The Life & Times Of Mattie B. Roberts

      Mrs. Mattie Belle McQuarrie Roberts was a truly amazing woman. Mrs. Roberts was born on September 25, 1884, to Rev. Neil Phail and Rebecca McQuarrie.1 Throughout her lifetime, Mrs. Roberts lived in very different places, including Stuart, Florida and Decatur, Georgia. Although her father's ministries caused the family to relocate often, Mrs. Roberts always fit right in and was a valuable addition to each community. During her 94 years of life, Mrs. Roberts accomplished many interesting things, as well as overcame several difficult obstacles.

      Reverend Neil Phail McQuarrie, D.D., born in 1860 in Prince Edward Island, with his wife Rebecca, born in 1863 in Nova Scotia, immigrated to the United States in 1880, and settled in Haverhill.2 Located approximately 40 miles from Boston, on the New Hampshire border, Haverhill was a prime target for Rev. McQuarrie's teachings. Haverhill also served as a friendly place to raise young children. Mattie Roberts, with her two younger sisters, were born in the then small town of Haverhill, Massachusetts. Mrs. Robert's sister Edith, known affectionately as "Deedie"3 , was born there in 1886. Mrs. Roberts' youngest sister, Vesta, was also born in Haverhill in 1888.4

      The city of Haverhill was able to keep the Reverend and his family approximately ten years before losing them to Fargo, North Dakota. Rev. McQuarrie traveled quite a bit on his own, and would be gone months at a time, before moving his whole family around. During this period of time, while Mrs. Roberts and her sisters were still young, they would stay with their grandparents, who took them camping frequently.5 The family lived in East St. Louis, Illinois, Key West, Stuart, Florida, and Atlanta before ending up just outside Atlanta in Decatur, Georgia.6 Mrs. Robert's father moved his family wherever he felt his ministries were needed.

      Mrs. Roberts' father, Rev. McQuarrie, was the pastor for the Congregational Church in Key West when he heard of the need to spread organized religion to the remote areas of Florida's east coast. To answer this calling, Reverend McQuarrie had a boat built in which to sail the coast. In 1964 Mattie Roberts wrote a recollection of her childhood for The Stuart News in which she remembers, "The Rev. McQuarrie…was enamored of the idea and opportunity it afforded to establish Sunday schools and churches and to provide religious teachings and organ music to the many out-of-the-way places from the Keys to Jacksonville."7 The Evangel was the sole boat which Rev. McQuarrie skippered in his "Gospel Navy." The boat was first launched in 1907. After the Evangel was first completed, Mrs. Roberts' father would leave his family for long lengths of time. Rev. McQuarrie would travel the inland waterways of Florida's east coast with fellow ministers spreading the Gospel in every town they could reach. It was on one such trip that Rev. McQuarrie discovered the town of Stuart, and decided it would be the perfect place for him and his family to relocate to.

      Mrs. Roberts recalls the trip to Stuart in the Evangel in her article for The Stuart News:

      After the boat was launched our entire family- my father, mother, my sisters, Edith and Vesta, my husband- Dr. Charles E. Roberts- myself, and our nine-month-old daughter, Elizabeth, set sail for Stuart, where my father had purchased a home on the St. Lucie between the homes of Harry F. Dyer Sr. and James R. Pomeroy Sr.8

      While in Stuart the entire McQuarrie and Roberts families played key roles in the development of the community. Rev. McQuarrie followed his neighbor's example and planted a pineapple field on their five acres of land.11 In the early 1900s the Stuart area was the pineapple capital of the world.12 Rev. McQuarrie never lost sight of his original goal. He continued his work developing the religious community and on April 15, 1911, realized his dream as The Florida Gospel Navy Bible Conference of Stuart, Florida was held.13 This conference was interdenominational, which Rev. McQuarrie found very important, as he did not wish to exclude anyone.

      Rev. McQuarrie's devotion to the Gospel played a key role in Mattie Roberts' upbringing. The evangelist and his family were more than willing to move wherever they felt the Lord's Word needed to be spread. The fact that her father traveled so much, leaving his wife and daughters alone, helped to shape Mrs. Roberts' strong personality. Mrs. Roberts was very well educated for a woman of her time. She and her sisters attended grammar schools in the many places they lived. Mrs. Roberts completed high school in East St. Louis. After high school Mrs. Roberts attended Normal School, where she was formally trained to teach.14 Throughout her schooling, Mrs. Roberts always excelled in writing.

      Mrs. Roberts' first job was as a grade school teacher in Key West, Florida. She taught there from 1907 to 1909.15 When the families moved to Stuart, Mrs. Roberts served a term as the Stuart School principal from 1909 - 1910. After her term as principal ended, Mrs. Roberts went back to teaching. While teaching, she honed her already excellent writing skills and began writing a newspaper column.

      Mrs. Roberts penned a column entitled "Stuart on the St. Lucie." She did not simply write the column though; she also served as the first Stuart newspaper's society editor.16 Here is how she is remembered by Janet Hutchinson in her History of Martin County:

Mattie McQuarrie Roberts was a newspaper correspondent from the area, writing, in 1913, a column entitled "Stuart on the St. Lucie," for a Palm Beach county publication. She covered all the social and political events, births and deaths, and, in general kept the area well informed.17

      Mattie B. Roberts was an integral part of the Stuart community. She followed in the footsteps of her father by teaching Sunday school. Religion was always a very important aspect of her life. As a result, Mrs. Roberts was very knowledgeable in the foundations of religion and the teachings of the Bible. She was happy and proud to share her knowledge with the town's youth.

      Mrs. Roberts also shared her love of music with the children of the community. She took great satisfaction in teaching them to play piano.18 Mrs. Roberts also taught her own children to play piano. Her granddaughter, Dorothy E. Clark studied piano as well. "It pleased her mightily that granddaughter Dorothy has become a talented pianist, having earned her musical degree at North Georgia College and her Master's in music from the University of Mississippi…en route to becoming a piano teacher…like her grandmother almost 70 years earlier in Stuart."19 Grandmother and granddaughter spent many enjoyable times together playing duets.

      The job Mrs. Roberts held the longest was at the Western Union Telegraph Company. She went to work for them as a clerk in 1923.20 Mrs. Roberts had to lie about her age in order to be hired. Since she was 42 at the time, the company would have found her too old to work and would not have given her the job.21 After moving to the Atlanta area she became much less involved in social activities. In such a big city, the Roberts family was not quite as prominent as they had been in the small town of Stuart. Mrs. Roberts decided to work again to help occupy her time while her children were in school. She retired from Western Union in 1967 at the age of 83.22

      In 1926 Mrs. Roberts was very happy to have the job, as she suffered the loss of her husband.23 Dr. Roberts was only 52 when he died, leaving behind his wife, 15 year old son, and 13 year old daughter. At this point Mrs. Roberts, her two children, and Rev. and Mrs. McQuarrie were living together in a home on Glendale Avenue in Decatur.24 Mrs. McQuarrie took over the household duties and helped out more in the raising of the children. Mrs. Roberts became the primary bread winner and performed all of the "manly" duties.25 She spent more time working, which for a woman in the 1930s was a rare occurrence. As Mrs. Roberts' granddaughter, Dorothy recalls, Mrs. Roberts was "a fine person, loved and cared for her family; she did her duty out of love."26

      During the Great Depression the widowed Mrs. Roberts sought ways to earn a little extra money for her family. Although she was still employed at Western Union, Mrs. Roberts needed the extra cash since she was the main provider for the family. In 1937 she found her answer in the Federal Writers' Project. Through this project Mrs. Roberts was able to briefly revisit her writing career. Louise Lowery Roberts, Mrs. Roberts' daughter-in-law, was an old family friend of Georgia's Governor Eugene Talmadge.27 Through this connection Mrs. Roberts got the job writing for the Works Progress Administration under Roosevelt's New Deal. She was granted the opportunity to write one of the ex-slave narratives for the Federal Writers' Project.

      The assignment was to find and interview an ex-slave on what it had been like to be a slave.28 Though the job under the Federal Writers' Project was only temporary, Mrs. Roberts treated it as seriously as any job she had ever held. Therefore, Mrs. Roberts set forth and found, not just any ex-slave, Mrs. Fanny Randolph in Jefferson, Georgia, "perhaps the oldest ex-slave living today."29 The project administrators provided some sample questions, but mostly gave their writers free reign over their assignments. The pieces were, however, strictly edited.30

      Mrs. Roberts knew it would be difficult to find someone willing to talk to her, as many ex-slaves were fearful of retaliation if they told their story. She was fortunate in finding Mrs. Randolph, who spoke quite openly about what her life had been like as a slave. Mrs. Fanny Randolph had "belonged" to Bob Moon of Jackson County, Georgia. Fanny Randolph had enlightened Mrs. Roberts as to what it was like to be a slave both in the master's house, and in the field when all the men went off to war.31

      Mattie Roberts put her eloquent writing skills to work in the interview. She vividly described Fanny Randolph's "neat calico dress" and "wide old fireplace".32 Mrs. Roberts' religious background showed through in her work as well. She asked Mrs. Randolph if she was superstitious or believed in ghosts. Mrs. Randolph's answer was very straight forward, "my pore ole mine is jes so tired… so I never does think much 'bout superstition."33 Mrs. Roberts captured Mrs. Randolph's dialect beautifully throughout the narrative. She kept the narrative easy to read, and the dialect came across in a lovely sing-song manner. Mrs. Roberts' piece was just over three pages long, but an amazing story just the same. She certainly demonstrated her talent for writing in this short project.

      Family was a very important aspect of Mrs. Roberts' life. In 1907, while teaching in Key West, she met and Married Dr. Charles Ernest Roberts, D.D.S.34 Dr. Roberts was born in 1874 in Key West, Florida. He graduated from the Louisville College of Dentistry, in Kentucky. Dr. Roberts did his post-graduate work at Emory University, before returning to Key West.35 Upon moving with his new wife and daughter to Stuart, Florida, Dr. Roberts became the town's very first dentist.36

      Dr. Roberts was legendary not only for being an excellent dentist, but also because he had the best singing voice for miles around. "The story is told that when Dr. Roberts ran his foot-propelled drill on a patient's tooth he would sing, thus dispatching the pain and soothing the patient's shattered nerves."37 Dr. Roberts' voice was so beautiful and strong that he led his father-in-law's church choir, and would often travel with the Reverend on the Evangel to neighboring towns where he would perform solos. It was important to Mrs. Roberts to have found a husband who loved her father's ministries as much as she did.

      After firmly establishing his dental practice in Stuart, Dr. Roberts opened Stuart's first drug store in conjunction with his office.38 According to an article run April 18, 1913 in the Stuart News, "Dr. C. E. Roberts is our local dentist. Not only is he up to date in dental work but carries a large line of drugs to meet the wants of citizens and it is the only drug store for miles up and down the coast. Dr. Roberts is a good citizen and enjoys the confidence of his fellow man."39 Dr. Roberts took his dental work very seriously, and as a result would travel often to neighboring cities to provide his services.40 These trips had the tendency to keep him away for weeks at a time. Once the railroad bridge was constructed over the St. Lucie River, people from neighboring towns would come to Stuart both for dental services and to visit the drug store, so Dr. Roberts was able to stay at home more.

      Dr. and Mrs. Roberts had three children. Elizabeth McQuarrie was born in 1908 in Key West. Mrs. Roberts gave birth to two more children while in Stuart, a son, Charles Neil in 1911, and a daughter, Isabel Matilda in 1913.41 Between these two joyous occasions the Roberts family suffered a tragic loss. Their first daughter, Elizabeth, died in 1912 at the age of 4.42 Elizabeth suffered from childhood diabetes; she died so young due to the fact that insulin had not yet been discovered.43 Elizabeth was laid to rest at Fernhill Memorial Gardens in Stuart. Her tiny gravestone has just been repaired 92 years after her death.44 Two of Elizabeth's little dresses are on display at the Stuart Heritage Museum.45

      Mrs. Roberts' son, Charlie, was a talented writer just like his mother. In 1928, Charlie left for North Carolina to attend Elon College.46 He graduated in 1932 and went to work for the Atlanta Constitution as a sports writer.47 He wrote for the paper for 42 years.48 Charlie was honored by the State of Georgia in 1957 by being inducted into the State's Sports Hall of Fame for his writing. He was blessed to have the talent for writing in his blood.

      Charlie's talent was evident even as he was just starting college. When he was away on a football trip he wrote a letter home to Mrs. Roberts. Charlie's niece, Dorothy, came across the letter in 2001 and was surprised "that a letter this well-written and this sweet would be from a 17-year-old boy to his mother."49 It is obvious that Mrs. Roberts agrees, since she kept the letter all her life, and passed it on to her granddaughter.

      Charlie traveled back to Stuart frequently and met his wife, Louise Lowery, on one of his trips.50 Charlie and his wife lived with Mrs. Roberts in Decatur until 1967.51 Mrs. Roberts' love of her family was always present as she and Charlie stayed very close throughout her life. Charlie referred to Mrs. Roberts as his second "best girl", the first being his wife.52

      Mrs. Roberts' daughter, Isabel Matilda, married John B. Clark of Decatur in 1947.53 Prior to her marriage, Isabel climbed the ranks at Sears Roebuck Company, progressing from a filer up to a supervisor. Isabel changed jobs in 1943, going to work instead for General Electric, where she met her future husband.54 Mr. and Mrs. Clark had a daughter, Dorothy, who Mrs. Roberts was able to see frequently since they lived in Decatur as well. Dorothy remembers her grandmother was "quite a pianist and an avid reader, my grandmother read to me a lot as a child."55 Isabel passed away in 1990.56 Her daughter Dorothy still lives in Decatur.

      In 1917 Rev. McQuarrie received an offer from a Church in Atlanta to be their new preacher, which he accepted, and the Roberts, McQuarrie, and Wallace families moved to Decatur, Georgia.57 Rev. McQuarrie bought a home on Sells Avenue in Decatur, where the three families lived until 1924.58 In 1924 the three families relocated to a home on Glendale Avenue, also in Decatur.59 They didn't move again until 1936, when they went just a couple miles further down the road, to Clifton Rd.60 From 1942 to 1967 the Roberts lived on Williams Mill road. After Mrs. Roberts retired in 1967 she moved to a smaller home by herself, where she stayed until her death, in 1978.61 Mrs. Roberts and her relatives moved to suit their living needs. As the number of people living together slowly shrank, so did the size of the house.

      In both the Stuart and Decatur communities Mrs. Roberts was a regular member of church. In Stuart she attended her father's Congregational Church. She continued to attend her father's sermons in Atlanta when he was a preacher at a Lutheran Church. Religion always remained an important facet of her life. Church was not the only organization she participated in though.

      Mrs. Roberts belonged to the Mid Rivers Country Club, the Mozart Club, the Christian Endeavor, and the Women's Club while in Stuart.62 The Country Club opened in 1909, the same year Mrs. Roberts and her family arrived in Stuart. The Mozart Club would put on concerts each Sunday in downtown Stuart. An avid and talented pianist, this club was one of Mrs. Roberts' favorites. Since her father was a missionary, being a member of the Christian Endeavor, which sought to spread Christ based ministries, was only logical. The Women's Club organized such activities as the New Year's Day Picnic, and hosted many Mozart Club performances.

      The town of Stuart has changed greatly since Mrs. Roberts first helped to found it. The town moved quickly from a fledgling community to a full blown city with the help of railroad tracks. The railroad bridge was the only connection from Stuart to the mainland until 1918.63 Until that time people would either take the train, which could take a whole day, or walk across the railroad bridge and hope a train would not come along. The Works Progress Administration not only gave Mattie Roberts a job writing, but also gave her town of Stuart its first concrete automobile bridge. Before the automobile bridge was constructed people had to order ice and pick it up at the train station, with the new bridge they could go get ice themselves. Eventually, when ice became available at the general store in downtown Stuart, Mrs. Roberts would send her son with a wagon to bring home a "cake of ice."64

      The Ashley Gang was a major worry in Stuart while Mrs.' Roberts lived there. Especially since Mr. Andrew R. Wallace, Mrs. Roberts' brother-in-law became a hero to the children of Stuart, especially his son, niece and nephew, when he became one of the bankers who was robbed by the legendary Ashley Gang.65 The whole of Martin County lived in fear of the bank-robbing, rum-running Ashley Gang from 1911 to 1924 when the last members of the gang were killed in a shoot-out with law officers.66

      Mrs. Roberts visited Stuart often after she moved to Decatur. In an article she wrote for the Stuart News she expressed her incredulity at the huge change her town had gone through:

Ice in the refrigerator, paved roads to town, a concrete bridge over the St. Lucie, go to school by automobile, no fear of the Ashley Gang robbing the bank again, no 10-foot square jail, no alligator pen in town, no Bentel's Bakery, barber shops with three chairs, water that tastes like water, a football field, a school band, majorettes, and cheerleaders in Stuart??? Ridiculous.67

      Mrs. Mattie B. Roberts really was an amazing woman. She is remembered as always being "very stylish, wearing nice clothes and nice costume jewelry."69 Mrs. Roberts only dislike was "tacky" things.70 She overcame the hardship of losing a young child, and also triumphed over the difficulty of losing her husband and having to support her family.

      Mrs. Roberts passed away in May of 1978.71 She continued to practice her love of music by playing her baby grand piano almost until the day she died.72 Although she died in Decatur, Georgia after having lived there longer than anywhere else, she was buried in Stuart,73 Florida. Mrs. Roberts' heart was always in Stuart, where she now rests beside her husband, parents, and daughter Elizabeth.74 Her son Charlie honored her by writing, "Another chapter of Stuart's colorful history passes along with a gallant lady, one of her pioneers."75 Mrs. Roberts was a pioneer, writer, teacher, principal, clerk, and most importantly, a loving mother, daughter, wife, and grandmother. She is perhaps best encapsulated by her granddaughter Dorothy who said, "My grandmother was a very intelligent, assertive woman; a real lady from head to toe. One of the finest people I've ever known."76

Links of Interest:
Interview with Fanny Randolph
City of Stuart, Florida Webpage
American Memory Historical Collections
Mattie B. Roberts, a Pioneer of Stuart, Florida
DeKalb County, Georgia Historical Society
Works Progress Administration Books

  1.The Atlanta Journal Constitution, May 1978. (AJC 1978)
  2.State of Georgia, 1930 Census Records, DeKalb County, 1930. Text-fiche. (1930 Census)
  3.Mattie B. Roberts, Caption on Photograph of Edith Wallace
  4.1930 Census
  5.Dorothy E. Clark, granddaughter of Mattie Roberts, interview by author, 10 February 2004, Athens, telephone interview. (D. Clark 2004)
  6.AJC 1978
  7.The Stuart (Fla.) News, January 9, 1964. (TSN 1964)
  8.TSN 1964
  9.TSN 1964
  10.AJC 1978
  11.The Stuart (Fla.)News, October 9, 1967. (TSN 1967)
  12.Janet Hutchinson, History of Martin County (Stuart, Florida: The Historical Society of Martin County, 1998), 294 (Hutchinson, pg)
  13.TSN 197
  14.D. Clark 2004
  15.AJC 1978
  16.Hutchinson 136
  17.Hutchinson 136
  18.AJC 1978
  19.AJC 1978
  20.Atlanta City Directory, Atlanta City Directory 1921 - 1978. (Atlanta: Atlanta City Directory Company, 1921- 1978), 959 (City Directory, yr, pg)
  21.D. Clark 2004
  22.City Directory, 1967, 1335
  23.D. Clark 2004
  24.City Directory, 1926, 1058
  25.D. Clark 2004
  26.D. Clark 2004
  27.Bud Chappelka, Friend of Mattie Roberts' son Charlie, interview by author, 1 March, 2004, Stuart, Florida, in person. (Chappelka 2004)
  28.Monty Noam Penkower, The Federal Writers' Project- a Study in Government Patronage of the Arts, (Urbana, Chicago, London: University of Illinois Press, 1977) (Penkower 1977)
  29.Books in the Library Reading Room, Interview and Narrative with Fanny Randolph. Available from http://www/winterhawke.com/geneology/library/books/WPA%20Pjoject/FRandolph/FRandolph.htm. Internet accessed; 24 January, 2004. (Fanny Randolph Narrative)
  30.Penkower 1977
  31.Fanny Randolph Narrative
  32.Fanny Randolph Narrative
  33.Fanny Randolph Narrative
  34.D. Clark 2004
  35.TSN 1967
  36.AJC 1978
  37.Hutchinson 136
  38.TSN 1967
  39.Hutchinson 368
  40.TSN 1967
  41.AJC 1978
  42.AJC 1978
  43.D. Clark 2004
  44.Jeffery Hilliker, Area Sales Manager-Fernhill Memorial Gardens, interview by author, 1 March, 2004, Stuart, Florida, in person. (Hilliker 2004)
  45.D. Clark 2004
  46.Dorothy E. Clark, to Caroline P. Ziemba, September 8, 2001. Transcript computer type written. (Clark 2001)
  47.Elon University. "Elon Alumni Directory." Available from http://www.elon.edu/alumni-parent/directory.asp?q=roberts&c=Last_Name. Internet accessed; 29 February, 2004
  48.TSN 1964
  49.Clark 2001
  50.TSN 1964
  51.City Directory, 1967, 1335
  52.The Stuart (Fla.) News, December 10, 1970. (TSN 1970)
  53.TSN 1964
  54.City Directory, 1943,1337
  55.D. Clark 2004
  56.The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - FamilySearch "Isabel Clark." Available from http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp. Internet accessed; 29 February, 2004.
  57.Clark, 2004
  58.City Directory, 1923, 936
  59.City Directory, 1924, 938
  60.City Directory, 1936,1077
  61.City Directory, 1967, 1335
  62.Hutchinson, 295
  63.Sandra Henderson Thurlow, Stuart on the St. Lucie - A Pictoral History. (Stuart, Florida: Sewell's Printing Company, 2001) 68. (Thurlow, pg)
  64.TSN 1964
  65.TSN 1970
  66.Hutchinson 295
  67.TSN 1964
  68.Chappelka, 2004
  69.Clark, 2004
  70.Clark, 2004
  71.The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - FamilySearch "Mattie Roberts." Available from  http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp. Internet accessed; 24 January 2004.
  72.TSN 1978
  73.Clark, 2004
  74.TSN 1978
  75.AJC 1978
  76.Clark, 2004