Robert Munro Ferguson
(1908-1984)
Isabella Ferguson and her first husband, Robert H. M. Ferguson, had their second child Robert Munro (‘Bobbie’, later ‘Bob’), on March 13, 1908. Robert, Sr. asked his old friend and comrade, Theodore Roosevelt, to be his son’s godfather. Roosevelt gladly accepted. This was yet another tie that brought these families closer together. Later Roosevelt would express his gratitude not only for their friendship but for the influence the Fergusons had on his own children’s lives, especially Kermit. (1) Bobbie’s formative years were shaped with a life centered around the care of his ailing father who was diagnose in 1908 with tuberculosis. He and his older sister, Martha, were largely cared for by grandmother, Patty, and the family’s longtime nanny, Julia Farley Loving, for the first couple of years while their father received treatment at a sanatorium in Saranac, NY. In 1910, the family moved to Silver City, New Mexico, among the Burro Mountains, where they lived until 1922. The home still stands today as the Burro Mountain Homestead. Family letters tell of Martha, age 7, and Boobie, age 5, being schooled by their mom, Isabella. In a picture taken of the New Mexico Land Army that was formed during World War I and headed by Patty, Bobbie and his sister, tools in hand, are working with their mother and grandmother to fill the shoes of farmers drafted for war. While Bobbie went to boarding school nearby, he still kept busy with matters of ranch life. When still young, he began investing his savings in calves and learned to brand and inoculate his herd. Eventually in 1920, both children were enrolled in school in Santa Barbara. But when school was out, they were back to ranch life riding the mountains with the cowboys. It was in 1922, that Bobbie’s father died in his arms. He faced grief with his father’s words in mind, “No matter what happens, one must go on with the rest of the world.” Bobbie went on to attend Yale. In 1930, he spent 15 months in Northern Rhodesia [Zambia] to learn the mining business. He was joined by Patty, Martha, and younger step-brother, Jack Greenway, for roughy six months of primitive living in Africa. In 1933, he married Frances Hand, daughter of Judge Learned Hand. Bob and Frances had three children: Francis ‘Patty’ Doar, Robert H. M., and Phyllis. He died in 1984.
(1) Miller, K (2015). Isabella Greenway An Enterprising Woman. Tucson: University Of Arizona Press. pg. 49, 95, 101, 104, 107, 111, 167
(2) Conroy, W., & King, I. G. (2010). Tucson’s Arizona Inn. Tucson, AZ: Arizona Inn. Pg. 27.