Robert Trenton Roudabush

Robert Trenton Roudabush was born September 22, 1867 in Page County, Virginia to Peter W. Roudabush and Elizabeth Koontz Roudabush. He married Lula Ann Suthard and had five children which are seen here. From the left are Guy Lee Roudabush, Claude B. Roudabush, Sudie Roudabush, and an unidentified young girl. My grandfather- Frank Calvin Roudabush is in between his parents.

Robert worked as a miller for his brother Major Ashby Roudabush in the area around Stanley, VA. It may be the same mill begun by Peter W. Roudabush (their father). It is uncertain how he came to live and work at Cherry Hill Farm- which was owned by the Snyder brothers until the death of James Snyder in 1911. I believe that he was employed as caretaker by Snyder, and eventually the farm was willed to Eliza Jane Suthard (Lula Ann's mother), but at her death was to be given to Lula Ann and her sister Hortensine Suthard Hoffman. Hortense sold her interest to Lula for one dollar.

Robert was a notorious drunkard and the family was kept intact by Lula Ann. As a side note, Lula Ann died and was laid out in the living room of Cherry Hill Farm. After her death, the farm was sold to retire debt, and Robert Trenton lived elsewhere-  but in the latter years of his life he was supposed to have liquidated Civil War artifacts and other items from the attic of the farm to pay bills. He died December 5, 1945.