STAR VALLEY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
HISTORICAL BOOKS INVENTORY DETAILS
1.
Overview
Title: Life Story of Alvin Robinson
Author: Verna Robinson Jensen
Subject: Personal History
Publisher:
Publishing Date: June 30,1957
Number of Pages: 6
ID#: 677
Location: Website
2.
Evaluation
Evaluator's Name(s): Kent and Polly Erickson
Date of Evaluation: February 2015
Key Words: childhood games, winter of 1919, Palisades Dam, "The Star"
Included Names: John Robinson, Olive Hansen, Annie Louise Christensen, Thetta
Ann Sanderson, Carol H. Luthi
3. Svnopsis
Alvin was bo9rn in 1897 in Richmond, Utah. His mother died in 1892. His
father remarried. The family moved to Wyoming in 1903 settling on a farm in
Freedom. He helped with the chores. He served a mission from 1908 to 1910.
When he came back, he married Olive Hansen. They milked cows and raised hay.
The winter of 1919 was very harsh. Alvin's wife Olive died in 1927. In 1928, he
married Thetta Ann Sanderson. He was a skilled businessman. He was involved in
civic projects and community boards. He was known for his honesty. He passed
away in 1961.
4. Other
'^submitted by Laraine Robinson
LIFE STORY OF ALVIN ROBINSON
By Verm R. Robinson Jensen
In Bury, Lancashire, England, on February 14,1824, John Reed Robinson, grandfather of
my father, was bom. He died Febmary 11,1879 and is buried in Richmond Utah.
While In England, he married Ann Gregson, bom July 16, 1828 in Bury, Lancashire,
England. She died June 24, 1892.
John Robinson was made President of the London Conference; he was also a school
teacher. While in England, they had two children:
Jacosa, bom July 21,1852 in Bury, Lancashire, and
Franklin Gregson, bom October 18,1954 in London, England.
On April 27,1855, John Robinson, his wife, Ann, and two children, sailed for America
from Liverpool, England on the steamship, "Samuel Curling."
Upon reaching America, they went to Willard, Utah, where two more children were bom:
Elizabeth Ann, bom March 19, 1857, and
John, my father's father, August 18,1859.
Then they moved to Richmond, Utah, where five more children were bom:
James, September 3,1861,
William Paxton, August 7,1863,
Sarah Emeline, May 23,1866,
Willard, January 4,1869, and
Emma, November 3, 1870.
John Robinson, my father's father, was bom August 18,1859 at Willard, Utah, and died
December 21,1935 and is buried in Freedom, Wyoming (Idaho).
On January 1, 1882, he married and was sealed to Merelda Peart in the Endowment
House in Salt Lake City, Utah. She was bom November 29,1862, and died November 27,1882
with childbirth. To this union only one child was bom, John Peart (J.P.) Robinson.
John Robinson then married Annie Louise Christensen on December 22,1886 in the
Logan Temple in Logan, Utah by Apostle Merrill. Annie Louise was bom Febmary 7,1868 in
Richmond, Utah and died with typhoid fever January 6,1892. She lacked 1 month and 1 day of
being 23 years old. To this union was bom three children:
Alvin (my father), October 19,1887,
Hazel Kirk, October 25,1889, and
Willard J., November 9,1891. (He died on March 11,1892 when he was 4
months old. He lacked 3 days of being 4 months old when his mother died.
On June 22,1892, Apostle Merrill married John Robinson and Hilda Ulricka Erickson
in the Logan Temple, Logan, Utah. To this union ten children were bom:
Ada,Marchl7,1894,
Carl, May 3, 1895,
RejTiold and Leonard (twins), February 28, 1897,
Jim, February 21,1899,
Willie (William), August 30,1900,
Sybil, April 5,1902,
Justie, February 24, 1904, (She died on April 2,1915 at the age of 11 years with
Dipheria.)
Tom, October 27,1905, and
Hilda, September 4,1907.
Father was blessed on December 1,1887 by L. P. Swendson in Richmond, Utah, and
baptized on July 4,1897 in the Cub River at the Merrill Flour Mill in Richmond by William
Merrill. He was confirmed by J. H. Brown.
Father was only 4 years old at the time of his mother's death, but five months later his
father married Hilda Ulricka Erickson, whom he and his sister. Hazel, called "Aunt Hilda.''
His young boyhood playmates while going to school in Richmond, Utah were Theo and
Roscoe Merrill. It seems my father as very bashful and shy. When he went to school, he
wouldn't even tell his teacher his name; so Hazel, his sister, would have to go with him to do his
talking.
In 1903 at the age of sixteen, Father left Richmond, Utah with his father and stepmother,
Hilda, Hazel, and seven more half-brothers and sisters. They came by wagon and team and on
horseback trailing cattle. They started out with a small herd of cattle of about 100 head and by
the time they entered Freedom, they had a large herd of around 250, as they bought cattle along
the way. To get into Freedom, they had to swim their horses and cattle ten times across Tin Cup
Creek which was very swift and treacherous then because there were no bridges, and they had to
ride their wagons topside with huge poles to cross the river. It took around 8 days to make the
trip. Upon entering Freedom, they bought a three room log house firom Mr. Barber. It was
located where the Reynold Robinson home is now.
Although he left his elementary schooling in Richmond, he was well educated as he
continued going to school in a little old log school house in Freedom, v^th Jim Kirkbride, who is
now mayor of Smithfield, Utah, as his school teacher. Father finished with one year at the
U.S.A.C. College in Logan, Utah, majoring in Veterinary Science. Then his step-mother, Hilda,
died so that ended his schooling.
Father said he remembers "Aunt Hilda," his step-mother as being a wonderful mother to
him, as she was the only mother he ever really knew. She taught him the correct way of life,
along with his father's help, and she treated him like her ovm child.
For their entertainment, they played fox and geese — leap frog — had big bonfires and
roasted potatoes — had lots of surprise parties — and dances. Their dance halls were so small
that numbers were given each person, and they could only dance when their numbers were
called. That way only a few danced at a time. Their dance music was furnished mainly by the
three Clark brothers, Ray, Fred, and Ernest. On Sundays, Father and Hazel would go out
shooting squirrels.
Father's home tasks were mainly getting in the cows to be milked and taking care of the
milk cans. They'd put their milk in small pans on shelves in a milk house. There were rolls
and rolls of shelves with these small pans filled v^th milk. After the milk and cream had
separated, they would skim it off and chum butter.
One day a rat got into the milk house. Father got out the shot gim, took careful aim and
emptied two barrels of shells on the rat. He blasted it so badly that rat flew all over the place
getting into the milk, on the ceiling, and all over. That day the milk went to the pigs, and the
milk house was given a very good scrubbing. Shortly after a separator was bought, so they
churned butter and sold it to the Burton Store for 15 cents a pound.
Another thing I also remember as told about my father by Aunt Hazel Luthi, is when he
told her to go ask his father for some money to buy a dance ticket and a bottle. Aunt Hazel did,
on the promise that Father would take her with him to the dance. He took her alright, but made
the horse walk all the way to the dance on its hind legs. How often Aunt Hazel has said, "By
the time we got to the dance, the horse was in a lather and so was I."
At the age of 21, he decided to go on a mission. On April 18,1908 he sailed for
England. He taught the gospel to many people and arranged for many to come to the United
States, including John Jenkins and Albert Rolph's wives.
When Alvin returned from his mission, he married Olive Hansen in the Logan Temple on
September 8,1910. They lived in a small four room house, milking cows and raising hay.
Two years later their first daughter, VaLois, was bom. They bought the old Will Heap store in
Freedom. Their first son, Theo, was bom March 13,1914. The baby doctor was Mrs. Eliza
Roberts who lived atThayne. Later, on May 30^, 1918, they were blessed with another
daughter, Vera. Four years later their last child, Keith, was bom (September 8,1922).
Alvin was often called on to talk at public gatherings, as he was a very outstanding
speaker.
In the winter of 1919, temperatures dropped to 54 degrees below zero. Hay sold at the
unbelievable price of $45.00 a ton, so several of the cattlemen in Freedom got together and drove
their cattle to Soda Springs where they put them on the train and sent them to Omaha, Nebraska
for the winter to feed. When the cattle arrived in Omaha, they were so hungry that they'd break
windows to get to the potted plants they could see in the windows. Father sent 186 head of
cattle and less than half came back to him as they had winter killed. Heber Hanson and Ivan
Warren kept getting letters that their cattle were dying, so father took a gamble and bought their
cattle firom them. When the cattle were brought back home, the market hit rock bottom, and
Father practically lost his shirt as he had everything tied up in his cattle. A few nights later, 17
of his choice steers bedded down on the ice, the ice broke and all 17 went under, drowning.
3
It was in the evening when everyone was out milking the cows and doing the chores that
their home started on fire. By the time they could get to it, it had gotten such a start that nothing
could be done to save it, and all their belongings and everything was destroyed. With heavy
hearts, they raked up the remains and started building a new house on the same location. WTiile
the house was being rebuilt, my father and his wife, Olive, lived with his father until their home
was completed enough to move into. They also purchased their first car, "The Star." Father
really thought he was classy then.
After they had lived in their new home for two years, on January 14,1927, tragedy struck
the family again. At the age of 36, Olive died with pneumonia and childbirth. She is buried in
the Freedom Cemetery.
Carol Hale Luthi then came to the house and stayed to help with the children and
household tasks.
A new romance started, so Father says, when he sold Mother a big sack of candy for a
dime. Then he added, "the only thing wrong was when Mother kept coming back to the store
for more candy and expected just as much for a dime as she got the first time.
A year later on April 12,1928, my mother, Thetta Ann Sanderson and my father were
married in Soda Springs, Idaho. They wentup Tin Cup Road in a sleighaccompanied by my
mother's father, Swan Sanderson. (In 1958, they had this marriage solemnized in the Idaho
Falls Temple.)
They then returned to my father's ranch in Freedom. My mother did not realize the
responsibility she had before her in helping raise the four childrenthat had been left my father,
the youngest (Keith) being only 6 years old. (VaLois was 16, Theo, 14, and Vera was 10.
Thetta, herself was only 22 years old.) Besideshelping in the hay fields, cooking three meals a
day, working in the store they owned, keeping up a beautiful yard with hundreds of flowers,
burning brush in the fields to clear more land, and always having hired men to do for. Mother
always enjoyed working along side my father, sharing his happiness and his hardships.
Their first real trip together, rather their honeymoon, was when they went to Yellowstone
Park. They purchased a Nash car which went eight miles to the gallon, and Mother fixed
curtains in the car windows and away they went.
To this happy couple were bom five children:
Martha lone, bom April 20,1930 (on Easter Day),
Vema R., bom April 12,1934 (on parent's anniversary),
Alvin LeRoy, bom April 17, 1942,
Richard Blake, bom May 24,1945 (on Mother's birthday), and
Etta Ann, bom May 30, 1950 (on Memorial Day).
Their first two children, Martha lone and Vema R. were bom on the ranch in Freedom.
Theirfirst son was bom in the AftonHospital, which is now the Powerand LightBuilding in
Afton, Wyoming.
Alvin was Vice-President of the Star Valley State Bank, being a large stock holder. He
served as County Commissioner for eight years enjoying this very much.
In 1943, my parents sold their ranch which was around 600 hundred acres, also the
grocery store and moved to Idaho Falls, Idaho, where they bought a home on 12^ Street. Father
went into buying and selling livestock for packers. In buying cattle he never went back on his
word once the deal was made, it was kept even if he lost money doing so. It has been said
many, many times he was one of the most honest men that was ever bom. If Alvin was buying
cattle from a widow, she would receive more for the cattle than the going price.
Their second son, Richard Blake, was bom in the L.D.S. Hospital while living in Idaho
Falls.
In the fall of 1945 we moved to Great Falls, Montana where Father bought a lovely new
home, and along with two other men bought the Great Falls Livestock Auction — the second
largest in Montana.
It seems my father's greatest ambition was dealing with livestock. F've heard said he
knew everything there was to know about cattle.
One aftemoon while in the auction ring showing cattle, one wild cow charged my father,
mashing him against the side of the ring, hurting (hooking) his leg very badly. This made him
bedfast for six weeks. Mother was very faithful in packing his leg everyday in hot packs, but
even under her constant care, things tumed for the worst, and Father had to be taken to the clinic
for treatments for two weeks.
Then a few weeks later, he had the misfortune of breaking one of his teeth off starting an
infection which tumed out to be very serious. This put him in the Catholic Hospital, being there
was no L.D.S. Hospital, under constant watch and care for one week. The doctor said because
of this poison in his body, he came very near to losing his life. Through our prayers and faith,
we know he was saved.
Mother was dissatisfied with the way things were going being that Father wasn't feeling
too well, and he had to put in long hours of work at the livestock yards, and very often late into
the night; also her parents in Freedom at the time were old and not too well. So they sold their
livestock business and their home in 1947, and retumed to Afton, Wyoming. They lived in
Montana for two years.
Upon arrival in Afton (1947), my father bought the Studebaker Garage, along with the
Ford Tractor franchise, also their home in which they are now living. Then in the L.D.S.
Hospital, Etta Ann, their last daughter was bom.
Alvin was one of the three men who made surveys and bought land for the Palisades Dam
Project for the U.S. Government. He was a director of the Star Valley Swiss Cheese Co., and
served as a Stake Missionary for many years.
Father loves to camp out in the mountains and do a lot of fishing, but upon a fishing trip
5'
to Jackson, he got on the wrong trail and walked manymiles through deep driftingsnows getting
very, very tired and overdoing himself which resulted in an enlargement of the heart. Since
then, his health has gradually gottenworse, and he was unable to continue on in business causing
him to turn his business over to his two oldest boys, Theo and Keith,
I am very proud of my father as he has always been noted for his honesty in all kinds of
dealings and his big heartedness — going without to let other people profit.
He has done everything that a father can do and give his family — kindness,
companionship, understanding, and most important, love.
Written Jime 30,1957
Alvin became very ill and was taken to the L.D.S. Hospital where he spent 10 days. The
remaining three weeks of his life were at home where his loving wife and family cared for him
night and day. Even to the last, his concem was for others. When one would greet him, he
would say, "How are you today?"
His work here on earth was complete, he was ready to go on with his journey of life. He
passed away July 13,1961 at 3:10 in the afternoon.
Preceding him in death are his first wife, Olive Hansen, brothers, J.P., Willard, and a
sister Justie. He leaves to mourn his wife, Thetta Ann, and the following children: VaLois
Nelson, Theo, Vera Campbell, Keith, lone Wilkes, Vema R. Jensen, Alvin, Blake, and Etta Ann.
Also the following six brothers: Carl, Reynold, Leonard, James, William, and Tom. Four
sisters: Hazel Luthi, Ada H. Campbell, Sybil Papworth, and Hilda Markstaller. Seventeen
grandchildren, six great grandchildren and a host of fiiends.
We were, and are, very proud of our father and grandfather as he was always noted for
his honesty, kindness, understanding and LOVE.