Nicholas Franklin Roberts
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Nicholas Franklin Roberts | |
|---|---|
 Roberts from a 1902 publication[1] | |
| Born | October 13, 1849 Seaboard, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Died | June 25, 1934 (aged 84) Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Shaw University |
| Occupations | |
| Political party | Republican |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Baptist |
Nicholas Franklin Roberts (October 13, 1849 – June 25, 1934) was a leading Baptist minister and educator in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was a faculty member and for a short time acting president at Shaw University. He was also a city alderman in Raleigh and served on the county board of education.
Nicholas Franklin Roberts was born in Seaboard, Northampton County, North Carolina on October 13, 1849. As a child, he worked on a farm. He showed aptitude for mathematics at a young age and entered Shaw University (then Shaw Collegiate Institute) on October 10, 1871. He graduated in May 1878 and was then hired as a professor of Mathematics at Shaw.[2]
Roberts was active in Republican politics, even as a student, serving as secretary of a Republican county meeting in July 1872.[3] Along with Shaw University president, Henry Martin Tupper, and fellow student, Edward Hart Lipscombe, Roberts was an editor of the quarterly journal, African Expositor, founded in 1878[4] and was later the business manager of the Baptist Sentinel.[1]
Baptist church service
In March 1872, he converted to the Baptist religion and on May 20, 1877 he was ordained a minister. On July 2, 1882, he was made pastor of Blount Street Baptist Church in Raleigh, North Carolina. From 1873 to 1883, he was president of the State Sunday School convention,[2] a position he served in many times.[5] He was also elected president of the State Baptist Convention numerous times,[5] first in October 1885.[2] He was made general missionary among the poor in North Carolina by the American Baptist Home Mission Society in 1881.[6] He resigned as pastor of the Blount Street Baptist Church in August 1891 to focus on his other activities.[5]