AGED KINSMAN OF FUR TRADER IS TAKEN TODAY
George Robinson Pioneer Of Ottawa and Kin of Famous Rix Robinson Is Dead
SETTLED NEAR ADA, MICH.
Spent Many Years On Banks Of The Grand
George Robinson, Pioneer resident of this locality and a kinsman of Rix Robinson, the famous trader who traded with the Indians here years before the advent of the Ferrys, passed away this morning, at his home in Robinson on the banks of Grand River.
Mr. Robinson was one of the best known residents of this section and for years he has been a familiar figure here. Of pleasing personality he had a host of friends in the city and county.
Mr. Robinson had been ill for a number of months and having reached the ripe age of 86 years it has been known for some time that he could not long survive.
George Robinson was born in New York state on May 7, 1831. His parents came to Michigan in 1835, settling in Ada, ten miles from Grand Rapids. There George remained until he was twenty-one, then coming to Grand Haven, where he has ever since resided.
Mr. Robinson was one of a family of fourteen children of whom three are still living, Henry, Jesse and Rix.
Mr. Robinson married on January 26, 1851. Thirteen children were the result of the union of whom six are living, viz: Edward at home, William of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Mrs. William Tappan of Bangor, Mich., Mrs. Theodore Tripp and Frank Robinson of Grand Haven and John of Grand Rapids.
The funeral will be held Thursday at one o'clock from the late home. The Rev. John Branch of White Cloud will be in charge of the services. Burial in the Robinson cemetery.
Grand Haven Tribune, June 26, 1917, p.1



George Robinson b. 1831, died 1917, is the son of one of Rix's brothers and it is presumed that since he named his oldest son Edward (Dutch) that he George, was the son of Edward the older brother of Rix. He grew up with the Indian children around the trading posts and as a man married Mary Noanty an Indian girl. She spoke very little English and communicated through grunts and monosyllables to those too ignorant to speak the Indian tongue. She still managed to leave some folk tales of the raids that were made on their camps and of an attack made by the woodsmen and trappers and the escape made by a tent full of maidens who escaped the dogs by wading upstream in icy waters as they heard the screams of the massacre of those left behind. At age thirteen Mary married George and they built a small cabin in which they raised their family. Thirteen children, three who died in infancy, the remaining ten in this order were: Ellen, Edward, George, William, Frank, Anna, Eunice, Ida, John and Jesse. The house had two bunk bedrooms with a ladder in between which led to the loft where most children slept on pallets on the floor with heavy home made quilts tied with yarn to keep warm with. A cradle stood in the one family room and Mary, my grandmother used to frighten me with her gruff speech or lack of it. Her biggest delight was tobacco or hard candy which was always brought to her when we visited. The tobacco was for her clay pipe. George, my grandfather had a fine orchard and produce which he traded for other staples. They also made maple syrup. On one such sugaring trek to the maple groves they made camp where after gathering the sap they would proceed to boil it. Having made the preparations for the following day's chores they bedded down in their tent. They were awakened by a noise so grandmother set George with a gun to watch the tent flap while she went out the back and scouted around. His orders were to shoot anything that came through that tent flap. Luckily he fell asleep as Mary returned from her reconnoiter she re-entered the tent through that supposedly well guarded flap to find the sleeping George with his weapon cradled in his arms.
(by Hazel Crandle 1896-1980).