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. Sept. 6, 1859 in Perry County, MS, d. Sept. 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, 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 superintendant 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 superintendant'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 November 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 werewell 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, dilligence, 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.

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