Jane Elizabeth Robinson Schofield (3rd Great Grandmother)

JANE ELIZABETH ROBINSON (SCHOFIELD) 

1857-1924

Jane E. was born March 24, 1857, in the fort in Paragonah, Iron County, Utah, the first daughter and fourth child of Jane Coupe and John Rowlandson Robinson, who were converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from England. She had seven brothers and five sisters plus a half-sister and half-brother, which she did not know were not full brother and sister until she was grown. Even after the marriage of Sarah Ann, her mother would go to her for advice and consultation. While living in the fort, it was Jane's duty to stay in their room with the baby and younger children while her mother and Sarah Ann helped the other women of the fort make bullets for the men to use when the Indians were on the rampage. On one occasion she wanted to go to her mother. It was dark, and at the foot of the stairs there was a cat whose eyes were all she could see, shining up at her. Her frightened scream brought her mother quickly. The children were encouraged to learn to knit and often used quills for knitting needles to knit long strips about an inch wide which they used for garters. In time they learned to knit their own stockings and mittens. They made them in attractive patterns, too, for best. Jane also learned to gather wool from the fences and bushes, wash, cord, and spin it into yarn; also to weave it into cloth. The family had clothing alike of homespun. An amusing incident is told of not being able to tell one from the other when wrapped in their shawls. Jane's boyfriend, Hy, thought he had her by the arm to escort her home from a dance; he thought it odd that she only giggled and would not talk. When he discovered it was her sister Alice, they turned back to find Jane. Hy Schofield also told of his anticipation of a big May Day celebration in company and at the invitation of Jane. He and a friend rode a good many miles in the night to get to Red Creek, only to find Jane too busy with the arrival of new baby sister Eliza. However, they did go to the dance that night. About seven years after this date they were married, Jane and Hyrum Banks Schofield, 13 February 1879, in the St. George Temple. They had a little home in Paragonah and lived happily there and had two lovely little daughters. The youngest was about eighteen months old when they were called to help settle the San Luis Valley in Colorado. Early in 1883, with a company of people from Southern Utah, they started the trip, traveling in wagons with teams. Leaving their home, relatives, and friends and their many special interests must have been hard to do. They would be so far away that visits with home folks would be few and far between. Thanks to the railroad, they did return for a visit six years later. Making a home in the San Luis Valley was a pioneering experience. Many of their friends from Utah were there. Also many converts from the Southern States, led by John Morgan, who had a family there. His wife's father lived with them and his name being Smith, he was distinguished from the Silas Smith families by being called the "Old Man Morgan" Smith. He was a convert from England with a brogue that was hard to understand. Other neighbors were from Kentucky, Denmark, Wales, and other places. Truly it was a melting pot. The Schofields acquired some land and farmed it. Clerking and freighting for the stores helped support the growing family. Gardening and preserving vegetables, berries, crab apples, and such things as could be grown in that cold climate was the work of the children, directed by Jane. Hy even sent other boys to "help," but they proved to be more in the way than help to Jane, who had her hands full trying to get some work out of her own young boys. The girls learned to cook and sew and did their part to help care for the family, which grew to nine in number, five boys and four girls. Isabel was the first to marry and the first to leave this earth life, leaving no children. Jane and her husband brought up their children in the Church and helped in every way they could to build up the community and teach their children to walk uprightly before the Lord. They worked in the Church organizations. Relief Society took much of Jane's time; she served in the presidency when first married, and later she was president for several years. Three "Jane E.'s" in the presidency always drew a chuckle when their names were read: Jane E. Schofield, president of the Relief Society, Jane E. Smith and Jane E. Dotson, counselors. They had a number of older people to look after and often would send their children with a loaf of bread and a bucket of milk or something from the garden to this one and that one. "And inquire how they are today!" If they were sick or needing help, then Old Pet--the buggy horse--was harnessed up and the ladies were off to their duty. It kept the Relief Society quite busy those days sewing for the dead. They always kept plenty of materials on hand and had committees to take care of certain phases of the sewing, both for women and men and the children, so that they could be laid away properly. Certain men were good at making coffins and often all worked into the night to complete the outfits on time. Jane worked in the campaign for women's suffrage and also for prohibition and for the nonuse-nonsale of tobacco. She did much Red Cross work during World War I, folding bandages, etc., at the Red Cross rooms and knitting sweaters, socks, and helmets, and teaching others to knit. She was kept busy to her dying day, when she took pneumonia and died, April 11, 1924. *******

Memories of Grandmother

-By Isabelle Jackson Coleman (oldest grandchild)

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Gandmother was a sweet, patient, gentle lady. Not very tall. Her hair was gray and she always wore it combed up, not too tight, with a loose bun on top of her head.

rI can see her today, as she used to walk down the sidewalk to our house. She always wore a long, heavy, full, dark skirt and a dark, high-necked, long-sleeved blouse.

ides, there was nearly always lot of honey taffy or honey cookies or honey in the comb.

Grandma's pantry always had jars of good things, it seemed--crocks and jars of pickles in brine, sauerkraut, mincemeat—yummy! And we were always free to help ourselv

It was always fun to go to Grandma's. Grandpa has his own bees and honey, and Grandma always had plenty of good homemade bread and butter to spread the honey on. Be
ses--at least we did. There were so many fun places to make playhouses: the backyard, the shady porch, and the lawn by the lilac bushes. If we forgot to take our doll when we went to her place, she often rolled up a dishtowel doll, tied string around one end to form a head and painted ****** features with crayons.

In the fall we could pick apples off the tree. No one had apples like them--they were yellow, slightly larger than crab apples, but sweet and juicy (probably transparent grown wild). Then there was spicy apple butter or apple jelly to spread on our bread.