David Roberts

David Roberts was born in Hamilton, Massachusetts, and later lived on Winter Street in Salem. A Harvard-educated attorney, he read law with Leverett Saltonstall (Salem’s first mayor) and wrote a notable book on admiralty law.

He was an active Freemason; founder and later president of the Salem Fire Club; a member of the Essex Institute’s Library Committee; and a lecturer at the Salem Lyceum. He served as a state representative before being elected Salem’s fifteenth mayor, during which he helped the city transition to peacetime after the Civil War. He resigned during his second term in 1867 after conflicts with the board of aldermen, leaving him with a lasting distaste for politics.

A close friend of Nathaniel Hawthorne, who called him “my pillow,” Roberts often played cards at the home of Hawthorne’s cousin, Susan Ingersoll (now the House of the Seven Gables). According to one account, Roberts suggested the title The House of the Seven Gables to Hawthorne for his 1851 Gothic novel.

He is buried on Grove Avenue, Lot #272.