of Pocahontas, a women's affiliate of The Improved Order of Red Men, a national fraternal order still in existence. The Roberts family survived the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. Tragically, Elfreda died due to a gastric ulcer when her son Harold was only twelve. Her death most likely came from either bleeding or stomach blockage. She had apparently been suffering from the ulcer for a couple of years. She had had salpingitis for some time, a chronic condition that may have contributed to her death. A private funeral was held in the Roberts home, and she was laid to rest by her grieving family at Cypress Lawn Memorial Cemetery in Colma on March 23, 1908. Her husband John sent young Harold to live with his widowed maternal grandmother, Mrs. Seifert, at 25th and Diamond Streets, after Elfreda's death.
Elfreda and John's son and only child, Harold William Roberts, would later join the U.S. Army's new Tank Corps and lose his life during the Argonne Offensive in northern France in October of 1918. Corporal Harold Roberts was awarded the MEDAL OF HONOR posthumously, and the Army's largest Replacement Training Center in the nation was named in honor him--Camp Roberts, California. He is buried in the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in northern France, not far from where he lost his life. John accepted the posthumous Medal of Honor for their son in a ceremony in April of 1919.
Elfreda's husband John was interred with her in their unmarked grave at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park in Colma when he passed away in 1922. The Camp Roberts Historical Museum is currently in the process of seeing what it would take to place a marker on their gravesite.
Elfreda and John's son and only child, Harold William Roberts, would later join the U.S. Army's new Tank Corps and lose his life during the Argonne Offensive in northern France in October of 1918. Corporal Harold Roberts was awarded the MEDAL OF HONOR posthumously, and the Army's largest Replacement Training Center in the nation was named in honor him--Camp Roberts, California. He is buried in the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in northern France, not far from where he lost his life. John accepted the posthumous Medal of Honor for their son in a ceremony in April of 1919.
Elfreda's husband John was interred with her in their unmarked grave at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park in Colma when he passed away in 1922. The Camp Roberts Historical Museum is currently in the process of seeing what it would take to place a marker on their gravesite.
Elfreda Josephine "Freda" Roberts (nee Seifert) was born in San Francisco to immigrants from northern Germany, Charles and Christine Brarens Seifert. In the early 1890s she met a tall, good-looking, lantern-jawed and taciturn young man named John Arthur Roberts. They married on Monday, August 6th, 1894. They were wed by Reverend Edgar J. Lion, at 573 Webster Street. Their witnesses were Silas H. Roberts, John's 20-year-old brother, and Mrs. Mary Roberts (either John's mother or his older sister). They move into a flat of their own in the Noe Valley of San Francisco. Her husband John was making a good living as a saddle and harness maker. The following year, 1895, they had a son, who was to be their only child. She was active as a member of the California Hive of the Ladies of the Maccabees, a large national women's fraternal and mutual benefit society. She was also active in Manzanita Council No. 49 of the Degree of Pocahontas, a women's affiliate of The Improved Order of Red Men, a national fraternal order still in existence. The Roberts family survived the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. Tragically, Elfreda died due to a gastric ulcer when her son Harold was only twelve. Her death most likely came from either bleeding or stomach blockage. She had apparently been suffering from the ulcer for a couple of years. She had had salpingitis for some time, a chronic condition that may have contributed to her death. A private funeral was held in the Roberts home, and she was laid to rest by her grieving family at Cypress Lawn Memorial Cemetery in Colma on March 23, 1908. Her husband John sent young Harold to live with his widowed maternal grandmother, Mrs. Seifert, at 25th and Diamond Streets, after Elfreda's death.
Elfreda and John's son and only child, Harold William Roberts, would later join the U.S. Army's new Tank Corps and lose his life during the Argonne Offensive in northern France in October of 1918. Corporal Harold Roberts was awarded the MEDAL OF HONOR posthumously, and the Army's largest Replacement Training Center in the nation was named in honor him--Camp Roberts, California. He is buried in the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in northern France, not far from where he lost his life. John accepted the posthumous Medal of Honor for their son in a ceremony in April of 1919.
Elfreda's husband John was interred with her in their unmarked grave at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park in Colma when he passed away in 1922. The Camp Roberts Historical Museum is currently in the process of seeing what it would take to place a marker on their gravesite.
Elfreda and John's son and only child, Harold William Roberts, would later join the U.S. Army's new Tank Corps and lose his life during the Argonne Offensive in northern France in October of 1918. Corporal Harold Roberts was awarded the MEDAL OF HONOR posthumously, and the Army's largest Replacement Training Center in the nation was named in honor him--Camp Roberts, California. He is buried in the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in northern France, not far from where he lost his life. John accepted the posthumous Medal of Honor for their son in a ceremony in April of 1919.
Elfreda's husband John was interred with her in their unmarked grave at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park in Colma when he passed away in 1922. The Camp Roberts Historical Museum is currently in the process of seeing what it would take to place a marker on their gravesite.
