My Great Robinsons

My goodness, but how time flies.

I first wrote about my Great Grandparents Robinson way back in 2006: mother's maternal  grandparents.

Note: I know that these genealogical posts of are little interest to others, but they serve as a record for me. 

Then, in 2007, I wrote Great Grandpa the Cobbler. This included my attempt at a photo restoration of him cobbling, which I won't repost here. Note:cobbler aka shoemaker.

Since I am back into Ancestry a little after a long lapse, I have been obtaining a little more information about these great grandparents, but please relax as I will not go into great detail here, such as their many siblings as well as their own slew of children.

But here are some basics.

I have found that Israel was born in what was then Upper Canada but is now Ontario in 1838. His parents were William Robinson and Elizabeth Drew. Israel's father, William had emigrated from Ireland in 1792, but I believe that his mother, Mary Brown, had been born in Canada (long before it was Canada, of course, which was 1867).

Elizabeth was born in Canada to Shadrach  Drew and Mary Hall, who I believe were also born here. She married Israel on December 31 1872 when Israel was 31 and Elizabeth was 10 years younger. I am amused by the fact that a Nancy Drew is listed as a witness on their marriage record. (See column 3.)

I have a photo of Israel in addition to the ones posted back in those earlier blog posts.

Underneath the photo in the album, my mother inscribed something which impressed her, as it does me: "Israel Robinson, who in his 70's one day walked from Cashion's Glen to Glen Robertson to visit his brother — a distance of 35 miles."

I also found a photo of the older Elizabeth with one of her daughters, Bertha. Apparently, after Israel's death, she would spend time with various children, my Grandmother Charlotte being one and her sister, Bertha, being another.

This is poor George (1882-1895), Israel and Elizabeth's  son who died from diabetes at the age of 13.
I assume that it was with the knowledge that his life would be shortened that this portrait was taken, for, as far as I know, he was the only one of their many children for whom this was done. (I show it both in sepia, which was probably the original colour and black and white, which I like a little better.)

Later, they named the last of their children, George Alfred, who just became known as George. He lived a long life after serving as a soldier in WWI, near the end of the war. He settled in Saskatchewan where he lived until 1972. He is the boy in this odd photo.