Jonathan M. Roberts was born in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania in 1821 to Jonathan and Eliza Roberts. His father was elected to the state senate and then went on to the United States Congress from 1811-1814. Unfortunately, Jonathan’s father died in 1854, six months before Jonathan married Mary Abbot. They went on to have six daughters over the next twenty years after moving to New Jersey.
Because of his father’s success, Jonathan received a fine education and then studied law. Prior to the Civil War he was an active Abolitionist and became one of the leaders of the Republican party. He was frequently referred to as “General” or “Colonel.” He may have played some role in the Civil War and made his fortune as a manufacturer of cast-iron stoves.
Jonathan became a believer of Spiritualism about 1873 when he was put in contact with the spirit of his father. That belief was solidified when James A. Bliss brought forth his deceased daughter. By 1878 he started publishing and editing Mind and Matter with C.C. Wilson and James A Bliss as a weekly journal that delved to the interests of Spiritualism.
Jonathan may have been too enthralled with Spiritualists and mediums to hold them under critical analysis. His journal became a place to attack the Religio-Philosophical Journal (which tended to publish criticisms of mediums’ frauds), and featured accounts of mediums who had shown themselves to be frauds. He also used his law background to sue others for defaming him or criticizing his proteges – even suing on behalf of Alfred James after James had signed an affidavit that he had been cheating. He also defended mediums such as Madame Blavatsky and the Holmes materializing mediums, suing a Philadelphia newspaper for defamation.
Jonathan’s interest in free thought led him to oppose “Christian spiritualism.” He argued that Christ was really Apollonius and Christianity really Buddhism, and that both had been delivered by the spirits and then perverted by the priests of the early church. His publications included, Antiquity Unveiled: Ancient Voices from the Spirit Realms Proving Christianity to be of Heathen Origin and Apollonius of Tyana, Identified as the Christian Jesus.
Jonathan died in 1888 at his home in Burlington, New Jersey at the age of 67 after being stricken with paralysis for several weeks. An article in The Philadelphia Times, 1 March 1888, stated that “He defended the faith of his adoption with great energy, which led him into many legal difficulties and, it is said, was the indirect cause of his death.”