OCR Text |
Show The family loved music and Alfred (Doc) Putnam, a Civil War Veteran, was hired to teach music lessons in the home. "Doc" had been born in Maine and had joined the Union Army and served in a field hospital. The older girls were taught to play the organ and Jinny started lessons on the fiddle. For some reason Jilly and Doc didn't hit it off too well and soon John Heber was taking the lessons and Jimmy was teaching himself. Fiddle playing in the Robinson family has now extended into the fifth generation. With the help of Jim and Steve, John Heber built a sawmill on Strawberry Creek As timber grew scarce the mill was moved to various canyons throughout the Valley. Wedding bells began ringing in 1902 and within 11 months Steve, Jim, Nora, Nellie and Lettie had married and established homes of their own. In 1905 Heber traveled to California to help set up a sawmill for Wattis Brothers of Ogden. Nodie moved the children to Morgan. That same year Sarah Josephine died and John Heber returned home. John Wells died the following year. In 1911 Heber and Nodie built a handsome sandstone house 'down under the hill' and the Robinsons returned to the Strawberry farm. Nodie took in boarders and Heber built a little store near the Gateway railroad bridge. Here he and Nodie sold gro¬ceries and gasoline for cars. By 1921 Sophia, Irene, Archie and Berneice were married. Heber built a small apartment on the back of the store and moved there. Archie and his new bride moved into the sandstone house. Nodie died in 1928 and Heber spent the remainder of his life with various children. He died in the old home 'up on the hill' in 1936. John Heber had been a farmer, operated a sawmill, a coal miner, ran a hotel and the store. Nodie served as a midwife, and nursed the sick in the Valley. The couple opened their home to the needy and homeless all of their lives. Everyone was made welcome who came to their door. —Muriel R. Shupe and Berneice R. Day HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHTS—1863—President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipa¬tion Proclamation. 192 ARCHIE BERNEICE STEVE SOPHIA 192 |