KP Cemetery - Peck Section P-21Tombstone reads: Roberta Lee Hanby Oct. 7, 1887 Apr 11, 1918
ROBERTA LEE HANBY was the seventh child of John Walter and Emma Cannon Peck Hanby. She was born in Rockwall County, Texas, on October 7, 1887. She never married. She was part of an effort to homestead some land in New Mexico with her brothers, Frank and Joseph Alfred (Bon), in 1908. Roberta would have been 21 years old during the venture in New Mexico. Her pictures show she was an unusually pretty young woman. Her letters home indicate an adventurous spirit and a lively sense of humor. She writes, "Yes, this is a great country. We are going to [town] this evening. Think I'll get some window curtains, a dish or two, and maybe so, a lamp… The shack leaks considerably but I put two slickers over the bed and slept on ... Am going to wear some sweet peas to town... She has got it in her head that we are as poor as they. The Saints [an Amish-like religious group] prayers and anointments cured Manuel of bronchitis, Choral of rheumatism, Mrs . M of consumption, and Cyrena got hit with a baseball bat and lost her mind, but never would have been as well as she is now if the Saints hadn't prayed over and anointed her ... There is no use in being so crazy, they dress just as plain as they can and fix their hair as ugly as possible. I can't see for the life of me how they can be so crazy...”
Roberta died on April 11, 1918, in Rockwall County, Texas.
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