Leonard Robinson and Opal Carter were married on June 30, 1921. They were married for 54 years, until Leonard passed away in 1975.
Leonard held several jobs before he married, including as an Iowa coal miner, and a carpenter (builder) in the US Expeditionary Force based in France during World War I. Opal was a school teacher in Iowa during the nineteen-teens. She had a high school education, but probably had to pass a teaching exam to earn a certificate. Opal lived at home with her parents in Albia, Iowa, while teaching, but she and her colleagues would have had to follow regulations in this "Rules for Teachers" list.
1915 Rules for Teachers
1. You will not marry during the term of your contract.
2. You are not to keep company with men.
3. You must be home between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. unless attending a school function.
4. You may not loiter downtown in ice cream stores.
5. You may not travel beyond the city limits unless you have the permission of the chairman of the board.
6. You may not ride in a carriage or automobile with any man unless he is your father or brother.
7. You may not smoke cigarettes.
8. You may not dress in bright colors.
9. You may under no circumstances dye your hair.
10. You must wear at least two petticoats.
11. Your dresses must not be any shorter than 2 inches above the ankle.
12. To keep the school room neat and clean, you must sweep the floor at least once daily, scrub the floor at least once a week with hot, soapy water, clean the blackboards at least once a day and start the fire at 7 a.m. so the room will be warm by 8 a.m.
Taken from One-Room Schools of Knox County, by the Knox County Retired Teachers Association. Source: Rules for one-room schoolhouse teachers - News - Illinois State
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| This certificate of marriage was recorded in Albia, Iowa, in 1921. |
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| My mother, Judith Anson Robinson, painted this Robinson log house in 1956 when she was 19. When my grandparents, um, "bought the farm" in 1921, the house was already there, probably from about 1900. My dad and his older siblings were born in this house. Because it was vacant, being used and abused by deer hunters, etc., it was decided to torch it rather than suffer the potential liability. I think that was in the 1990s. As the house burned, it fell into the root cellar my grandmother used as a larder for 50 years. Leonard and Opal had five children: Dale, who died in infancy; and four who lived long lives and had numerous children: Donald, Audrey, Carolyn, and Kenneth. |
After my father passed away in 2012, and his (second) wife three years later, the executor for his wife's estate sent me some of the heirlooms my dad had kept over the years. I assume that Dad gave a number of the things on my list to antique or thrift shops, or gave them away to his wife's family and friends, because sadly, the wooden coffee mill and crank butter churn I wanted were not among their possessions. They had two telephones: one from the home across the road from my grandparents' farm, which we had in our house from the 1960s on; and the other one, pictured here, from my grandparents' log house. This one has a heavy battery inside, whereas the smaller, darker-finished one was empty, and therefore light enough to mount on drywall. I don't know what happened to the smaller phone.
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| This crank phone may have been manufactured between 1880 and 1900. I don't know if it came with the house or if my grandparents purchased it used. When my dad was growing up, the phone was on a party line and anyone could know your private business! |
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| Of my grandma's two daughters, four granddaughters, and many great-granddaughters, I'm the unmarried one. She left me her wedding ring. And I wear this lovely, smooth gold ring every day. |
Along with two hand-stitched quilts, I inherited my paternal grandmother's 100-year-old wedding ring.
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| Center in photo: Opal and Leonard Robinson with his parents in about 1921-1922. Leonard's parents were Lyman "Wesley" Robinson and Mary Isabella "Belle" Hamner, the two people on far left and far right. |
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| This is a hand-quilted bow-tie design. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, a girl was expected to make quilts and keep them in a "hope chest" for her future household. There's a good chance that Opal's mother, Nancy Evaline Swinney, also worked on these quilts. |
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| This quilt is done in lavender postage-stamp quilt blocks. I keep the 100+ year-old quilts in plastic blanket bags now, to save them from dust and pet hair. I have pets that enjoy tearing through the house occasionally, coming to a screeching halt on the bed, so I can't use the quilts as they were intended. |
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| In 1971, Leonard and Opal celebrated 50 years of marriage. |
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| In 1991, Leonard's and Opal's four children and many grandchildren held a reunion in Wisconsin. Opal is sitting in the lawn chair at the lower left. |
My cousins received several cherished mementos from Grandma Opal, including quilts, embroidery, a few porcelain dishes, and other domestic items from a long life. My brother inherited Grandpa Leonard's WWI Army uniform.
*****
Christy K Robinson is author of
these books:
We
Shall Be Changed (2010)
Mary
Dyer Illuminated Vol. 1 (2013)
Mary
Dyer: For Such a Time as This Vol. 2 (2014)
The
Dyers of London, Boston, & Newport Vol. 3 (2014)
Effigy
Hunter (2015)
And of these sites:
Discovering
Love (inspiration and service)
Rooting
for Ancestors (history and genealogy)
William and Mary Barrett Dyer
(17th century culture and history of England and New England)
Editornado
[ed•i•tohr•NAY•doh] (Words. Communications. Book reviews. Cartoons.)
❤️
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