Our American Family - Person Sheet
Our American Family - Person Sheet
NameMartha Clemetine FLOWERS 168
Birth Date?
Spouses
Birth Date23 Oct 1834
Birth PlaceSawyer/Falling Water, Hamilton County, Tennessee
Death Date14 Nov 1900 Age: 66
Death PlaceElm Springs, Washington County, Arkansas
OccupationConfederate Soldier In Missouri State Guard Under General Price
Family ID5901
Marr Date13 Jul 1864314
Marr PlaceIron, Missouri
Notes for William Mattison “Billy” (Spouse 1)
Hello
 
Franky Elizabeth Hendrix was the first wife of my 3g-grandfather, William Mattison Roberts/Robbirds/Robirds. They lived near Cabool, Cedar Bluff PO, Texas Co, Missouri where my family arrived circa 1844. Franky and Billy had 4 children in Texas Co, then early in the Civil War they fled to Texas. Some time during the war, they headed back through Arkansas towards Missouri. She and her newborn son died. Billy remarried 13 July 1864 in Iron County, Missouri where he was employed burning pine knots for charcoal. His second wife was Martha Clementine Flowers - also neighbors from Texas County. They soon divorced and he married again after returning to Texas County (third wife was my 2g-grandmother). 
 
I have more info if you would like, I am also interested in further information. My 2g-grandfather was also born in Tennessee.
 
Dan Robirds
NE Oregon168


John,
 
I don't know if you are following this particular line or not. I do have more info if this is of interest. I haven't done much research on the Hendrix line, but have depended on what others have found or claim.
 
William Mattison Roberts-Robbirds-Robirds
born October 23, 1834 (probably Sawyer/Falling Water area of Hamilton County, TN – died November 14, 1900 in Elm Springs, Washington Co, Arkansas
Son of William A. Roberts and Jane Bunch
Grandson of William Roberts and Ann Vandergriff 
 
Family moved to SW Missouri in spring of 1842 (per Rev. War pension records of William Roberts #S17054) and settled on Big Piney River NE of Cabool, Cedar Bluff post office, Texas County, Missouri about 1844. William A. Robbirds obtained land grant in 1850, his sons obtained adjoining lands as they became of age.
 
The 1850 census for Texas County shows (listed as Roberts):
            William            age 48  born in Tennessee                    farmer
            Jane                 age 35 born in Tennessee
            William M.      age 15  born in North Carolina            (Billy)
            David              age 13 born in North Carolina            (James David)
            Eliza Jane        age 11 born in North Carolina
Note that the birthplace for all the children is incorrectly listed and should be Tennessee instead of North Carolina.
 
About 1854, Billy (now about 20 years old) first married Franky Elizabeth Hendrix, the daughter of David Abraham “Abraham” Hendix and Mary Elizabeth Perkins. This family is reported to have just moved to Texas County from Georgia not long before the marriage of Billy and Franky.
 
The 1850 census for Murray County, Georgia lists:
            Abraham Hendrix       age 41  born in North Carolina            farmer     (I have seen him listed as David Abraham Hendrix)
            Mary A. Hendrix        age 41 born in Virginia                                        (maiden name Perkins?)
            Frankey Hendrix         age 16  born in Tennessee                    (female)
            Francis M. Hendrix     age 13 born in Tennessee                    (male)
            John C. Hendrix          age 11 born in Tennessee                   
            Mahala            Hendrix          age 4    born in Tennessee
            Martha F. Hendrix      age 6m born in Tennessee
Researchers show an older son and younger children, also later children born in Georgia. Murray County, Georgia is close to Hamilton County, and the Hendrix are from Tennessee, so it is possible the families might have already known each other. Alternate spelling is Hendricks.
 
The 1860 census for Texas County, Missouri lists:
            David  Roberts            age 22  born in                         (James David, brother)
            Nancy  Roberts            age 20 born in                         (wife Nancy Jane Bell)
            Eliza J. Roberts           age 4    born in Missouri
            Nancy R. M. Roberts  age 2    born in Missouri
 
            Wm. A. Roberts          age 60  born in                         (father)
            Jane H? Roberts          age 45 born in                         (Jane R. Bunch, mother)
            Wm. H. Moody           age 3    born in Missouri          (son of Eliza Jane Roberts)
- Hamilton                   age 19  born in                         (farm hand)
 
Wm. M. Roberts         age 26 born in                         (Billy)
Franky E. Roberts       age 27 born in                         (wife)
William H. Roberts     age 4    born in Missouri
James M. Roberts        age 3    born in Missouri
Samson D.                   age 2    born in Missouri
It is somewhat unusual that that Billy and Franky did not name a son after her father, though Sampson’s middle name is David. Did they have an earlier son named Abraham or David that died before the 1860 census?
 
Billy and his brother James David joined the Missouri State Guard under General Price and fought in the Battle of Wilsons Creek on August 10, 1861. Confirming the story in HSRF, both Billy and James David are listed as being injured, and can be found in various records under the spelling Roberts.
 
Billy’s father William A. “Humpy” Roberts-Robbirds was killed by horse thieves (Alsup gang?) in NE Howell County. After several days Humpy was found by his wife Jane (Bunch) and daughter-in-law Nancy Jane (Bell) who buried him near where he fell. It is my impression reading the story in HSRF that this occurred sometime after the Battle of Wilsons Creek and after Billy left for Texas, apparently early in the Civil War (1862 or 1863?). Since Jane and Nancy were looking for him, this was probably because David was in hiding, or had already been captured and became a POW for the last eighteen months of the war.
 
HSRF states that sometime after the Battle of Wilsons Creek, Billy took his family to “his mother’s brother’s in Grason (sic) County, Texas”. The 1860 census for Grayson County, Texas only lists one Bunch family, that being David Bunch born in Tennessee about 1812. There was a “guerilla fighter” James Henry Bunch from Missouri that was also reported in Grayson County during the war. Additional information connects a David Bunch to the Roberts family, suggesting he was Jane Bunch’s brother and Billy’s uncle.
 
HSRF states that Billy did not get along with his uncle, and the family soon moved to Honey Springs, Texas. (Is this Honey Springs east of Grayson County, or did it get confused with the Honey Springs in today’s Oklahoma on the historic “Texas Road” between Grayson County and Ft. Smith, Arkansas?) A cousin suggested that Billy might have been loosely following Confederate forces to Texas, and this seems to be a good possibility. Confederate forces were preparing to attack a Union supply depot near Honey Springs, Oklahoma when Union forces attacked first on July 17, 1863. After being defeated, Confederate forces retreated from the region. This seems to match the story in HSRF of Billy running into Union forces near Ft. Smith while returning north. Based on this limited available information, Franky Elizabeth Hendrix and newborn son Price probably died sometime in late 1863 or early 1864 somewhere between Ft. Smith, Arkansas, and Iron County, Missouri.
 
HSRF refers to a "Historical Sketch of the Roberts Family" written by William David Roberts in the late 1950s - a son of Sampson David Roberts and Hendrix descendant.
 
Is this of any interest to you? The Hendrix descendants were my great-grandfather's older half-siblings. It looks like there was a split during the Civil War. William and his brother fought for the Missouri State Guard early in the war, but it appears the Hendrix sided with the North.
 
Dan Robirds
NE ORegon
154
Last Modified 15 Apr 2022Created 10 Feb 2024 using Reunion on a Macintosh


Created 10 Feb 2024.
© Copyright 1993-2024 by John Johnson.

Created on a Macintosh computer using Reunion genealogy software.

The information on this site was gathered over three decades and is provided for the use of family and private genealogists ONLY.
No commercial use of this material is allowed. Any information or images provided by relatives remain their property.


“I am bound to them though I cannot look into their eyes or hear their voices. I honor their history. I cherish their lives.
I will tell their story. I will remember them for I am the result of the very love, struggle, sacrifice and journey of thousands.”
Unknown