Volney Roberts was born in Greenville, Maine, the second child of Charles and Nettie (Hutchins) Roberts. The family lived on a farm. Volney Roberts attended school until age 14, at which point he went to work in the woods. A few years later, his family moved to Abbot, but Volney was unhappy there, so he went to Bangor and worked for Great Northern Paper in their garage. He fought in WWI and later worked again for Great Northern and also for Atlas Plywood Corporation. In 1970, he was again living in Greenville. He was married and had at least two children. He was the cousin of Lee Roberts.