Anna Myrtis (Conerly) Robertson (1881 - 1951)

Born 1881 in Conerly, Pike County, Mississippi

Ancestors

Wife of Franklin Selden Robertson Jr. — married 17 Apr 1901 in Hornbeck, La

Descendants

Died 1951 at about age 70 in Dallas, Texas

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Biography

This Profile written by Allan Harl Thomas

Anna was born in 1881. Anna Conerly ... She passed away in 1951. ^[1]Myrtis was born at the home of her grandfather, William Marion Conerly (1833 - 1911). He was Pike County Clerk in Holmesville and when they moved the county seat to Magnolia he loaded his house on four wagons and moved to Magnolia.

In an article dated Oct. 24th, 1974 that was printed in either the McComb Mississippi Enterprise Journal or the Tylertown paper entitled Story recalled of F.C.&G. being built through here Rosalie Conerly recalled when Frank Robertson and brother, Colonel Sam, of Norborne MO. and William Bates of Texarkana, AK. built the Fernwood Columbia and Gulf Railroad .

The article begins, "The death of Mrs. Kate Bridges Bates last week in McComb reminded Miss Rosalie Conerly of a story behind the building of the F.C.&G. through here."... "The Robertsons and Bates received the contract to build the F.C.&G. in the winter of 1899 and 1900. They backed the freight and slat cars down the tracks, loaded with the tracks loaded with equipment, mules, workmen and their two pairs of matched horses and their two buggies, as the tracks were built..."

"It was in 1900 that they reached Conerly station (about a block west of the Bogue Chitto Choo Choo where they met Myrtis Conerly, sister of Miss Rosalie, and Kate Bridges." The couples ( Frank and Myrtis, William and Kate) were married and the Bates moved on to Houston while the Robertsons continued to build railroads down to Mexico. In conclusion Miss Rosalie said, "that this was a bit of history that , to her knowledge had not been recorded."

A flash flood on the Bogue Chitto washed out the work on the railroad bridge which gave the lovebirds time to court. Myrtis and Frank's courtship entailed trips to the Holmesville Baptist Church in Frank's buggy with the matched pair of black horses. The folks at Holmesville were impressed with Frank's beautiful baritone singing voice.

Myrtis and Frank were married April 17th, 1901, by Sam Robertson there, near the Bogue Chitto River. It may have been Myrtis' grandfather, William Marion Conerly, Mayor of Hornbeck, LA., that realized that Sam Robertson was not actually qualified to perform legal marriages, even though that did not prevent Sam from continuing the practice for many years- he loved a wedding!. "On October 21, 1902, Governor William Wright Heard issued a proclamation declaring that Section 16, Township 4, North Range 10 West was incorporated as Hornbeck; with W.M. Conerly appointed Mayor."^[2] Mayor Conerly issued the couple an unsigned certified marriage certificate for the previous date and then remarried the couple in 1902.

"Myrtis died December 31, 1951. They are buried at San Benito, Texas, where Frank was Civil Engineer and District Manager for the Rio Grande Valley Water Works. Myrtis was very active in church work. She was President of the Mission Work over the Rio Grande Valley for many years and was probably the most responsible person for the magnificient church that is now in that region. There was no church in the District when she became leader; The Valley people put out a book, now in possession of her family, about her work there." ^[3]

San Benito Baptist Church

Sources

• The events of Anna's life were witnessed by Allan Thomas .
• Bogue Chitto
• Bogue Chitto River
• Find A Grave: Memorial #120483515
• [https://www.faithstreet.com/church/holmesville-baptist-church-mccomb-ms Holmesville Baptist Church

• F.C.&G.

1. ↑ Entered by Allan Thomas, May 3, 2013
2. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornbeck,_Louisiana
3. ↑ Silver Creek Simmons page 312- digital page 321

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Allan Thomas for starting this profile.