Jennie Rachael Gay Robinson - Part I

My great grandmother Jennie was born in Vashti, Clay County, Texas on 17 Dec 1879, alongside her twin Minnie. Her parents were John Preston Gay, a farmer and preacher who was born in Tennessee and moved to Texas in 1873, and Dorothy “Dollie” Rachael Cappleman, who was born in South Carolina (the two were married 21 Oct 1874 in Texas). 

When Jennie and Minnie were born, their older sister Louisa was almost two years old. Their parents gave birth to a brother John two years later, who didn’t survive infancy. Two years after that, their sister Martha “Mattie” was born, and another two years later their youngest sister Mary Elizabeth was born. The five Gay sisters grew up surrounded by the rich farm and ranchland of Clay County, with their father—who had been ordained to the ministry in 1890—serving as a Baptist minister. 

Because of their fathers’ ministry in churches, the girls sang and accompanied themselves: Jennie played the accordion; Mattie (Martha Washington Gay) played the organ; and Lizzie (Mary Elizabeth Gay) played violin.

Jennie married my great grandfather Franklin Earl “F. E.” Robinson on 31 Mar 1901 near her family’s home in Prospect, Clay County, Texas. The couple raised a family of five sons and four daughters: Roy Lee Robinson (b. 16 Feb 1902), Ola Mae Robinson (b. 17 Nov 1903), John Oran Robinson (b. 18 May 1905), Eunice Geraldine Robinson (b. 16 Feb 1907), Beulah Othello Robinson (b. 14 Oct 1909), Billie Robinson (b. 25 Dec 1912), George S. Robinson (my Peepaw, b. 30 Jun 1914), Wilma Irene Robinson (b. 29 Jun 1917), and Milford Leslie “Jack” Robinson (b. 08 Sep 1921). F. E. worked as a ranch foreman on the Bullington Ranch, and Jennie kept the house and raised their nine children, who began working alongside him as they grew up.

My mother Gloria LaZine Robinson Mason sums up her grandmother Jennie in this way: “Grandmother was an amazing, talented, refined young lady, as evidenced in her early pictures. She grew up in Clay County, TX which was a rough place in the late 1800s (both Indians and marauders). The first seven of her nine children were born in Clay County where F.E. was working the land. Then around 1915, they moved to another Frontier—the Bullington Ranch, south of Mobeetie in Wheeler, County, where her last daughter and son were born. She had her hands full raising five boys and four girls (ages 1–13) on the ranch where F.E. was foreman. I’m sure she helped feed all the cowboys too! She made sure, even having to travel to Mobeetie or McLean, that all of her children finished high school. Three of her sons served in the military and two of her daughters went to college, ALL BEFORE 1940!”

This post is part of a series of work to learn about the oldest generation’s oldest generation memories… As my parents age, I’ve long thought I needed to start recording their recollections of the oldest generation of family that they remember. These writings include both information from my research, as well as first-person recollections. My mother, Gloria LaZine [Robinson] Mason was 20 years old when her paternal grandmother died.

Watch for more about Jennie coming soon!