He attended public school in Freemansburg and received no college education.
[2] In 1905 he was elected to the Northampton County committee serving as their recorder of deeds.
Roberts held several jobs including working as a reporter for the Bethlehem Times (later merged into The Express-Times), a real estate agent, an insurance broker and a banker.
[1] Roberts was elected to the Pennsylvania State Senate in 1927 to represent Northampton county in the 18th district as a Democrat and served as the minority floor leader from 1935 to 1936.
[1] Roberts married Sadie Louise Née Dreisbach in 1908.