CA65

Obituary of Mart Roberson
(C. Avis Catalog entry #65)
(Document ID #376c)

PIONEER RANCHMAN AGED SEVENTY-FIVE DIES AT HOME HERE

    Mart Roberson, 75, of 1821 Huff, a pioneer Wichitan, died Tuesday morning at 11 o'clock in a local hospital. He had been ill for sev­eral days, and was carried to the hospital Monday afternoon. Funeral arrangements have not been made. 
    Mr. Roberson was born in 1859 at Eliasville near Graham. The Roberson family moved at the close of the war between the states to a point 20 miles south of Fort Smith, Ark., in the Choctaw Indian area. At the the age of 19, in 1878, Mr. Roberson returned to this section and went to work near Olney.
    With Texas so sparsely settled land the cattle industry the major activity, Mr. Roberson soon went into the cattle business and pioneered in the driving of cattle north to market. The first drive was not successful, due to a shortage of feed and the herd of 1,000 steers, which he was driving north to the range was almost a total loss. Later, however, while he was still with Pat Leonard in the cattle business, he trailed a herd from North Texas to the Kansas market.
    Mr. Roberson was married in 1885 to Miss Nora Herring of Henrietta. He was working at that time for the Franklin Land and Cattle company in Greer county; then a part of Texas but now a part of Oklahoma due to state border changes.
    In 1896, when he family was living near Holliday, the City National bank here was robbed and Cashier Frank Dorsey was slain. Mr. Roberson accompanied another man to Wichita Falls to witness the death of Kid Lewis and Foster Crawford, who were hanged by infuriated citizens following the robbery and killing.
    During the Golden Jubilee held in Wichita Falls in Sept. 26-28,1932, the Robersons were honored as a typical family of the pioneers who were instrumental in developing the country into the present state from an uninhabited and new land.
    In December, 1932, the Roberson family held its first reunion in 15 years.
    Survivors include the wife, two sons, Harry Roberson of Durango, Colo., Clyde Roberson of Fort Worth; and three daughters, Mrs. R. H. Gracey of Oklahoma City, Mrs. Jake Avis of Austin, and Miss Jennie Roberson of Wichita Falls; two brothers, Blunt Roberson of Fletcher, Okla., and Richard Roberson of Ellis, Okla.; and one sister, Mrs. Marie Windum of Oklahoma.