Pioneers: Coke County Pioneers John Sebial Robertson and son, Jim Robertson Contributed by Bonita (Robertson) Hester and Jo Collier 27 August 2003 Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm *********************************************************************** All documents placed in the USGenWeb Archives remain the property of the contributors, who retain publication rights in accordance with US Copyright Laws and Regulations. In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, these documents may be used by anyone for their personal research. They may be used by non-commercial entities so long as all notices and submitter information is included. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit. Any other use, including copying files to other sites, requires permission from the contributors PRIOR to uploading to the other sites. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. *********************************************************************** This information was related by Annie B. Mitchell, granddaughter of John Sebial Robertson and daughter of Jim Robertson, to Bonita Robertson Hester, also a granddaughter and daughter, respectively. John Sebial Robertson was born in Birmingham, Alabama. His parents left there when he was two years old and moved to Georgia. He lived in Georgia until he was eleven years old when he moved to Newton County, Mississippi. At the age of 19 years (1861) he enlisted in the Old Confederate Army. He fought at the battle of Vicksburg - he said some of the cannons were fired into houses. During the battle he went into one of the houses and saw a cannonball lodged in the floor. (Annie B. Mitchell told me this story and she told me that when she toured the battle site on a vacation she toured a house that had a cannonball lodged in the floor). He was captured and paroled at Vicksburg (his name appeared as J. S. Robinson on a list of exchange prisoners dated December 20, 1863). At the end of the war he was prisoner of the Yanks for sixty days. His name appeared on a roll of prisoners dated July 3, 1864. He and three more boys escaped by tying their clothing to a twenty-foot board to catch the wind just right and swam ten miles. They hid out for three weeks, and all they had to eat was roasting ears and whatever they could catch. After that he volunteered to fight the Indians - he fought them two years in South Dakota. Folowing his service as an Indian fighter, he drove a stage coach using six horses and delivered the United States Mail in North Dakota. John S. then moved to Brown County, Texas, and married Elizabeth Arnold Ketchum in 1868. He was 32 years old and she was 21 years old. There were nine children born to this marriage. They moved to Oklahoma where he served as a United State Marshall for 10 years and upon returning to Texas enjoyed life as a civilian. Elizabeth Robertson died in 1887 leaving several small children. J. S. lived in Jack County 23 years where he owned a Wagon Yard. He and his sons Jim (our father) and Tom were going on cattle drives and also hog drives, taking the animals to Kansas to sell. They were very young boys and Grandfather decided they were running with to wild a bunch on the drives so he sold the wagon yard and moved from there to Coke County, bringing the boys and all the livestock he owned. He settled his family on the Carlos Flores Survey below the mouth of the Yellow Wolf Creek on the Colorado River about Robert Lee. This was in about 1901. Since several of the older children had moved to Coke County John's older years were spent living with some of his married children in Coke County. Prior to his death in 1932 he lived in his own little house beside that of his granddaughter, Annie B. (Robertson) Mitchell for six years where he died at the age of 96 years. (Note: Little is known about Elizabeth Ketchum. Sometime during their life in Oklahoma, Elizabeth, his wife, acquired the name of Morning Dove. She was one-half Indian. We are said to be fifth generation of Pocahuntas. She died on an outing with her children by the river. A storm arose and she was trying to get them all together on the same side of the river and was thought to have been struck by lightening. This was October 8, 1887. Jim was about five years old at the time and his brother Tom was three. They were taken care of by older brothers and sisters and brothers. John S. Robertson never married again.) *********************************************************************** The following article was written by Frank Dickey, a long time attorney in Robert Lee) The Observer/Enterprise, Robert Lee, Coke County, TX -July, 1949 JIM ROBERTSON J. S. Robertson, a Confederate Veteran, moved from Jack County to the mouth of Yellow Wolf on the river above Robert Lee, at the turn of the century. Originally from Mississippi, he came to Texas immediately after the Civil War. His wife, Elizabeth Wharton*(1), whom he married in Brown County, died in 1877*(2), leaving seven*(3) children: Alice, John*(4), W.J., S. N. (Tuck), J. B. (Jim) and Tom. Jim is the only one of Grandpa (J.S.) Robertson's children now living in Coke County. No doubt, a lot of nice things could be truly said about all this family, particularly about "Grandpa"; however, Jim has a birthday coming up on the 26th of this month and is, therefor, the subject of this writing. Jim was young in years when he came here in 1901; yet, he was a veteran in many ways. He had been up the trail with herds to Indian Territory and to Kansas and he was a seasoned bronco-breaker. For two years, he punched cows and broke horses for Harris Brothers and for John and Gene Saul. Part of the time he put in helping his father to get his place fixed up and his family settled. He was tall, slim and dark - pretty good looking, too - with eyes as sharp as an eagles those (eyes were black and sharp). Jim married Arizona Cain, a fine local girl in 1903 and moved to the John W. Lovelady Survey. For forty-six years Jim has lived on the same place, during which time he has had a great part in moulding the pattern of life in Coke County. Arizona died in 1928, leaving ten children. Jim married Boneita (Brown) Landers in 1933, and they have four*(4) children. Boneita is also a high respected and fine woman. His children are good people. The neighbors will tell you so. Bringing up his family on less than 160 acres of land and providing for them well, which he actually did, should distinguish Jim Robertson. However, there is a lot more to be said about him. (no doubt each of his good wives and his children, as he says, have been a worthy inspiration and a lot of help.) His reputation for kindness and generosity is co-extensive with his acquaintance. He has attended, waited upon and doctored more bodies for burial than any one in the county, insofar as it is known, except professional undertakers. (This writer's first pony died in Jim's yard> Let a neighbor suffer illness, death in his family, or some other misfortune, Jim is there, contributing his money, passing the hat, plowing the field, looking after the stock, and doing anything helpful that is to be done. Jim is a Christian; you might have to ask him to find out to which church he belongs. He has actively supported and, with his family, (he used to bring them in a two-horse wagon) attended most of the Community church services. On the preaching and praying side, Jim is pretty quiet; but he is strong for keeping preaching and Sunday School going along. He will see that there is wood for the Church House stove in the winter and lights for the night services. Jim probably don't know any smutty stories; at least, he never tells one and he has sufficient command of the English language to express his thoughts without resorting to profanity. If you want to hear something worth thinking about, get Jim to tell you his views on keeping the rural schools. And, if you want to know what he knows about rural schools, let his neighbors tell you about all his children attending school regularly and about Jim hauling the wood to keep a fire for them in the winter times. And, in this last connection, you will learn that he has hauled more fire-wood for the school than anyone else. (Perhaps it is as he says: he had a lot the most children to keep warm.) He has been helping to run such schools for forty years. Every pay-less job imaginable has been given to Jim Robertson; road overseer, convention delegate, cemetery trustee and treasurer, school trustee (twenty-five years of it) and a number of other such jobs. The amazing part of it is, he always serves, and he does it willingly. The records of our Courts will show that he has done as much jury service, if not more, than any citizen in the county. Jim is not much of a hand to makes excuses. He has never held a political office that paid any money; and he has never been a dandidate for election to a paying office. Such a man is Jim Robertson of Friendship, Coke County, Texas. Note: *(1)-Research reveals her name was Elizabeth Arnold Ketchum. Her first husband's name was Horton Ketchum. *(2)-Death records show 1887. *(3)-Research shows eight children were left: Alice Crossman, John S. William J. (Dink), Samuel N. (Tuck), Lucy Morrison, Minnie Moore, James Brantley (Jim) and Thomas (Tom). *(4)-John was evidently a "Jr" since his middle initial is "S". *(5)-Family member states this is five children. Permission granted by The Observer/Enterprise for publication in the Coke County TXGenWeb Archives.