Eliza Ann (Howell) Robinson (1836 - 1889)

Born 8 Nov 1836 in Wilmington, Delaware

Ancestors

Wife of George Cleland Robinson — married 24 Jul 1862 in 600 W. 8th Street, Wilmington, Delaware

Descendants

Died 3 May 1889 at age 52 in Pleasant Hill farm, New Castle County, Delaware

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Chet Snow [send private message]

Biography

Eliza Howell Robinson was my great-great grandmother; she was a very religious woman, according to our family oral history, who disliked "fancy finery" clothes and uppity airs. The only surviving child of two old-fashioned parents of modest means but from a strong Welsh heritage, Eliza Ann's life was not an easy one but reflected the condition of many women in 19th Century America.^[1]

Eliza-Ann fell in love at an early age with Edward Clarke, an Englishman studying medicine in Wilmington and who planned to return to England as a medical doctor. When he got his degree, they became engaged. But, before they married, two things happened: first he was struck by "consumption" (i.e., tuberculosis) a scourge of the 19th Century, and second Eliza Ann's strong-willed mother pleaded with her daughter not to marry and leave her Delaware family for England, saying:

Don't leave your father and me; you're all the children we have left! I'd rather have you in the cemetery beside my other two (dead babies) than have you go far across the sea. Dr. Clarke is going to die soon anyway, then you'd be left alone in a strange land... Stay here!^[2]

Heart-broken, Eliza Ann gave in and did not marry her first love, who did in fact die shortly after he returned to England, but they never forgot each other (he sent her a letter which their mutual cousin kept secret a few years after Eliza Ann married her second choice: George Cleland Robertson of Wilmington, Del.). Her marriage to proud, headstrong George Cleland Robertson, who changed his name to Robinson for business reasons in the mid-19th Century, was more dutiful than filled with love. They married in 1862, in the midst of the terrible Civil War that split many families, especially in the border slave-holding states like Delaware that remained in the Union.

Nonetheless, they had 5 children and lived together for 27 years. The Robinson family attended Central Presbyterian Church and helped found West Presbyterian Church in Wilmington. Annie Howell Robinson sang in the church choir. Her daughter described her as "short lady, pleasantly plump but with narrow waist and ankles; she had long chestnut hair tied in a knot and flashing blue eyes. She despised the late 19th Century fad of cut bangs, saying they were an 'idiotic fringe better suited to cows than people'." She enjoyed writing poetry and had beautiful penmanship, often writing wills and letters for friends.

Eliza Ann Robinson's children:

Edwin: 1863-1938

Lola: 1865-1951

Albert Nelson: 1869-1930

George Cleland: 1872-died at birth

Harry Cleland: 1876-1950s.

Eliza Ann lived her entire life in the shadow of her mother and her mother-in-law, who was a Cleland (wealthy merchant immigrants from Northern Ireland who married into some of Philadelphia's wealthiest families such as the Biddles). She died at just 52, four years after her daughter Lola married a Delaware gentleman farmer, much to Eliza's husband's displeasure [A farmer was not good enough for his daughter]. It is said her father refused to join the wedding ceremony, held in their front parlor and whistled loudly from the back dining room... After his carriage business failed in the Panic of 1873, however, he and Eliza Ann had to leave Wilmington for their Pleasant Hill farm and a country life that they both disliked. Eliza Ann's parents outlived her by nearly 10 years, spending their later years living with their grand-daughter Lola, who'd married farmer Thomas Jefferson Whiteman.^[3]

Text by: [Cousin] Dora Robinson Falcone in: http://genforum.genealogy.com/howell/messages/6624.html

"I am trying to find the connection between my GGGrandfather -- Enoch D. Howell and Enos Howell/ Susannah ?? Howell of Delaware -- if there is one. What I have:

A 1796 Orphans Court document naming Enos Howell the legal guardian of Enoch Howell & Elizabeth Howell both over 14 yrs and Cynthia Howell under age 14.

A bond signed by David Howell and Susannah Howell, widow of Enos as part of the probation process after Enos died.

My Enoch D. Howell was born abt. 1810 and died 3/11/1899.He married Elizabeth J.???, had three daughters. Rebecca J. (7/3/1834 - 2/24/1838) Lenora/Lolie (12/31/1837 - 3/08/1858)and Elizabeth Annie (1836 - 5/3/1889) who married George Cleland Robinson.

Enoch (along with his wife and 2 daughters) is buried in a plot in Wilmington and Brandywine Cemetery. Also in this plot is Enos Howell Jefferson and his second wife, Susanna Ford Jefferson. Research has proven Enos H Jefferson to be the son of Cynthia Howell Jefferson, probably the same Cynthia Howell in the guardianship paper.

The Enoch Howell in the guardianship paper died abt 1808, before my Enoch D Howell was born.

My goal is to find the link between my Enoch D Howell and the others. Who were his parents? Was he the son of one of the Enos', possibly of the Enoch, maybe the David mentioned in the Bond?

Although he lived most of his life in Wilmington, Delaware I believe he may have owned a farm near Fair Hill, Maryland."

Sources

• Oral family history based on first-hand stories of Lola Howell Robinson Whiteman as told to Prof. CA Bonine and written down between 1947-67. Unpublished genealogy manuscript in possession of Chet Snow (March 2014).
• http://genforum.genealogy.com/howell/messages/6624.html
• "Robinson L. Archives" by Dora Robinson Falcone at http://archives.rootsweb.ancestry.com

1. ↑ Researched & written by Chet B. Snow, March 2014; edited November 29, 2014. Source: Unpublished family genealogy as told by Eliza Ann's daughter, Lola Howell (Robertson/Robinson), to her son-in-law, Prof. CA Bonine before her 1951 death and written up by CA Bonine and daughter Ann Bonine Snow. In possession of Chet Snow as of March 2014.
2. ↑ Words passed down from Eliza Ann Howell to her daughter who told them to Prof. CA Bonine.
3. ↑ Entered by Chet B. Snow based on notes by CA Bonine.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Chet Snow for starting this profile in March 2014. Click the Changes tab for the details of contributions by Chet and others.