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 Luthern Church by Pastor Edmund Belfour on April 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, Comander 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 November 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. April 4, 1890 Hattiesburg, MS buried Oaklawn Cemetery, Hattiesburg, MS

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

8189 Susan Marguerite Richardson - b. Nov. 1, 1907 Hattiesburg, MS, m. May 22, 1942 to Paul Ignatius Biermer - b. July 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 Texas, and (1968) presently employed by Scientific Methods, Inc., Austin, Texas. m. Jun. 26, 1970 Phoenix, AZ to John Lewis Ponder IV - b. Apr. 16, 1945 Midland, TX

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