Franklin Pierce Robinson (1853-1899)

Franklin Pierce Robinson was the youngest of Isaac and Katharine's children. He spent his entire life in Johnstown working as a stone mason and then later as a tanner. In the late 1870's, Franklin married Emma Parker, the daughter of Euphemia Davidson Parker (1833-1905) and John E. Parker (1820-1872), a ship carpenter who was murdered in West Troy, NY. The couple had two daughters, Alice M. Robinson (b. 1879) and Hattie P. Robinson (b. 1885) before divorcing in the mid-1890's.

On the evening of July 4, 1899, Franklin was walking along the railroad tracks back to the home of his brother, William S. Robinson. When he was nearly there, he apparently laid down on the tracks and was struck by a train. Franklin was taken to Nathan Littauer Hospital in Gloversville but died in the early morning.

Franklin's ex-wife, Emma, remarried a Charles E. Foster, while her daughters lived with other family members in Gloversville. Alice lived with her aunt and uncle, Lillian B. (Parker) and Samuel Y. Stockamore until she married James W. Van Slyke in 1905. Hattie was living with her grandmother, Euphemia, as well as her uncles, Ulysses Grant Parker and John Parker. Hattie was mentioned in the 1905 obituary of John Parker, and then in the 1905 Fulton County, NY Census (with her mother and Charles Foster), but there is no trace of her after that.

Alice and James Van Slyke had two children, Glenadore (b. 1906) and Othello Van Slyke (b. 1911) before James passed away. Alice remarried Henry Shubert (a widower) of Gloversville and eventually moved to Manhattan. Glenadore seems to have moved to Connecticut with the family of her uncle, Charles Van Slyke. There is no trace of Othello unless he went by James (a possible middle name). If that was the case, then he may have been in Connecticut as well.

The Site of the Railroad Tracks Where Franklin P. Robinson was Killed in Johnstown, NY