Biography of Frank S. Roby, pages 736737/738. Memorial Record of Northeastern Indiana, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1896. Frank S. Roby,---He to whose life history we now turn our attention is recognized as one of the leading members of the bar of Steuben county, retaining his residence at Angola and having a large and representative clientage. His business career has been one of comprehensive order and has had to do with enterprises outside the immediate province of his profession, this fitting him the more fully for that work which touches upon all phases of industry and all sides of life. His ancestral history has been one of the long identification with America annals, and in the same there appear many points of interest as taken in connection with the events of the various periods. Pliny Roby, the father of our subject, was born in Carroll county, Ohio, and in early life he turned his attention to the profession of surveyor, in which vocation he was actively concerned for many years, having been the incumbent as County Surveyor of Steuben county, Indiana, for a protracted period and being still an honored resident of this county. His father, Horatio Roby, was one of the early pioneers of the Buckeye State, having removed thither with his father, from Prince George county, Maryland, in the year 1813. His father, Leslie Roby, had been the owner of a considerable number of slaves, but becoming convinced that the institution of a slavery was nefarious and blot upon the honor of the nation, he liberated his slaves upon his emigration to Ohio, and was ever after a pronounced adversary to this system, which as only abolished at the sacrifice of many noble lives. Horatio followed in his footsteps and during his entire life was fearless in his denunciation of slavery and active in his efforts to free the nation from the stigma which came from the fostering of the institution. Both were men of strong individuality and inflexible devotion to principle, and their contemporary influence had much power in directing public opinion in the section where they lived. Upon attaining maturity Horatio Roby was united in marriage to the daughter of Barrick Roby, who was a native of Maryland and whose relationship with Leslie Roby was remote. In the year 1852, at Ravenna, Ohio, occurred the marriage of Pliny Roby to Ann Eliza Lee, who was a women of rare culture, having been a graduate of the Young Ladies Institute at Pittsfield, Massachusetts. At that period it was somewhat extraordinary for a woman to be possessed of such high literary attainments, and Mrs. Roby’s influence was one of marked character, and she became prominent as a teacher and as a contributor to various newspapers and periodical, among which was the New York Tribune. In these later days, as the nineteenth century draws to its close, and discussions in regard to the “new woman” are so much in evidence, it is grateful to revert to such an one as the mother of our subject, for hers was the gentle refinement and the unpretentious and noble character that will ever stand as the type of true womanhood. She was admired alike for her intellectual endowments and for the beauty of her devoted life. Her death occurred at Pleasant Lake, Indiana, in 1876, and the life eternal gained a new glory when thus she left the life terrestrial. Frank S. Roby, the immediate subject of this review, was the second in order of birth of the five children of his parents, the place of his nativity having been Carroll county, Ohio, where he was ushered into the world in the year 1854. Two years later his parents removed to Steuben county, Indiana, where, as before stated, they venerable father still maintains his home. The education which our subject received in youth was principally under the effective tutorage of his talented mother, his attendance at the public schools being largely optional with himself and consequently somewhat desultory in character. In 1871 he began the study of law at Waterloo, Indiana, where he took up a course of reading under the preceptorage of R. W. McBride, who subsequently became a Justice of the Supreme Court of the State, and in this way he laid the foundation of that fine legal education which he now brings to bear in his professional endeavors. After a time Mr. Roby laid aside the study of law to turn his attention to other lines of occupation. He learned the carpenter’s trade, and was employed in the same for a period of eight years, passing through the various stages from apprentice to contractor and manager, and showing his capacity for practical affairs. After resigning his connection with this line of occupation Mr. Roby was for some time engaged in the retailing of agricultural implements, later becoming a wholesale dealer in the same line. In 1880 he left Steuben county for a time was engaged at Chicago and Elgin, Illinois, and Omaha, Nebraska. At Elgin he resumed his legal studies, entering the office of E. C. Lovel, being admitted to the bar in 1876. In December, 1883, he opened an office in Waterloo, Indiana, succeeding the practice of his former preceptor, R. W. McBride, who had shortly before been chosen Circuit Judge. Our subject’s ability in the line of his profession soon gained him recognition, and his practice was one of excellent scope at the time when he located in Angola, in 1887. Here he has since remained in the active practice of his profession, and his clientele is one which has extended his operations outside the limitations of Steuben county, being one of distinctively representative order and one which stand in evidence of his powers as an attorney and counselor. His studies have been well directed and his knowledge of jurisprudence, of precedents and all essential elements which conserve success in this profession are such as to have gained him a reputation as one of the representative members of the bar of the county and to have given him marked relative prestige, his practice being an extensive one. He is a strong advocate before court and jury, handling his cases with consummate skill, retaining a clear comprehension of he point at issue and never swerved from his course by irrelevant or specious arguments. He has made a specialty of carrying through litigation’s and his success in this line is the best evidence of his ability. In his political adherency Mr. Roby is strongly arrayed in the support of the Republican party and its principles, but he has never sought official preferment. Religiously he is identified with the Congregational Church. In 1885 was solemnized the marriage of our subject to Miss Laura Shuman, daughter of Jacob Shuman, a well known citizen of Waterloo, this State. Submitted by: Arlene Goodwin Auburn, Indiana Agoodwin@ctlnet.com