Biographies and Obituaries
In loving memory
John William and Emily McCord Robinson
John William Robinson was born November 3, 1858, on the family farm in Daviess Co., Indiana, the fourth child of Alexander and Martha Jane Gold Robertson. His father died when he was only 3 years old and his mother died a year and a half later. Only 4 1/2 years old and orphaned, he was initially placed in the home of his Aunt Parthena (Gold) and Uncle Henry Edwards. When they moved to Kansas in 1868, he began to live with Aunt Hariet (Gold) and Uncle John Kilbourn. Finally their guardianship was turned over to John Chandler.
In 1880, he is listed on the US census as a boarder and a merchant with Mason McCord, a son of Joseph Allen McCord. He worked as a clerk in their store in Alfordsville. A year later on March 28, 1881, he married Emily McCord, daughter of Joseph McCord at the Methodist Episcopal Church in Alfordsville by Marion Rose. In September, their daughter Ada Lucretia was born. The family moved a few miles north to Elnora where John continued in the mercantile business. He was also the postmaster of Elnora. On June 7, 1892, Helen Elizabeth was born. Helen recalls her father as a kind and gentle man. She called him Papa. John William Robinson died at the age of 43 at Elnora of pneumonia subsequent to falling in a river. He was buried September 20, 1902 in Alfordsville.From Joanna Brooks...John William Robinson was five years old when his mother died. After working on his aunts' farms for several years, John probably left rural Daviess County and went into Alfordsville in the early 1880's to seek his fortune. In 1880, he boarded in the McCord store with Mason McCord and worked for J. A. McCord. Eventually, John William Robinson met Emily McCord. They married in March 1881. Marriage meant upward mobility for this poor boy. Because orphan John Robinson married the daughter of the richest man in town, he was able to set up estate.
According to Daviess County land records, John Robinson bought a lot in town--lot 68 for $250 in April 1883--from Emily's father, J. A. McCord at a 20% discount. Not only was it a fair price break, it was a great opportunity break for Robinson who had no other connections in town. On that Alfordsville lot, Robinson opened a shoe store. Business went well and the couple's first child, daughter Ada Lucretia was born in 1882. In 1885, Robinson bought land in Clarksburg and 40 acres of rural Alfordsville from Emily's brother Benjamin Franklin McCord in 1885. Around 1892, John and Emily moved 27 miles to Elnora where they bought a quarter of a block in Elnora built a home, and opened a dry goods store and became postmaster. Soon after, Helen was born. Helen was Emily's last child. Perhaps Emily Robinson learned from the tragic death of her mother and decided not to have so many children so close together. In fact, Helen recalled in a 1978 personal interview that she was raised largely by Ada because Emily ran the post office all day long. In the 1890's this was quite out of the norm--only 2% of married women worked. Emily seemed to turn the role models upside down. It was her husband, not her, who attended church with their daughters. Emily was business-like and money-wise, while John is remembered as being more of the sweet parent. It was John that encouraged Helen to take piano lessons, thus developing her remarkable talent. In her 1978 interview, Helen recalled one incident demonstrating John Robinson's tenderness:
"I had red hair and freckles and the kids at school teased me, so I came home crying one day. My father took me aside and told me that God only gave good little girls red hair and freckles and he made me feel better. He was a kind, sweet man."Becoming more and more prosperous, in October 1899, the family bought a plot of land--20 acres valued at $350 in the rural areas outlying Elnora. It was there that they built a large, lovely home. Unfortunately, John Robinson died three years later. John contracted chicken pox, then waded in a river and became very ill with what was believed to be tuberculosis. He died in Elnora in September 1902 at the age of 44, after three months of severe illness including hemorrhaging. He was buried back in Alfordsville, at the Christian Cemetery. There is no record of his will or probate in Daviess County.Emily became postmaster in Elnora and took over the family business. Her deceased sister Orlena's son Johnny McCracken moved in with the family and became Helen's playmate. Emily remarried a Mr. Richardson in 1907. Richardson owned a store in Vincennes, Indiana. Emily was divorced within two years.Emily and her daughter Helen remained in Indiana. Ada was already married when John died and moved away with her husband. Helen graduated from Martinsville High School (near Alfordsville). While in Indiana, Helen played piano to accompany the silent movies. Despite only taking two years of piano lessons, Helen could play beautifully, by ear. This skill landed he several jobs.After high school, Helen began dating a man who was a "trainer of fast horses." According to Helen, Emily though that he was "below her." Emily, worried about the situation, consulted with her brother William and he said that they must pack it up and move as far away as possible--either to Florida or to California to escape this boy. On a coin toss, California won. Helen and Emily moved in 1910. Helen found work in Los Angeles demonstrating pianos at a department store. Later she worked as a telegrapher--first in an industrial area that became too rough for her, then at the Alexander Hotel, which was bad because "everybody wanted to make a date" with her. In 1920 there were only 16860 female telegraphers working, comprising 21% of the industry. Only 50% of single women were working at that time. A friend introduced Helen to Frank Leonis, a dark, handsome Basque man, the only member of his family born in America. Emily McCord Robinson did not like Frank Leonis because he was a dark-looking foreigner. Despite her mother's objections, however Helen married Frank in a tiny wedding at St. Vibiana's in Los Angeles on April 20, 1912.Both Helen and Emily were strong-willed women. Though Emily stood only 4' 11" talk Emily really ruled the roost at the family home. Pearl Leonis remembers that Emily, used to running things and babying Helen, did all of the cooking, took the best room in the house, and read the evening paper first. By habit, Emily was frugal with her finances and clothing. She often remade and refixed dresses and coats.This frugal behavior, though, was unnecessary. Even during the Depression, Emily had a large stash of money from her family - $15,000 to $16,000. With this money, she contributed towards the family home purchase. She also bough Frank Sr. dumptrucks, a hill of decomposed granite and mine for road beds to start him off in the trucking industry with the Belyea Truck Company. Sadly, the trucking business failed during the Depression.
Contributed by: Michele