Robert Lee Doherty was born May 16, 1864, in DeKalb County, Missouri. His parents were Hamilton Bradford Doherty and Nancy Evelyn Gilmore. At the time of his birth, his parents lived on a farm east of Stewartsville. The family moved to Stewartsville between 1870-1880.Robert grew to manhood at the family home in the northwest part of Stewartsville, Missouri. His father was the County Surveyor and a civil engineer.When a boy, he would go with his father to measure and survey land. An article in the St. Louis Republic, taken from the Palmyra, Missouri paper of March 16, 1912, stated, "When a young man, Doherty was associated with his father, a civil engineer, and from whom he learned the use of the transit." Robert attended school in Stewartsville and worshiped at the Baptist Church with his family.
Robert met Lillie Sydebotham in Cameron. Their daughter, Ethel (Doherty) Lyon wrote the following. "My father and mother were attending and helping in a protracted meeting. She was playing the organ and he was the soloist. They fell in love and were married. At that time he was a teacher of penmanship in the college at home." Elizabeth Belle (Lillie) Sydebotham was born June 10, 1866, in Schuyler County, Illinois. Her parents were Isaac Sydebotham, a Civil War veteran, and his wife, Elizabeth Ann Thrush. Robert, age twenty-two, and Lillie, age twenty, were married in Cameron, Missouri, on July 1, 1866. Their marriage ceremony was solemized by J. M. Parker, Minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
The Doherty families had apparently been thinking about joining the land rush to Kansas. In the Spring of 1887 they packed up their belongings and journeyed to Decatur County, Kansas, and settled in the area near Traer, not far from McCook, Nebraska. Ethel wrote of this time. "About that time Kansas was offering land and he and his father & (my grandfather) decided to go. At that time covered wagons were used in moving so they went to Kansas to the town of Terrier (Traer) not far from McCook, Neb. And my Grandfathers land had a house on it but my father & mothers claim had a sod-house on it. They liked it very much and my mother was expecting me so they had a wonderful summer there. I was born Oct. 6 and mother lived 6 days. ??? She named me and all and then passed away when I was 6 days old. They buried her out there, and my Grandfather got a large stone and carved her name on it before they left Kansas. They came back home with me and reared me at the old home place." (The frame house on the corner of St. Joseph Avenue one block north of the present Stewartsville Public School.)
Robert's father and mother, no doubt, took on much of the responsibility of Ethel's care. Robert was a widower at the age of twenty-three, and of course, did need help taking care of a baby. During the next five years, Robert apparently lived with his parents in Stewartsville. It may be during this time that he was associated with his father in his work, and learned about surveying and the use of a transit.
Robert moved to Palmyra, Missouri in 1892, to take charge of the Marion County Abstract Company. He was in active control of this company for at least twenty years, except for about six years he served as Deputy County Clerk. The article printed in the St. Louis Republic stated, "He is one of the best abstractors in the state." Ethel remained with her Grandparents in Stewartsville, and Robert visited infrequently.
Robert married three times. The first, of course, was to our ancestor, Lillie, the second to Jenny, and the third to Hallie. I don't know the dates or locations of his second or third marriages, or his wive's maiden names.
Robert was apparently successful in his carreer in Palmyra, if not financially, at least in a business sense. In 1912, he was still in charge of the Marion County Abstract Company, and was making telescopes as a hobby. The article in the St. Louis Republic stated that "Men have different hobbies. Many of them are useless and expensive, often unusual and curious, but possibly the most unusual and curious hobby of any man in the State of Missouri is that of R. L. Doherty of Palmyra a leading member of the Missouri Abstracters' Association, and one of its Executive Committe, who makes telescopes as a pastime."
Robert and his wife later moved to Phoenix, Arizona. He did visit Missouri at least once in later years. Robert Doherty died in Phoenix on July 10, 1953. His burial site is not known.
Back to Hamilton Bradford Doherty (1833) and Nancy Evelyn Gilmore DOHERTY
Back to Isaac Sydebotham Jr. (1837-1838) and Elizabeth Ann Thrush SYDEBOTHAM
Ethel Lee Doherty (1887) and Fred Garfield Lyon LYON
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