Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Swiss Family Robison

Family... I have come to realize that there are some traits that are inherited.  Like a lot.  But, as of this writing, I only know of a few great-uncles that fished.  So, I take great pride in carrying on the tradition.  My grandmother's brothers were from Northern California (Grass Valley) and were big fly fishermen.  They must be smiling down upon me every time that I go to the river.  At least I think so.   Here's a bit of heaven in Grass Valley...Too bad as a kid, I only wanted to ride the horses when we visited!


Next up:

My son is going on a Pioneer Trek this weekend in Wyoming.  The bus leaves at 5 am tomorrow morning and several hundred teenagers and adults embark on a four day trek to relive and follow the path that the pioneers walked with handcart to settle Utah in the 1850's.  It has got me thinking about how many rivers the pioneers had to cross travelling from East to West?  I'm sure that my son will appreciate his ancestors a lot more when this hot, dusty trek if over!  Ha.  It should humble him to appreciate all that he has, I'm sure!  I had to look up some genealogy and stories about his ancestors on the internet the last few days...I cannot even believe how much information there is out there.  People sure are doing their homework.  I have my triple great grandmother's picture now, along with her amazing Indian story...now, if that wouldn't build your character!  An amazing woman of great strength and courage.  She calmed the Indians who entered their house full of children while the husband was out gathering wood.  For some unknown reason, the men had left the gate to the fort open that night! =  (   But, all was well with Grandma in charge!  She fed them and her Indian song calmed them to a point where they got up and left... (I think that someone from up above was watching over her, for sure!)

Here's the kicker...as I was browsing through records on the web and figuring out where everyone fits into the family tree...I find out the maiden name of my triple great grandmother.  I only knew her by Grandma King all of these years.  But, her full name is Matilda Robison King.  And she settled into Central Utah in the 1850's...from New York.  Now, my boss at work is a Robison.  My first thought was "Yeah...wouldn't that be something?"  So, I walk into work yesterday and ask him where is ancestors are from.  He blurts out the name of the town that this grandmother settled into...of course!  Turns out my boss is a distant cousin of mine!  Lol.  This world is definitely smaller than we think. (Oh, and he likes to fly fish. So, another relative fisherman!)

So, I have been looking up and reading about my family from far, far back.  And it has been pretty interesting to say the least.  Maybe I would have rather helped settle Utah with the other side of the family...My great-great grandfather, John Watkins, built this home in Midway, Ut. after crossing the plains in 1856.  Just a few blocks from my stomping grounds on the Provo River... It was in the family for a very long time, but no longer.  That makes me sad, but who knows...I just might buy it someday and live a hop, skip, and a jump to one of my favorite places to fly fish!

And finally...

The house will be pretty lonely without my son for the rest of this week.  But, I'm sure that I will find things to do.  Like, starting to pack for my trip to Yellowstone and the Land of  "Coolness"!  Ok, we enjoyed making fun of  Yellowstone's snow in June a few weeks ago or was that last week?  Ha.  But, I will be looking forward to a pleasant 70 degrees up there while it is a scorching 90+ in Utah!  Yeah, baby!  First, on tap...The Firehole on Saturday.  Then, more fishing in the Park on Sunday.  And on Monday, The Madison between the lakes.  Then, on my way home on Tuesday, I will stop on the Henry's Fork of the Snake for a few hours to catch a few more... This is the trip that I have postponed twice now.  But, this is it!  I'm finally hitting the road.

 And not by handcart.  = )


And not by travelling this road...


Have fun, Ryan!!!  (He will)
I will tell you who had the best adventure, next week.
It could actually be a toss up!


4 comments:

  1. Very interesting post Em! I've tried to do the genealogy thing, but there aren't many records since the planet Krypton exploded many years ago.

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    1. Howard ~ I knew that you were from a different world!!! I'm guessing that your super powers went bye-bye when the planet went "Whooosh"!! That's too bad. I bet you could have hypnotized fish! That would be cool.

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  2. Grass Valley looks just like here. Gives you an idea of what our land looks like. I wandered through the genealogy thing a time or two and was able to trace back four generations, I think. It's a lot of fun.

    Mark

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    1. Mark ~ You live in a beautiful part of the country... I loved my time in Northern Cal. I wasn't sure if I should write about family history since this is a fishing blog...but, what the heck! Sometimes you should get a reprieve from the norm and it is what took place instead of my weekly fishing. = ) But, we will be back at it full steam ahead next week...

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