Roberte was born Mar 4, 1858 in Stevenhagan, Kreis Naugard, Pommern, Prussia and came with her parents to America, arriving September 23, 1879 on the good ship Westphalia which sailed from Hamburg, Germany on July 30, 1879, living first in Iron Ridge, WI and then they moving to Watertown, South Dakota. Roberte worked as a maid in the Dakota House operated by D. McBeth. One day the cook was suddenly called away and the manager couldn't find anyone to take over the cooking so Roberta volunteered. He liked her cooking so well that he gave her the job. One day the girls in the kitchen were peeking through a small peep hole in the door admiring a young man who had just come into the dining room to eat. The girls asked, "Who is that?" Roberte said, "That's the man I'm going to marry." She had never seen him before but did meet him later and she did marry him. His name was John Maxwell Barkley.

John was born in County Antrim, Ireland and came to Canada with his mother, two brothers and a sister in the spring of 1864 after the death of his father. He and his brothers; Robert and William were all harness makers. John and Roberte were married at the home of a minister who lived near Roberte's parents in Crandon on May 24, 1883. They lived with her parents for awhile where John plied his harness trade at home. They then moved to Blunt, South Dakota where he owned and operated a harness shop. In 1890 John started a shop in Fort Pierre, South Dakota. They lived there until a flood took their home and furniture down river in 1905. They moved to the Pierre Indian School. John taught the Indian boys the harness making trade. He also taught them how to repair shoes. When he retired from the Indian Service in 1926 they moved back to Fort Pierre where ha had a small truck garden. He and Roberte had eight children. John was a Presbyterian and Roberte was baptized a Lutheran on Apr 5, 1858 in Stevenhagen, Prussia. They are buried in the Cedar Hill cemetery in Fort Pierre, South Dakota