| Notes |
- http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~kidmiff/angelo_merrick_robbins.htm
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Angelo Merrick Robbins, Sr.
(1874 - 1923)
Angelo Merrick Robbins, Sr. was born 23 March 1874 in Minnesota. It is very likely that his specific birthplace was Southbrook Township in Cottonwood County, for his family was living there when the 1880 Federal Census was taken, and state land records show his father, Charles H. Robbins, owned 80 acres of Section 3 during that time.
The family of Angelo?s mother, Viola Girtrude Peck, also lived nearby. Viola?s stepfather, John Crapsey, an itinerant minister, and her mother, Lura Ann Jackson, lived on the neighboring farm with Viola?s half-siblings. Angelo was named in honor of two uncles who had fought in the Civil War: Angelo M. Crapsey, his mother Viola?s stepbrother; and Merrick Jackson, his grandmother Lura?s brother.
Angelo Robbins? siblings were: William W. ?Willie? Robbins (1865 ? 1903); Burton W. Robbins (b. 1867); Edwin W. Robbins (b. 1869); Emma Robbins (Mrs. Lincoln Drake) (1872 ? 1955); and Arthur A. Robbins (1880 ? 1885).
The Crapsey and Robbins families originated in New York and Pennsylvania. They immigrated to Minnesota via Western Michigan. Around 1883, the Robbins family returned to Newaygo County, Michigan. Although only a young boy when he left Minnesota, as an adult he recalled how he had learned to twist hay to burn as an alternative fuel source while living on the prairies, much like Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about in her book The Long Winter (Chapter 19 - "Where There's a Will").
In Newaygo County, Angelo met his wife, Mary May Kimball, also known as Lula Weaver. They married in 1892 in Hesperia, Michigan. Their children were: Floyd Arthur Robbins (1893 ? 1916); Lloyd R. Robbins (1894 ? 1978); my great-grandfather, William Bryan ?Bill? Robbins (1896 ? 1972); their only daughter, Reva L. Robbins (1898 ? 1926); Angelo Merrick Robbins, II (1904 ? 1982); and Donald Charles Robbins (1914 ? 2000). Lula also gave birth to a stillborn son on 11 July 1906.
From as late as 1893 until at least 1914, Angelo was a schoolteacher. He lived and taught in various areas of Newaygo County, Michigan, including Denver, Norwick (Woodville School) and Ensley Townships. These schools were usually one-room schoolhouses. There is a story that has been passed through the generations about Angelo?s teaching years. At one school where he was a new teacher, there was a notorious bully?the kind that threatened to beat up the teacher and break up the school. So on the first day of school, Angelo went around the classroom and shook each child?s hand and asked his or her name. He made his way from the youngest to the oldest children. When he reached the bully, he grasped his hand and started squeezing it, slowly but firmly into a crushing grip. ?Hello, I?m Mr. Robbins, your new teacher. We?re not going to have any trouble this year, are we?? he asked. ?Oh, no, Mr. Robbins, I promise, I won?t be any trouble at all!? cried the vanquished troublemaker.
Angelo?s later years must not have been happy ones. His eldest son Floyd died at the young age of 22 after contracting pneumonia. His only daughter Reva suffered from mental illness and was committed to the Traverse City State Hospital in Traverse County, Michigan, where she later committed suicide. Sons Lloyd and Bill faced the dangers of chemical warfare in the Allied trenches of World War I. By 1920, Angelo had left the teaching profession and worked as a salesman in a nursery in Muskegon Heights, Muskegon County, Michigan, where he lived. One day, he developed an attack of appendicitis. His appendix ruptured, and he died on 16 July 1923 in the City of Muskegon, Muskegon County. He was buried two days later in Mona View Cemetery, Muskegon Heights.
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More about my great-great-grandfather, Angelo Merrick Robbins, Sr., can be found in the biographies of his wife Mary May Kimball, and his son William Bryan ?Bill? Robbins..
I'd like to acknowledge my Dad and Grandpa for handing down the family stories, my late great-grandmother Marie (Lewis) Robbins for sharing the family records and my Mom for making notes and picking Great-grandma's brain for info about the Robbins family. Those handwritten notes my mother took down in 1978 were my first introduction to my great love...genealogy!
Miriam (Robbins) Midkiff
1 June 2003
kidmiff@juno.com
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