KATHERINE A. (ROBBINS) LONG  (A biographical sketch and personal recollections from the records of the Tillamook County Pioneer Association, Tillamook, Oregon, 1956) Re: The Nicholas Robbins Family No. 7.34.8.5

 

Katherine A. Robbins, daughter of Prince and Isabella (Purdy) Robbins, was born in Pleasant Lake, Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia on September 11, 1858. She was one of seven children, five girls and two boys. Her father had always followed the sea and with the family growing in size and requiring much care and attention, the added anxiety and worry about his safety on long voyages, induced her mother to prevail upon him to pursue some other line of endeavor that would allow him to be at home with his family. He found other employment but soon learned he could not be happy at work which kept him confined indoors. Encouraged by other members of his family already residing in the United States, he decided to try farming and in 1868 moved his family to Michigan, where he homesteaded a quarter section in the north central part of the State. The area where he settled was heavily wooded and the nearest neighbor was one and one-half miles distant.

 

In spite of the privations and rigors attendant to pioneer living, Katherine had a happy childhood and, like all other children of her generation, was taught all the tasks of homemaking by her mother. She recalls she was only nine years old when she knitted her first pair of stockings. Because of the deep snows in winter which made travel difficult, what schooling was available, was held during the summer months. Her father allowed his children two big supper parties a year at their home and the young folk came from miles around. Sleigh rides were another popular means of entertainment and she remembers one which her father took them on in early May of one year. Maple sugar making in the winter time is for her another pleasant memory.

 

In May, 1877, Katherine was married to Benjamin Franklin ("Frank") Long at Farwell, Michigan and they began housekeeping at Gilmore, Michigan, a small country town. A carpenter by trade, he worked at that at every opportunity and did farming and other work when his business slackened. They lived in Gilmore for thirteen years and then moved to Farwell for a time, after which they decided to move to the West. Coming to Oregon in 1891, they settled at Bay City and lived there for thirteen years during which time he was able to work at his trade. They came to Tillamook to live in 1904 and there he operated a small box factory which enjoyed quite a thriving business in making cheese boxes. Later he sold this business and bought the yellow fir mill located about eleven miles from town. This mill burned and he was getting things ready to reopen when he took an opportunity to dispose of his business to A. G. Beals. Frank Long passed away in 1917.

 

Frank and Katherine were parents to six children, three of whom are now living: Irene Brasington of Farwell, Michigan and Althea Magnuson and Harry Long, both of whom reside with Katherine at her home in Tillamook. Ever since Katherine came to Tillamook to reside she