Here is a letter and an obituary concerning Mary Eveline ANTHONY ROBERTSON, my great great grandmother.

[Letter written by Graham Anthony Collier to his brother John David Collier, dated 14 December 1985.]

...You asked about Granny Robertson, so here are some of the things she talked about. I wish now that I had listened more carefully and asked more questions.

Her full name was Mary Evaline Anthony Robertson, [08 June 1848 - 01 April 1932], she was one of four daughters of Josiah ANTHONY and Patricia MARTIN Anthony.

Granny's sisters:
Susan (Aunt Sue Joiner) Hartsville, Tenn. ?
Lucile (Aunt Ludy Crump) Texas
Patricia (Aunt Patty Luster) ?

Her parents died when she was young child and her mother's brother, Ben MARTIN, was guardian for the four girls. Our great grandfather Anthony [Josiah Anthony] must have been quite well to do as he had extensive land holdings in Trousdale County and also in West Tennessee. Granny said the war freed his 80 slaves and the Yankee army took mules from him in 1862 without paying for them. About 50 years later the Federal government reimbursed the sisters a very nominal amount for the mules. I think Granny said the payment amounted to about $1.00 per mule. Granny's share was $17.00 so there must have been 68 mules. Big deal.

Granny said her guardian did not like Ludy's boy friend who was named Crump. He was afraid they would run off and get married so he enrolled her in a Catholic school for girls in Washington D. C. Ludy would not go unless Granny went with her so "Uncle Ben" sent both girls to Washington, thinking that Ludy would forget about Crump in a year. Granny said that it was quite fashionable at that time for girls to dip snuff so she joined the group and used snuff the rest of her life. (Brutons or Garrets dry snuff).

She studied music and could play the piano like an old pro. I ve [heard] her play the piano at Liberty (not at church service) and believe me she could make that old upright walk the dog.

After a year the girls cam back home and Ludy and Crump ran off and got married and went to Texas to live. (The best laid plans of mice and men)

Granny thought that Uncle Ben may have shade treed some of their inheritance because when the girls grew up there wasn't much left. Of course, he had provided a home and schooling for all four and the war took care of the slaves and live stock. When she married grandfather [James Wesley] Robertson, all she had was some land in West Tennessee which he sold sight unseen. She didn't remember how many acres or where it was located...

[Undated newspaper clipping, probably from The Sumner County News.]

In Memory
Mrs. Mary Eveline [Anthony] Robertson, widow of the late James W. [Wesley] Robertson , of Sumner county, died at the home of her son-in-law and daughter, Mr. & Mrs. T.V. [Thomas Vines] COLLIER, April 1st, 1932.

She was the daughter of Josiah and Patsy Martin Anthony and was born June 6th, 1848 near Hartsville, Tenn. Her mother and father died when she was a child, and she lived with her uncle Ben Martin, who was her guardian during her childhood and girlhood.

Since early childhood, Mrs. Robertson had been a faithful and consistent member of the Church of Christ. She was quiet and unassuming and loved by all who knew her. She was educated in good private schools and finished in the Hartsville Academy. She was brought up in wealth, but later when reverses came, she met them with cheerful heart and willing hands.

During her illness, she was patient and always courteous to those who ministered to her, and appreciated everything the friends and neighbors did for her. She was a true Southern woman of the old school, with all that the term means to us of the south.

An appropriate service was held at the home by Rev. H. L. Olmstead with singing by members of her church. She was laid to rest in the family burying ground near Hartsville.

She is survived by two sons and five daughters, and a number of grandchildren, who will sadly miss her cheerful presence in the home she had blessed for a number of years.