Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1919-01-23
SONS WHO HAD NOT SEEN HIM
FOR so YEARS GOT cLEW WHEN
HE BEGAN TO TRACE SELF
FLED FROM MISSOURI II 1865
Union Soldier, Warmed Away. Wed
Again; Wife, Hearing He Was
Dead, Also Wed.

various angles OF the Hotel Tulsa
lctby. one Texan said to another. Il
believe he is the man" They went
over &c the big chair. One opened a
small leather case and held telore the
owes OF the old man a dagEuerrotype
Of i man just under middle age,
That's me-" said the old man, rs he
leaned forward IN surprise Where
d d YOU get II? Who are your"
Don't you know u.s." one of the
younGer men asked. The old man
stood up and looked them over. he
shook his head. 1T seems to me that
have seen you before" he said to
one Of them, but don't place YOU.
lie was asked again. Don't YOU know
us-tather?" He looked again. startled,
but again shook his head.
The younger men were Joseph Rob.
ertson of Floyada and John Robertson
/ o. Coleman, Tex. Joseph is o., John
+ Is IS. The Old man was jeremiah C.,
/ Robertson of Alvarado, Tex. He is IS.
] The sons had not seen him for 50
/ years. Until short time before they
/ had supposed that he was dead. But
he had only forgotten. He had lost
/ himself and his family. The unusual
/ tn.ng in his strange case, however,
WAS that he had forgotten two fam.
lies. Now he tinGs that he has
family in Texas and one in Missouri
His story, as it is told, goes back to
the days right after the Civil War.
In August. 1866, jeremiah Robertson
was farmer in Greene County. Mo.
net far from Springfield. He had re-
turned from the Union Army to his
Mite and four boys, but found Union
veterans were not in high favor in his
community. -Four of his neighbors.
VINO had been with him in the Union
army, were mysteriously killed, one
at time, and Robertson was warned
to leave the country. He paid no at
tention to the warning. Then his
neighbor on the next farm was shot
from ambush at night, and a few DAYS
later another letter. under his door.
read; You have Il hours to get away
alive"
Robertson went into his yard. A
rifle bullet grazed his head. He ran
into the house, and that night rode
away on his horse. after telling his
wife that he would send for her and
tire boys as soon as he was settled.
Two years later his family heard
that he had been killed at Pond
Springs, Mo. Neighbors who went
t"ere to see the body told Mrs. Robert
son it was that u her husband.
So, to his Missouri family, he was
dead. Many years passed Then,
g. me time ago, the two sons Robert
son, who had moved to Texas, re-
ceived information which led them to
believe that their father was alive.
J he story he told to these sons upon
their discovery of him shows how his
existence came to be revealed. He
told them:
Il have always had a faint recollec.
ton that | used to live in Missouri. |
have no recollection beyond day
Wien | found myself riding along a
road in Texas. | had an idea then
Were | came from or where | was
going.
During the next year | seriously I
contemplated go1g back in the direc-
lion from whence had come and try |
Ing to find out something about nv.
c-lf, but | did not know where to make .
'hquiries, | simply forgot my past"
When Joseph Robertson heard of
.he old man, jeremiah Robertson, five
months ago, he and his brother, John.
bfth wealthy, hired detective to help
eT,ablish the identity of the man. In.
vestigation revealed that jeremiah
on leaving his home, went
direct from Greene County. Mo-, to
Collin County, Tex, and that he lived
there 16 years. 1t revealed that he
a few years after his arrival
IN Texas under his own name. and
that he became interested in the cat.
tie business.
The dagguereotype of him, which
led to his Identification, was taken in
'Ii iH5hCil, AlO, WuCU he was % wears
old.
Robertson's Missouri wife married
again and lives at South Greenfield,
where she has grown children ana
several grandchildren. The tour sons
by her marriage to Robertson are
living, and there are % grandchildren
n this branch of the family.
In Robertson's Texas family there
are Is children, the Oldest a man of
A., and Sc grandchildren.
The two sons who searched for and
FUND their father sent for their two
brothers in the Missouri branch of
the family to come and see their par.
,nt, who had then returned from Tulsa
TO Alvarado. The other brothers are
Owen Robertson of South Greenfield,
Mo-, and Ray Robertson of Broken
Arrow, Ok.
He-"IOu used to saw there was