Sidney was born on July 15, 1836 in Madison Co., Kentucky. He was the son of Ralph and Nancy Roberts and the oldest child with three brothers and one sister. By 1860, Sidney was living in Macon Co., Missouri with his mother and his siblings. On July 17, 1860 Sidney married Armilda D. (nee Herrin) Whitmore. She was born in Rolla, Missouri on May 27, 1837 and her first husband had died earlier in the year. Their first son, Daniel Preston, was born in 1861 (his tomb stone shows 1860). Armilda already had one daughter, Martha Louise, by her first husband.
On July 24, 1861, Sidney enrolled in the 22nd Regiment Missouri Infantry at a place called Gunnels, Missouri and was transferred into Co. I, 7th Missouri Volunteer Cavalry shortly thereafter. When he entered the service, he was using his own horse. Sidney was five feet eleven inches tall, had brown eyes, black hair and a light complexion. He was listed as a farmer on his enrollment form.
He was present on the rolls for August 1862, so he probably was at Lone Jack. However, on September 17 he deserted at Sedalia and in so doing stole one government horse! On May 27, 1864 he was apprehended by Sergeant Christian Harrison Parker and turned over to Capt. Henry W. Hollingsworth of the Provost Marshall’s office in Hannibal, Missouri. For this service, Sergeant Parker was paid $30.00. By the way, Sergeant Parker had also been at Lone Jack during the battle.
On June 24, 1864, Sidney was returned to the 7th Missouri Cavalry and was confined and awaiting a trial. At that time, he owed the government $30.00 and his pay was stopped to make good for the time he was away. On August 9 and 10, the formal charge of desertion was provided by the captain of Company I. In December 1864 he was transferred to the 1st Missouri Cavalry, but still under arrest. With the end of the war, Sidney went home.
During his time away from the 7th Missouri, Sidney was neither hiding nor idle. On October 15, 1862 he enlisted at Bellevue, Nebraska in the 2nd Nebraska Cavalry, to serve for nine months. This, by the way, is a violation of the 22nd Article of War. He was assigned to Company D and he served until September 18, 1863 when he was honorably discharged. He was paid forty cents a day for the use of “his” horse (the stolen government horse?). Somewhere along the way he spent some time at home since a daughter, Mary Elizabeth, was born in August of 1864.
Now back in civilian life, Sidney took up the occupation of miller, and in 1865 added another son, John Henry to the family. Around the end of 1869 the family grew to five children, with the addition of Elwood Dee. Sometime after June of 1870, another child, David, was added to the family and they were living in Mercyville, Macon County, Missouri. Three of the children did attend school.
About 1875, the sixth child, Thomas, was born and by 1880 Sidney, Armilda and three sons were living in Custer Co., Dakota Territory; Sidney listed himself as an engineer. In that same year, Armilda died. Sidney and family returned to Missouri and on July 29, 1890 he filed for a Veteran’s Pension, listing the 7 Mo. Cav., 22 Mo. Inf., 1 Mo. Cav. and 2 Neb. Cav. He was issued Certificate No. 687399, so his escapade of deserting and joining another unit did not seem to interfere with his qualifications for a pension.
On October 19, 1886 Sidney married Sarah Ferris in Kirksville, Missouri. I found nothing about her, so I do not know if the marriage ended with her death or a divorce. Either way, on January 18, 1899, Sidney took out a marriage license and married Sarah Mathis. Both were living in Elmer, Missouri at the time. Sarah was born about 1858 in Missouri. Beyond that, I could not find anything else about her. By the census in 1910, which was enumerated on May 5-6, Sidney was living as a boarder in a home on Pearl Street in Macon, Missouri and listed himself as widowed.
According to the date on his grave stone, Sidney died on October 29, 1910. He was buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery in Macon, Missouri. According to his death certificate, he died on November 26, 1910 and, here too, he was listed as a widower. To add to this confusion, on February 19, 1917, Sarah E. Roberts filed for a Widow’s Pension and was granted a Certificate no. 944286.