Daughters of Benjamin Franklin Mixon #1798

1853 MARY MARGARET MIXON, BENJAMIN F. MIXON (1798), JOHN MIXON (1775), JESSE MIXON (702), JOHN MIXON IV (6), JOHN MIXON III (3), JOHN MIXON II (2), JOHN MIXON I (1)

 

Mary Margaret Mixon, dau. of Benjamin Franklin and Elizabeth Welch Mixon, was b. Sep 6, 1859 in Perry County, MS, d. Sep 12, 1935 at Hattiesburg, MS On May 16, 1888, she m. Dr. John Henry Bertrand b. at Easton, Pa., Aug 19, 1855, d. Nov 10, 1913 at Hattiesburg, MS Both bur. Oaklawn Cemetery, Hattiesburg, Forrest County,  MS

 

Mary was almost six years old when her father was killed in battle in Georgia in 1864.  Due to the circumstances at the time, Mary and her siblings were placed in a home for orphans of soldiers of the Confederate Army (see Benjamin Franklin Mixon #1798)

 

At the orphanage, Mary Mixon was given a good basic education so that she was able to become a teacher in the common schools when grown. The superintendent of the orphanage trained several children to sing and recite, and took them on a tour of the southern states to raise money for the orphanage.

 

As they would be meeting some well educated and cultured people, special attention was given to their deportment. Mary was chosen for this group, and the lessons she learned were of especial benefit to her later. The superintendent’s son recited a poem about something happening to his Sunday britches. It ended: I wept, Oh how bitterly I wept, I lost my Sunday britches! One man put about five dollars in an envelope, and a note on the envelope read, "Buy the boy a pair of britches."

 

Mary Mixon taught school near Runnelstown and was teaching there and living with the Joseph Runnels family on census of 1880.

 

It is said that one Christmas Mary and John Mixon visited relatives at Iuka, Mississippi. This was before her marriage, and Elizabeth Mixon was taken to Jane Ferguson's to stay so she would not be left alone. (Biddle)

 

Mary Mixon married May 16, 1888, at the Methodist Church at Augusta, Mississippi, Dr. John Henry Bertrand. Cousin Biddie was five years old and attended the wedding. Gus who was three and a baby stayed with Elizabeth Mixon, who had refused to attend as she could not understand why her daughter would marry a "yankee" after what had happened to Mary's father. Sometime after the marriage, Dr. Bertrand and John Mixon together brought about a reconciliation. Cousin Biddie described the wedding gown as a long white dress of satin or organdy or what they wore at that time. It had a long train and white veil; a full skirt, sleeves ruffled at wrist. With it she wore white gloves and some kind of flowers that held the veil in place. There were two bridesmaids, Miss Etta Bradford and Miss McCoy.

 

John and Mary Bertrand lived at Hattiesburg, Mississippi. A deed of land from J. E. Arledge to Mary M. Bertrand, dated October 25, 1890, at 9 o'clock and filed Nov 1, 1890, was sold for $125.00: Seven acres of land situated in Hattiesburg, Perry County, Mississippi, lots Nos. 3-6-7-8-9-10-11 in block 11 of Arledge Survey located in section 15, Township four north, range thirteen west. On this site was built the first brick home in Hattiesburg. Mr. Frank W. Foote, then president of the First National Bank of Hattiesburg, wrote a letter dated May 6, 1936 to Mrs. W. D. (Lizzie) McKensie after Mary Mixon Bertrand died. In the letter he described the home and homelife of John and Mary Bertrand: I knew Mrs. Bertrand well, and was fond of her. I lived in her home for a long time when I came to Hattiesburg in 1895. It was the brick residence now occupied by Miss Annie Carter. The home was called "Glenmore" and was then the best constructed residence in Hattiesburg, and the only brick residence in Hattiesburg. Mrs. Bertrand was a delightful housekeeper. Her meals were well prepared and most pleasingly served. Dr. Bertrand was a man of culture and good feeling. There were two little children, and the home life of the family was happy, and I enjoyed living with them. I always found Mrs. Bertrand to be a woman of courage, good sense, diligence, and superior feeling. Misfortune overtook them as unsympathetic destiny so often dissolves the creations of this life. Mrs. Bertrand suffered many difficulties, but her spirit never broke, and she continued to be her fine self throughout her life.

 

"I submit these observations because of the kinship that existed between you and Mrs. Bertrand, my friendship for her, and the high esteem in which I hold you and your excellent husband."

 

Mrs. Bertrand was a volunteer worker at the hospital near her home. There was no laundry in town and the hospital was having trouble getting its laundry done. Mary Bertrand gathered some women together and with tubs and washboards, charcoal irons, lots of soap, and plenty of "elbow grease", Hattiesburg's first laundry was started in 1900. A year later Phoenix Steam Laundry was sold to a Mr. Smith. The laundry was operated by him and his son at the same location at South Main and Buschman Streets until it burned during the thirties. It was moved to Hardy Street just west of Corrine Avenue.

 

Mrs. Mary Bertrand was licensed to sell drugs, and was the first woman in Hattiesburg to do so.

 

After many letters from his mother warning Dr. Bertrand not to speculate, he decided to buy a farm. This was about 1905; the deed has not been located. The home was used as collateral. A very good house was built on the farm and the things necessary for farming bought, and in a short time everything was lost. Another good house, frame, was built in Hattiesburg but quite a distance from town.

 

Most of her life as a widow was spent with her daughter, Ruth Bertrand Johnson, and until some time after her second marriage to B. H. Waller, then several years with Mrs. W. D. McKenzie. She died in Jackson, Mississippi, September 16, 1935, and was buried in the Bertrand plot at Oaklawn Cemetery in Hattiesburg. It was one of the first plots sold in the first cemetery of Hattiesburg, about 1890.

 

Dr John Henry Bertrand was born August 19, 1855, at Easton, Pennsylvania, son of George Phillip and Marie Otelia Reichert Bertrand, who were born in Baden, Germany; grandson of George Bernhard and Vargaretha Lamm Bertrand, and of Heinrich and Juliane Schnitzel Reichert, all of Germany. Dr. Bertrand always claimed to be pure French. It is a little difficult to believe with the number of German surnames in his background. It is said he was the great-nephew of Henry Gratien, Comte Bertrand, engineer, soldier, General, and confidant of Napoleon I.

 

John Bertrand attended school at West Ward, Easton, Pennsylvania. He was confirmed at St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church by Pastor Edmund Belfour on Apr 10, 1810. He was a private in Company "G" National Guard State of Pennsylvania, in 1877 under Capt. Frank Stitzer. This company was merged into United States service with regular troops under Generals Snowden and Frank Reeder. Major General Dinsmore of Washington, Commander in Chief. The company had special service during months of 1877.

 

On March 25, 1880, John Bertrand married Louise Miller of Wilmington, Delaware, in St. Louis, Missouri, by W. C. Falconer, Pastor of North Pres. Church. Two children were born to them: Edith May Bertrand, born December 29, 1880, and Joseph George Bertrand, born September 14, 1882, and died the following day and was buried at Bellefontaine Cemetery, St. Louis, Missouri.

 

In 1884, John Bertrand moved to the then new city of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Under History of Hattiesburg in the Hattiesburg American of March 12, 1971, on page 13, is the following: On March 11, 1884, the town of Hattiesburg was incorporated with a population of 250 In this year also Dr. John Bertrand established the first drug store in Hattiesburg.

 

Louise Bertrand would not leave St. Louis to join Dr. Bertrand in the small town, so a divorce was obtained October 27, 1885. The decree filed at Perry County Court House.

 

On May 16, 1888, John Bertrand and Mary Margaret Mixon were united in marriage at the Methodist Church in Augusta, Mississippi, by T. M. Smith. Five children were born of this union, two girls surviving to adulthood.

 

Broken financially and physically, Dr. Bertrand sold his drug store on North Main Street to Dr. Bethea and moved to New Orleans. His first drug store had been on Front Street just off Main Street by one building. He had a brick building erected on North Main between Fourth and Fifth Streets. He worked as a druggist for a company or store, in New Orleans until his death Nov 10, 1913, and was buried at Oaklawn Cemetery in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

 

Children of Mary Margaret and John Betrand are:

8184 Marie Otelis Bertrand - b. Mar 23, 1883, d. Apr 4, 1890 Hattiesburg, MS buried Oaklawn Cemetery, Hattiesburg, MS

8185 Fannie George Bertrand - b. Oct 14, 1890, d. Mar 15, 1923 Washington, DC, buried Oaklawn Cemetery. In 1907 she m. Mar 13, 1907 to Junius Decatur Richardson, b. Sep 19, 1887 Gainesville, Alachua Co., FL They had one child:

8189 Susan Marguerite Richardson - b. Nov 1, 1907 Hattiesburg, MS, m. May 22, 1942 to Paul Ignatius Biermer, b. Jul 28, 1914 DeWitt Co., TX, d. May 9, 2006, bur. Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, San Antonio, Bexar County, TX. On May 22, 1942, Mr. Biemer was a Lt. in the Ord. Corps, 725 Ord. Maintenance Co., 25th Inf. Div., Korean War, and Oct 19, 1950, was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for rendering outstanding services in the Korean conflict. Mr. and Mrs. Biemer have a daughter,

8190 Marguerite Rose Biemer - b. Mar 24, 1944. She was educated at Hardin-Simmons College and at U. of TX, and (1968) presently employed by Scientific Methods, Inc., Austin, TX. m. Jun 26, 1970 Phoenix, AZ to John Lewis Ponder IV, b. Apr 16, 1945 Midland, TX

8186 Ruth Louise Bertrand - b. Oct 16, 1893 Perry Co., MS, d. Dec 13, 1968 Fairfax, VA, bur. Oaklawn Cemetery, Hattiesburg, Forrest County, MS. She studied law and became one of the leading lady lawyers in the state and was honored by a write-up in the Oct 25, 1923 issue of the "Mississippi Free Lance" of Hattiesburg. She was quoted as saying that her practice had been varied – everything from getting a negro crap-shooter out of jail on up to and including litigation in chancery where the home and children were involved. She m. (1) Apr 13, 1912 to Charles Dwight Johnson - b. Jul 31, 1885, d. Birmingham, AL buried Lucedale, MS.
Children:

8191 Elden Dwight Johnson - b. Feb 13, 1913 New Orleans, LA, d. Aug 3, 1913 Lucedale, MS

8192 Mary Katherine Lisette Johnson - b. Feb 12, 1914 Lucedale, MS

8193 Otelia Belle Johnson - b. Jan 19, 1916 Lucedale, MS, d. Mar 28, 1917 Birmingham, Ala.

Ruth Louise m. (2) Benjamin Hill Waller, Dec 11, 1920.
Children:

8194 Bennie Ruth Waller - b. Mar 6, 1923, d. Mar 12, 1932 Hattiesburg, MS buried Oaklawn Cemetery, Hattiesburg, Forrest County

Ruth Louise m. (3) Feb 1944 to Claud Thomas Smith, b. Mar 31, 1903 Lincoln Co. MS, d. Jun 2, 1962 Newport News, VA. No children.

8187 Eugiene Field Bertrand - b. Nov 13, 1895, d. Nov 29, 1895 Hattiesburg, MS buried Oaklawn Cemetery

8188 Edwin Arthur Bertrand - b. Jan 21, 1900, d. May 17, 1900 Hattiesburg, MS buried Oaklawn Cemetery

 

Daughters of Benjamin Franklin Mixon #1798 continued

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