Memories of Lucy Mae CROSBY Robertson and Sydney ROBERTSON as told by their great-grandaughter Carrie Hall.
Some of my best memories were of Grandma and Grandpa (Sydney) Robertson. I used to spend the nights often with Grandma and Grandpa Robertson. Usually on a Saturday as I would get up the next morning and go to church at the First Baptist Church in Greensburg, Kiowa County, Kansas. During the church service Grandma would always have a pen and paper for me to draw on during church. After church we would always ride out the C. R.'s Dairy Delite and have lunch and ice cream and see my Grandma Martin (Charlotte Marvene ADOLPH Martin) as Grandma Martin cooked out there and still does (2003). I loved riding in Grandpa Robertson's old car. I don't know what kind of car it was. I remember asking Grandma Robertson one time why Grandpa always drove. I was shocked to learn that Grandma had never learned how to drive. She never did learn how to drive that I recall.
Grandma used to save all her cards that she received. She would keep the front piece with the picture and tear the back half off. She kept them in a box and whenever us grandkids would come over she would get out that box with the scissors and glue and we would make things out of those cards.
Grandma was always baking, cooking or cleaning. I don't remember her resting much. When family would get together at her house she was always right in the middle of the fray. It didn't matter how much everyone asked, bossed, bullied, or threatened to "tie her up" she never would sit down and let everyone else do the cleaning. Grandma always wore an apron. I loved her aprons and she would let me wear one of them when we would cook or clean in the kitchen. I often wished I had been able to keep one of her aprons after she died. Grandma made the best rolls and everyone tried to make them like her but nobody could. They followed her recipe by the letter but they never tasted as good as Grandma's. I think it must have been the love she put in them. It's the only thing I can think of. Grandma also made the best creamy french salad dressing. It was all I would eat for the longest time. I think I was in my twenties before I ever tried another kind of salad dressing. To this day my favorite is still french.
Grandma also loved to garden. I remember spending a lot of time outside with her weeding her flower gardens at her house in Greensburg on Wisconsin Street. She always had marigolds planted in the front yard and to this day the smell of marigolds reminds me of Grandma.
When Grandma Robertson (Lucy Mae CROSBY Martin Hott Robertson - my Great Grandma) turned 90 years old there was a big birthday celebration thrown in her honor. It was a time when family came together once again to show her our love. I saw family I hadn't seen in quite a long tim. The following information was gathered and put in order by Paula Shearman.
Martin-Crosby Generations
SKETCHES
By Ben Burroughs
I wish that I could go back to... the days of used-to-be... and relive all the happy times... when my heart danced with glee... to youthful days when hopes were high... and faith was burning bright... back to the time when all the world... seemed wonderful and right... those were the priceless golden days... that I cannot forget... for they are fresh in memory... and linger with me yet... but only in the land of dreams... the time is flying fast... oh, how I wish I could go back... to times now far away... for in my heart it seems as though... they were but yesterday.
CROSBY GENERATIONS
Parents and sisters and brothers of Lucy Mae CROSBY Martin Hott Robertson
Father: William Simon CROSBY - born 8 JULY 1833 at Louisville, Kentucky - died MARCH 1915 at age 82 in Litchfield, Illinois
He had one brother, John and a sister Sarah. His marriage to Nancy PIPKIN is a second marriage. His first wife left him for someone else while he was in the service. A son had been born to this union whose name was Joseph. Joseph was reared by his Aunt Ellen, his mother's sister, until he (W.S. Crosby) got out of service. He served under General GRANT. He lived on a farm many years.
Mother: Nancy Marie PIPKIN - born 25 APRIL 1858 at Cairo, Texas - died 28 DECEMBER 1905 at age 47 at Litchfield, Illinois
She contracted tuberculosis while taking care of Joseph who had T. B. and eventually caused her death. Joseph was a railroad engineer.
To this union were born 6 girls and 3 boys: Laura Belle, Mary Louise, Sara Elizabeth, Della Cleveland, William Richard, John Henry, Lucy Mae, Frank Charles and Grace Oliva. All were born at Hillsboro, Illinois.
SHORT HISTORY OF EACH CHILD AS LUCY MAE RECALLS
1. Laura Belle CROSBY - born 8 AUGUST 1878
Married Charles MANNING. Had two daughters. Nora and Lucy. When Laura died in 1910, her husband, Charles, put the two girls in an orphanage at Pana, Illinois. Grandma Nancy P. Crosby tried to find where they were, the information was not given to her.
2. Mary Louise CROSBY - born 12 APRIL 1880
While their mother stepped outside for a few minutes, Laura (age 2) pulled her off the bed causing her death at age 6 weeks. Death in 1880.
3. Sara Elizabeth CROSBY - born 15 MAY 1882
Married James DUNCAN. No children. Died after a possible hysterectomy. Death 1914.
4. Della Cleveland CROSBY - born 14 NOVEMBER 1884
Married Jesse PUCKETT. She visited Lucy several times and most of Lucy's children remember her. No children. Died from pneumonia in 1945.
5. William Richard CROSBY - born 14 MAY 1886
Bachelor oil-field worker. Lived with Lucy and family last few years of his life. Did from a sudden heart attack in 1915.
6. John Henry CROSBY - born 15 SEPTEMBER 1888. Married Marguerite MARTIN 24 AUGUST 1910. Four children were born to this union. Bill, Tom, Ralph and Joan. He was an oil-field worker and carpenter. Lived close to Lucy and in later years lived with her before his death. Chronic heart condition and asthma took him in 1954.
7. Lucy Mae CROSBY - born 26 FEBRUARY 1892
Married William Roscoe MARTIN. To this union were born 3 boys and 3 girls: William Roscoe, Maxwell Monroe, Clevella Margurite, Marjorie Mildred, Gertrude Oliva and Harrison Ray. They were divorced and in later years each remarried. A boy was born to each during their second marriage. Lucy married Robert HOTT and a boy, Paul Vernon HOTT was their child. Roscoe married Ann and a boy, Douglas, was their son. In later years Roscoe and Lucy remarried. His death happened 10 MAY 1968.
8. Frank Charles CROSBY - born 29 FEBRUARY 1895
Married Mae SPEARS. Had one daughter, Naomi. Death from heart disease in 1950. (the year of death may have been 1947)
9. Grace Oliva CROSBY - born 12 JUNE 1897
Swallowed a brass thimble at age 18 months and complications from this caused her death. Died in 1898.
MARTIN GENERATIONS
Coat of Arms Motto - My Help is From the Lord
Preston MARTIN married Nancy MUSICK 21 JUNE 1842. Both were born in Kentucky. Death unknown. Children of this union were:
1. Elizabeth
2. Isodora
3. Shelby T.
4. Joseph W.
All were born in Missouri
Joseph W. MARTIN married Marguerite Francis DICKEN Dossey (Ducey) in 7 SEPTEMBER 1879. Joseph MARTIN was an employee of Missouri Pacific Railraod. He died at home at the age of 67 from congestive heart failure.
Marguerite Francis DICKENS Doosey Martin had four children from her marriage to Doosey. She was born 26 MARCH 1841 in England. She died 22 MARCH 1922 from double lobar pneumonia. She was a midwife.
THE DOOSEY CHILDREN
1. Lon married Gertie. They had three children: Beryl, Mansel and Notra.
2. Porter was a bachelor. He died from heart disease and pneumonia.
3. Bill married Ida. They lived in Canada. Their children's names are: Robert, Bennie and Mildred.
4. Ella married Enloe. They had three boys and one girl: Fonce, Mike, Bennie and Marjorie.
JOSEPH AND MARGUERITE MARTIN'S CHILDREN
1. Ada MARTIN Pettit married and had two daughters Lottie and Edna
2. Tillie Martin deceased
3. Roscoe Concklin MARTIN born 1 APRIL 1889. Died 10 MAY 1968. Married Lucy Mae CROSBY 24 AUGUST 1910. They had six children: William Roscoe, Maxwell Monroe, Clevella Marguerite, Marjorie Mildred, Gertrude Oliva and Harrison Ray.
MEMORIES OF CHILDHOOD
as told my Lucy Mae Crosby
I was born on a farm between Hillsboro and Litchfield, Illinois. My 5 sisters and 3 brothers were also born on this farm. Dad bought it when he got out of the Civil War. I can look back to the four room log house. The cream house run by the windmill. Our drinking water for household uses was drawn by a windless and two big old wooden buckets. The smoke house was where Dad smoked our meat and in winter he put our vegetables and fruits in a hole fixed overhead with straw. Our cellar was full of fruit and vegetables that mother canned. We had two dogs Shep and Drive. One thing I can't forget is the Sorghum Mill that ground our cane and I don't like sorghum to this day. That old mule when round and round. Made our own hominy we kids shelled the corn at nite for it. We kids would go to the woods and gather all kinds of nuts for winter. We would go in the woods and make dress and hats out of leaves. I walked two miles to get to school when only in the first grade. The first pretty doll I ever had was named Bobbie. A neighbor, Bob yowell give it to me after I recited by memory "The Old Ragged Tramp" which was three sheets long, and I was only in the second grade. Dad sold our farm and we moved to Litchfield when I was 6 years old. He worked in the Coal Office and John and Dick worked in the coal mine. We lived in the 500 block on Sherman St. When I was 9 Mother took T.B. and was very sick for about 3 years. During that time I got up at 4 a.m. and helped Dad get him and the boys to go to the coal mine and get me and Frank off to school. Of course the first two years Mother helped when she could. The last year she couldn't do much. Dad also worked for my two last teachers in their yards so they told him I could study at home and they would come down and give me tests. Their names were Miss Cheney and Miss Mummy. That's how I got my education. Mother had me sprinkled in the Methodist Church at the age of 12. My hair was fixed with a big pink bow tied in a curl on top of my head and the Pastor got my ribbon wet. I was rather perturbed at him. This was her last year with us, on her death bed she was so weak she couldn't talk above a whisper so I was the one that had to tell each one what she had to say to each one in her last minutes. Her last words to me were "keep living for God he will take care of you". I was 13 when she passed away and Dad kept Frank and I for about 1 1/2 years. Capt. and Lt. Burkholder of the Salvation Army came down and talked Dad into letting them have me so I lived just two years with them at my home town Litchfield then we were sent to Sedalia, Missouri and this was one of the most trying times of my life. Away from home and friends and living with strangers. It was a year before I got to go back home and yet when I got there was glad to see Dad and relatives and old friends yet it wasn't the same anymore. I then and there gave my life to Christ completely and was glad to be back in my work at Sedalia working for Him. We worked a lot of times late at nite. Helping the sick, caring for the poor and needy, selling War Crys, and taking up hotel collections. I taught a class of 24 young men who most all were older than me. I had to have the sermons when the Capt. would be gone somewhere holding meetings. Roscoe was in this class and we had had a few dates so they decided to go to Fort Smith, Ark. He and his mother wrote me in 6 months and told me if I would come there they would pay my way so his sister Ada and I went and when Roscoe and I were alone that nite he ask me to be his wife so I ask him to give me a few days as I would want to talk to the SA and see if I could be transferred there and they wouldn't as they wanted to send me to Lamar, Missouri. I refused to go there and they said I would have to go or else - that's where I quit, as an officer but still went tot he Army at Fort Smith. They kept working me there so Mother Martin and I both quit. In the meantime Roscoe and I were married by Judge Fish - back and Mother Martin went to Dallas.
Published in the Kiowa County Signal, Greensburg, Kiowa County, Kansas, Wednesday, March 3, 1982, Page 2
Observes 90th Birthday
On February 21 Lucy Robertson was honored with a surprise party in observance of her 90th birthday.
Hosting the party were her daughters, Mrs. Margaret Klimek of Dodge City, Mrs. Mildred Doll of Little River, and Mrs. Gertrude Cox of Denver, Colo., her two sons, Paul Hott of Denver, Colo., and Mrs. and Mrs. Ray Martin of Greensburg, and her two granddaughters, Nancy Viek of Riverside, Calif., and Jean Renfro of Ontario, Calif.
Of the 126 guest in attendance there were five children, 20 grandchildren, 30 great-grandchildren, six great-great-grandchildren, two nephews, one niece, one sister-in-law, and three cousins.
Rev. Kent Piil gave the benediction.
Everyone enjoyed visiting and renewing old acquaintances.
Transcribers Note: Picture included with newspaper article.
Published in the Kiowa County Signal, Greensburg, Kiowa County, Kansas (not sure of date and page-probably on or around March 3, 1982
Thanks to everyone who participated in the celebration of my 90th birthday. The cards, gifts, food, work, flowers, most of the love that was shown was the greatest gift to me; I feel the greatest gift we all can have is the gift of God's love. May God bless you always in my prayers. - Lucy Robertson
Published in the Kiowa County Signal, Greensburg, Kiowa County, Kansas, 1982 (not sure of exact date and page)
In Memoriam
In memory of Sydney Robertson:
Memories of the one we loved,
Still cast their gentle glow
To grace our days and light our path,
Wherever we may go. - Lucy Robertson
Lucy Mae Martin Robertson died Jan. 23, 1993, at Kaiser Hospital, Denver. She was 100 years old.
She was born Feb. 26, 1892, at Hillsboro, Ill., the daughter of William C. and Nancy Marie Crosby. A long-time Greensburg resident, she was head school cook at Independence from 1938-48, and 1949-54 at Scott City. She was a member of the First Baptist Church and the Lettie Archer Circle, both at Greensburg.She married Roscoe Martin at Fort Smith, Ark. He died in 1968. She married Robert E. Hott at El Reno, Texas. He preceded her in death. On Feb. 9, 1970, she married Sydney L. Robertson. He died April 15, 1979. Survivors include: two sons, Ray Martin, Greensburg, and Paul Hott, Long Beach, Calif.; a foster son, Clyde Huff, Independence; three daughters, Mildred Doll, Little River, Margaret Klimek, Attica, and Gertrude Cox, Arvada, Colo.; and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Funeral will be at 10 a.m. Thursday at the First Baptist Church, Greensburg, with the Rev. Edward Reynolds presiding. Friends may call from 4 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at Fleener Chapel, Greensburg. Burial will be in the Fairview Cemetery, Greensburg. Memorials may be sent to the American Heart Association in care of Greensburg State Bank.