Bertha Treen Mott Battles Many Adversities but Perseveres

By Vicki Carney
    It is unusual to see the death notice of a local person on the front page of the Morning Advocate in 1963. It is more unusual when this person was an outstanding woman with a Central, Deerford, Zachary, Baywood, and Pride connection. The Morning Advocate of May 11, 1963 dedicated a front page column to the death of Bertha Treen Mott, a mother of five darling girls whose loving husband died in 1929 when the girls were quite young (9 months to 9 years old). Mott was so ill at the time that she had to put three of the five girls in an orphanage. One stayed with her and the other one (who was also ill) was sent to live with a relative. She was able to re-unite the family after four long years. Life got even worse when the family lost their home after paying off two-thirds of it. This was a time before the welfare programs were created so this must have been a much more tragic time for a family of six than we might think of in 2015. In fact, it was probably due to her struggles that she decided to advocate for welfare reform.
    Mott’s father, J.W. Treen, was a well- educated Bostonian. Due to chronic bronchitis, he came to the piney woods of the South to an area nine miles east of Poplarville, Mississippi, where he built a log cabin. Later, he married city-bred Amelia Klein of Cincinnati, Ohio. J. W. Treen and Amelia contributed much to the welfare of the citizens in their community. They organized a school in an old log church house, where men and women rode many miles to learn to read and write. They were also called upon by neighbors to help with medical needs. (Treen studied medicine at Harvard) “All their lives, they gave themselves and material aid to those they could help, and they indeed earned the epitaph inscribed on their tombstone in Baton Rouge – ‘Friends to man.’” (Morning Advocate, 10-10-1948, Magazine Section, Page 8). 
    Bertha Jeanette Mott, the oldest of seven children, was born in 1888 on a farm in the poor hills in Pearl River County, Mississippi where “we all had to work” When the children reached school age, the family moved to Poplarville and later to Purvis, where they all graduated from High School. She swept the chapel to pay her way through Industrial Institute and College, later called Mississippi State College for Women, at Columbia, Mississippi where she majored in economics. She once said, “From the cradle, I had instilled in me service to my fellow men. I am trying to pass that down to my girls.”
    In 1908, a tornado hit the town of Purvis and destroyed the Treen property and crippled members of her family. (No home insurance or health insurance back then!) Bertha began to teach that year and then became a principal to assist the five younger children in attending college. In 1914, she went to Marksville to visit a brother, and was asked to do 4-H Club work in Avoyelles Parish for the summer. She was so successful at that job, she was offered a permanent job in East Baton Rouge Parish.

Home Demonstration Teacher and 4-H Leader

    Bertha Treen Mott became the first Home Demonstration agent in East Baton Rouge Parish. She organized children and parents of 15 rural schools including Central, Deerford, Zachary, Pride, and Baywood and traveled in her horse and buggy on dirt roads to all of these locations each and every month. Some trips took as long as two weeks because roads were poor. She would spend the nights in homes where invited and never missed a meeting. She often traveled when it was raining and dark. Sometimes it was impossible to see the road, but her horse always knew the way, even when the water was so deep she had to put her feet on the dash board to keep them dry. She traveled many long lonesome miles through woods where none lived, only the wildcats crying like babies, and occasionally the flash of lightening to show her way. She never failed to reach her destination safe and sound, feeling God was with her in the good work she was doing. The only fear she experienced was on returning to Baton Rouge and passing saloons where men were fighting and cursing. She also worked with club members in East Feliciana and St. Helena Parishes because they attended schools in East Baton Rouge Parish at Pride, Baywood, and Zachary. Most people were poor or of very moderate means, except among the prosperous stock raisers and farmers in rural areas such as Zachary and Central. She was given community aid to travel and demonstrate. Mr. Tony Doherty of Doherty hardware, furnished a stove and all equipment needed for demonstrations which was carried on the back of the buggy.   Dan Weller, president of Standard Oil, donated Kerosene. C.L. Thibout, horticulturist of the university farm, would load up Mott’s buggy with cauliflower, peppers, etc. at L.S.U. Experimental gardens (where Memorial Stadium is now). Mr. Richard Cadwalder, then head of L.S.U. Dairy, also came to her aid in many ways. She kept her horse in the Spanish Fort on the old L.S.U. campus grounds.
    She was the first person to do this in our area so she really worked hard to develop these programs. The program she developed was the model for the entire state! She helped members select suitable plots of ground, taught them the best methods for growing plants, how to select the best layer hens, how to start good breeds of baby chicks, and how to rid all of  insects. She even rented a greenhouse and grew starter plants for club members. It was a requirement of the state that all members wear caps and aprons with the 4-H emblem on them when cooking or canning. She bought material then helped make them because the parents did not see the need or could not afford the expense. She organized poultry, gardening and canning clubs and more than 200 women joined. These clubs are now commonly referred to as home demonstration clubs. She also worked with more than 300 boys and girls with 4-H projects. Mothers and daughters were working together on home projects, while fathers and sons in corn clubs. Mott had boys involved in gardening, canning, poultry, pigs, and dairying. Some active members in 1914 to 1915 were: Central: Edwards, Davids, Phillips, Robertson, Morgan, Deerford: Doughty, Noble, Frank, Lee, Zachary: East Hopper Mills, Rinebeg, and 7th Ward: Harelson, Philips, Sharp, Babin.
    Fall fairs were common in East Baton Rouge Parish in the 1930’s and were held at Victory Park. Mott directed the first two fairs ever put on in the city of Baton Rouge. 
    Mott ran for the position of Representative in the Louisiana State Legislature for East Baton Rouge Parish in the 1930’s. This was a time when women were discouraged from pursuing a career outside the home. She ran on a ticket of helping women and .children. She said: “I want the social security bill enacted because it constitutes the most important permanent federal child welfare legislation enacted up to this time in the United States. The school system, teachers, pupils and their problems, lie closest to my heart and I shall never be satisfied until Louisiana gives them justice.” Governor Dave Treen was her nephew and it is probably safe to assume that she was a role model for him in his political career.
    Principal, Teacher, Home Demonstration Teacher, 4-H Leader, Community Activist, widow with five young children.  Mott led a very interesting and full life. She was never rich financially, but was rich in life’s blessings: love, friendship, understanding, sharing, industriousness, unselfishness, and compassion. She died on May 10, 1966 in Baton Rouge and is buried in Roselawn Memorial Park Cemetery with Eastern Star rites. 

Photo: Bertha Treen Mott, pictured at back, right, was the principal of a rural Mississippi school from 1911-1912.

    Note: All sources can be found in Central Library Historical Collection or Pride/Chaneyville Library Historical Collection in notebooks entitled Bertha Treen Mott or in the hands of any of Mott’s numerous grandchildren.