General Information

Birth
1839
Death
5 SEP 1920
Fayetteville, Washington County, Arkansas
Burial
Prairie Grove Cemetery, Washington County, Arkansas

Notes

Mattie Louise Hill, "Honey"

On September 9, 1937, Dr. J. J. Baggett delivered me, Peggy

Jane Converse, to my parents, Mary Stella Roberts and Everett

Russell Converse in Prairie Grove, Arkansas. Dad drove a bus for

Santa Fe Trailways so we lived in several small towns in

northwest Arkansas, northeast Oklahoma and southwest Missouri

before moving to Wichita, Kansas.

In 1962 I married Jerry Gilbert Drennan and moved to his

home town of Winfield, Kansas. Our son Mark is married to

Mary Ann Hogan and they live in Rochester Hills, Michigan

where he is employed by the Chevrolet Division of General

Motors. Our son Steven is a sophomore at Southwestern College,

Winfield, Kansas.

Mattie Louise Hill was the grandmother who nurtured my

love for Arkansas. When I was young, I would visit her there and

she would let me go through her old trunk filled with pieces of

my history while listening to stories of family, many of whom

were born and lived in Washington County, Arkansas.

Mattie Louise Hill was born June 23, 1893 in Viney Grove,

Arkansas to Hypasia Amanda West and Robert Thomas Hill. She

outlived three husbands, Prof. Wm. H. Roberts, Henry VanHoose

and Anthony Rosebud. No children were born to any of these

marriages. She married my grandfather, Prof. Wm. H. Roberts,

after his wife, Mary Stella Hill, passed away a few days after

giving birth to my mother, Mary Stella Roberts. She raised Mary

Stella, Arline and James Roberts, her sister's children.

While visiting with her about our 1975 vacation that included

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, she told me her grandmother, Martha

(Rogers) West, was held prisoner in her home by two Northern

generals while the Battle of Prairie Grove was being fought. The

officers used the house as a hospital for the wounded and stacked

five or six hundred dead in the smokehouse. They buried them

in a large trench east of the house. After the war they were dug

up and buried in a National Cemetery. Her grandfather, Robert

Gentry West took his negro slaves south, possibly to Georgia

while the war was being fought.

I visited my great-great grandparents home with my

grandmother in August of 1944. The next time was in 1976 and

the smokehouse had been torn down and the house had been

moved about one mile to the north. Frank and Judy West have

built a new home on the original sight.

My dear grandmother, Mattie Louise Hill, passed away in

Wichita, Kansas, February 19, 1979 and is buried in the Wichita

Park Cemetery. "Honey" is on her grave marker as that is what I

always called her and that was how Mark and Steven knew her.

The aroma and taste of her homemade clover-leaf rolls and the

unconditional love she gave each of us is her legacy.

By: Peggy Drennan

WEST, Martha ROGERS - A Pleasant Surprise - Mrs. Martha West was honored with an elegant dining by a number of her children at her home west of town yesterday, her daughter, Mrs. William Stephens, of Acapulco, Mexico presiding. It was her desire to have all the children and her mothers’ two brothers and one sister present, but some were not able to be present, much to the regret of the honoree. The dining-room was beautifully decorated with evergreens and the table linen was all handsome Mexican handwork, which added beauty to the festal board.

The children present were Mr. and Mrs. W.A. Stephens and little daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Bob West and family, Mr. and Mrs. Hill and family, Mr. And Mrs. Hugh West and Frank West. There were also present Dr. and Mrs. S.E. Rogers, Mrs. Margaret Mock and Mrs. Maggie Neal.

It is not necessary to say that the occasion was a most enjoyable one and will be long remembered. [Prairie Grove Herald 1/24/1907]

Mrs. West, mother of R.J. West of this place, died at her home in Prairie Grove and the funeral services were held Sunday. The deceased was about 80 years of age. [Gentry Journal-Advance 9/10/1920]

Mrs. Martha West, an old resident of Prairie Grove, died a few days ago after a lingering illness. Deceased was born in Walker County, Georgia , January 23, 1839 and came with her parents, Hugh and Martha Rogers to Washington County in the year 1851. [The Springdale News 9/17/1920]

Parents

Hugh Rogers
- Father
1797 - 1893
Birth
7 MAR 1797
Pendleton, Anderson County, South Carolina
Death
17 MAR 1893
Fayetteville, Washington County, Arkansas
Burial
Prairie Grove Cemetery, Washington County, Arkansas
Martha M. McWhorter
- Mother
1800 - 1872
Birth
5 JUL 1800
Death
13 MAR 1872
Fayetteville, Washington County, Arkansas
Burial
Prairie Grove Cemetery, Washington County, Arkansas

Spouse

Robert Jentry West
- Husband
1821 - 1886
Birth
25 NOV 1821
Greenville, Tennessee
Death
7 OCT 1886
Viney Grove, Washington County, Arkansas
Burial
Prairie Grove Cemetery, Washington County, Arkansas

Children

Frank Rankin West
- Son
1881 - 1940
Birth
24 MAR 1881
Death
1 JUL 1940
Viney Grove, Washington County, Arkansas
Burial
Prairie Grove Cemetery, Washington County, Arkansas
Hugh Edward West
- Son
1877 - 1957
Birth
7 NOV 1877
Viney Grove, Washington County, Arkansas
Death
6 MAY 1957
Viney Grove, Washington County, Arkansas
Burial
8 MAY 1957
Prairie Grove Cemetery, Washington County, Arkansas
Margaret Hallene West
- Daughter
Birth
12 JUN 1854
Viney Grove, Washington County, Arkansas
Martha Clementine West
- Daughter
Birth
3 APR 1860
Viney Grove, Washington County, Arkansas
Josephine "Jose" Bell West
- Daughter
1862 - 1888
Birth
23 OCT 1862
Viney Grove, Washington County, Arkansas
Death
15 APR 1888
Viney Grove, Washington County, Prairie Grove, Arkansas
Burial
Prairie Grove Cemetery, Washington County, Arkansas
Hypasia "Passia" Amanda West
- Daughter
1865 - 1945
Birth
27 JUL 1865
Viney Grove, Washington County, Arkansas
Death
5 APR 1945
Burial
Prairie Grove Cemetery, Washington County, Arkansas
Robert Samuel West
- Son
1868 - 1868
Birth
28 SEP 1868
Viney Grove, Washington County, Arkansas
Death
28 OCT 1868
Robert Jentry West
- Son
1869 - 1939
Birth
26 SEP 1869
Viney Grove, Washington County, Arkansas
Death
31 MAY 1939
Gentry, Benton County, Arkansas