William Robb and Ellen Bell and Susannah Drummond

Helen or Ellen Bell Robb

Ellen Bell was born in Perth, Scotland, on June 30, 1819, the daughter of Margaret Monroe and William Bell, and the granddaughter of Isabella McLaughlin and Robert Monroe and Helen Normand and William Bell. (She was christened “Helen” Bell, and that is what is on her gravestone; however, she is referred to by the family as Ellen, and that is how we shall refer to her in this history.”

William Robb, born on January 15, 1815, in Caas of Cowry, Scotland, was the son of James Robb, a well-to-do farmer who was killed by the kick of a horse, and Christian Ewan Robb, who lived to be 100 and was buried in Kendoul Churchyard in Scotland.

Kendoul Churchyard
James Robb  and Christian Ewan Robb his Spouse
James Robb who died at Barnhill
Also, in memory of their son John who died 1 May 1830 age 20  

After William (22) and Ellen (18) were married on August 23, 1837, William bought a coach making and repair shop with his savings and part of her dowry, and in this shop he plied his trade. A family story has it that he first repaired and painted coaches for Queen Victoria and later actually built them.

The class structure in the United Kingdom was very rigid. Upon the death of the elder Robb (date unknown to us) William’s older brother Thomas was appointed by King William IV as “Squire of Bramblebury.” Thomas was suddenly important, and since he was now richer and in a higher class than William, he did not speak to him again, although, given William’s famous temper, there may have been additional reasons for the rift. Brother James, also richer than William, remained on friendly terms with him. Sisters Belle and Jane, both of whom married lower-class men, stayed on friendly terms with William and James, possibly Thomas as well.



Shortly after the birth of Ellen and William’s first child, James (September 12, 1838), William decided to take advantage of the government’s offer of free land in Australia, in the area known as New South Wales, for “free settlers and convicts.” Things were not going as well as William wished, and his quick temper also caused problems in his profession: once, in the throes of anger, he threw a wrench through the dashboard of a coach and had to rebuild it. 

New South Wales

William sold his business, invested the capital in hardware and household goods, and, along with his brother, James, prepared to move his family across the seas. It was hard for Ellen to leave her family, to whom she was devoted, and although they corresponded, she was never to see them again.

The sailing ship to Australia took eight months. It was a difficult voyage, being delayed by a fierce storm and the resulting shipwreck at the Cape of Good Hope on the tip of Africa. Relatives in Scotland were greatly grieved by the first message that all hands on board had been lost in the disaster, and they were much relieved when the correct news came through at last.

Once in Sydney, the Robbs’ fortunes improved. William was given a tract of land by the government and provided with convict labor to improve it. At the same time, he and Ellen set up adjacent stores, William managing one which traded in tools, coaching building and hardware, and Ellen trading in dishes and household goods in the other. Listed in the 1847 Sydney directory is William Robb, Coachbuilder, 325 George Street, with the stores listed at 397 and 399 George Street.

The family flourished in Australia. Business grew as did the family: William Jr. (1841); Albert (1843); Ellen Matilda (1844); Ann (1846); Thomas (1848); John (1850); Alexander (1852); and Adam (1853).

In 1850, the year that John was born, James, then 12, was having trouble in school, being unable to get along with the other boys and engaging in numerous fights. In an effort to discipline him, William gave him several “licking’s.” While the family blamed inadequate medical care for his failure to recover, Williams always regretted he had been so severe, because James died shortly thereafter.

William did have his violent and temperamental side, but he also had a kind and caring side. After he and Ellen converted to the Mormon Church, their home was always open to missionaries and other Mormons, and at one time it was the district headquarters for the Church. Once a young missionary fell ill, and the Robbs cared for him in their home until he died. Because his body could not be shipped home, William paid all the expenses for his burial in Australia. He also financed the way for many needy friends to go to Utah while he and Ellen made their plans to emigrate.

Ellen was not only the loving mother of seven (surviving) children: she was also a successful businesswoman. She sent the money she earned from her store - which also carried luxury chinaware - to Utah by returning missionaries as a loan to the Church. There is no record that these funds ($6,000) were ever returned to her or her family.

In 1855, the family story took a different shift. Sixteen year old Susannah Drummond took a job as a clerk in William’s store. A lovely girl with dark hair and blue eyes, she enjoyed the acquaintance of William Robb Jr., two years younger than she. The romance was short lived, however, since William, Sr. forbade his son to visit her again. In fact, when he found his son “sparking” Susannah, he thrashed him soundly...  in spite of Ellen’s pleas for mercy. William, evidently furious at his son’s interest in a girl he wanted, upset his son to the point that William, Jr. left home, vowing never to return. Susannah moved into the Robb household as a domestic. William Sr.’s interest in her grew.

That same year, 1855, Ellen gave birth to another son, whom William named George Drummond Robb after Susannah’s father. One can imagine Ellen’s reaction to all this.

Susannah’s father was the son of an English gentleman, while her mother, Susannah Jenkins, was the pretty daughter of a gardener or farmer. One day when George Drummond was out hunting, he met Susannah and they fell in love at first sight, marrying in 1835 against the wishes of his family. They made their home near her parents.

The first years of their married life were happy. A daughter, Sarah, was born in 1839 when George left on what was to be a short business trip. He never returned. As the weeks stretched into months, Susannah gave up all hope of ever seeing her husband again. When her daughter, whom she named Susannah, was born on November 13, 1839, Susannah Drummond had neither the strength nor the desire to live. She died soon after and was buried in Bath.

After their mother’s death, the two little girls were taken in by Susannah’s cousin, William Hawkins, and his wife, Eliza, who were childless. The children called them “Aunty and Uncle Hawkins.” The Hawkins couple decided to take the girls to Australia because they were afraid the Drummond family might try to claim them.

At the time Susannah moved in with the Robb family, the doctrine of polygamy was becoming more widely known and was taught to the faithful in Australia as well as other places around the world. Since Susannah’s guardians, Aunty and Uncle Hawkins, had joined the Church along with Susannah, they were neither surprised nor dismayed when William asked Susannah to be his polygamous wife. She consented, and although William had been married to Ellen for twenty years, was 42 years old, and had fathered ten children, he married eighteen-year old Susannah in 1857, a Mormon missionary presiding. Certainly, the marriage had no standing under British law.

William’s children were aghast. Until this time, William and Ellen had had a close relationship, working together at home and at the shops, planning together for their eventual trip to Zion. Already upset with their father for the death of James and the thrashing and alienation of William, Jr., the older children were further troubled by this marriage to a young girl which was so distressing to their mother. When Ellen protested against the marriage, ...she threatened to leave him and go by herself to Utah, where she felt her money on loan to the Church would provide for her family. At that, William decided to go there immediately with the family.

William sold the businesses for a reported $50,000  and the family bought clothes, food, seed and all other necessary goods for their new home. They bade goodbye to William’s brother James, his family, and other friends in Sydney, and on June 27, 1857, they left on the sailing ship, “Lucas,” Captain J.C. Dagget in command.

Susannah’s sister Sarah had married a sailor named Richard Rillstone, who signed onto the “Lucas” as one of the crew, which paid for his passage over. Aunty and Uncle Hawkins also came along, and William paid the fare for several returning missionaries as well.

In the Robb party in addition to William, Sr., were Susannah, then three months pregnant, and the gallant Ellen and her eight surviving children: William, Jr. (16); Ellen (13); Ann (11); Thomas (9); John (7); Alexander (5); Adam (4); and baby George (2). Certainly, Ellen had her hands full, especially considering that her husband was in thrall over his pregnant teen-aged bride.

Because of bad weather, it took 108 days (over three and a half months) to cross the Pacific Ocean, and many of the passengers were sick all they way. When the ship docked in San Pedro, California, on October 12, 1857, Susannah said goodbye to Sarah, from whom she had never before been separated. Since Richard was a member of the crew, he had to complete the entire voyage, which meant traveling on to Oregon. From there, he and Sarah - and new baby William Wall Rillstone, who had been born September 22 on board ship - expected to go to Utah to join the Robbs. They never made it, and were never heard from again. Susannah wrote letters to California, Oregon, Australia and even to Scotland in her desperate efforts to trace her sister, but she never found her, finally concluding that the Rillstones had lost their lives at sea or at the hands of Indians. This loss was a lifelong tragedy for Susannah, who waited and waited for that longed for reunion.

Once in San Pedro, William loaded the family possessions, which included a considerable sum of gold placed into packs, into a hired wagon and took the family to San Bernadino. Ellen and William stayed with a doctor friend from Australia while final preparations were made to cross the desert to Utah. Susannah remained with the Hawkins in a camp near the edge of town so she would not be discovered as a polygamous wife.

San Bernadino had been established in 1851 as an important link on the journey from San Pedro to Salt Lake City. About a month before the Robbs’ arrival there, the Mountain Meadows Massacre (in which the Fancher party on their way west were cruelly murdered by a group of Mormons) caused such anti-Mormon sentiment that Mormons in outlying areas were called home to Salt Lake. Some 90% of the three thousand Mormons then living in San Bernadino packed up their belongings, sold their holdings - usually at a loss, if they could find buyers at all - and made the long journey back to Salt Lake. The Robbs arrived there in the midst of all this turmoil and at a time when many Mormons had already departed.

Shortly after the Robbs arrived in San Bernadino, an angry mob gathered in the area and threatened to tar and feather the newly arrived group. The Robb’s friend, the respected doctor, stepped out his front door with his gun and told the mob that these new arrivals were his friends, “that they had been on the high seas when the massacre was committed, and that they could not possibly have had anything to do with it. If you (the mob) want to come into my home to take them, it will be over my dead body.” The mob dispersed, but the travelers didn’t know how much longer they would be safe, so they made immediate preparations to move on.

When the sun greeted them the next morning, they already had a good start, and by the time they camped that night and were finally able to rest, they were all physically and mentally exhausted.

Along the way, the company was ever watchful for wild beasts, hostile Indians, and threatening anti-Mormon gangs, standing a guard every night as a precaution. They did meet many Indians, but none seemed especially hostile. The pioneers treated the Indians in a kindly fashion, giving them food and clothing. At one camp, the immigrants cooked a huge pot of cornmeal mush, and shared it with the Indians. The children were greatly amused to see the Indians try to eat this soft food with their fingers. The Indians refused to use spoons, which were offered, and even scorned the use of cups and bowls. Only if there were too many to gather directly around the pot would they accept these smaller containers.

While camped on the Mojave Desert near the Colorado River, Susannah gave birth to her first child, a little boy she named Mojave. She was delighted, as she loved the baby dearly and felt she had a family of her own at last.

The first white men the travelers met on their journey were some missionaries in Santa Clara, Utah, a tiny place on the Utah - Nevada border just a bit north of Arizona. Under the leadership of Joseph Hamlin, the missionaries were trying to become friendly with the Indians and teach them to farm.

The party traveled on. Baby Mojave was sick, and on Christmas Day at Cedar Fort (now Cedar City), he died. Susannah was heartbroken to lay her baby away in the desert land so far from home.

One week later, they reached Paragonah. It was New Year’s Day, 1858. The six-week journey from San Bernadino to Paragonah had been a continuing nightmare for Susannah, suffering through the final weeks of pregnancy, then childbirth, nursing her sick baby, and finally watching him die and burying him. No doubt, she wished she had her sister to comfort her. The whole trip from Sydney to Paragonah had taken over six months.

In 1857, Paragonah was a small Mormon community in Iron County, Utah, some 24 miles north of Cedar Fort. Residents of Parowan, about four miles southwest of Paragonah, had assembled this new village a few years earlier, but because of Indian problems, permanent homes in Paragonah were put off. A fort was laid out and completed in 1855. Made of adobes, it was 100 feet square and two stories in height. The lower walls were three feet thick and the upper walls were two feet thick. There was only one entrance to the fort and no outside windows were placed in the lower story, though several were inserted in the upper story to serve as observation points as well as for light.

The newly arrived group from Paragonah moved into the fort, as Indians were still troublesome. The dwelling houses were connected with the outside wall of the fort, but extended all around the fort facing the center. Each family was given rooms according to the number of family members, and the northeast corner was a large room which served as church, school house and amusement hall.

On November 4, 1858, Susannah’s second child, Samuel, was born and he was to be her only surviving son. Ellen gave birth to her last child, Carrie, on July 19, 1859, but Carrie died shortly after birth.

Life in the Paragonah Fort was simple, but there were periodic diversions. Thursday evenings, there were prayer meetings. On other days, there were spelling bees, and the women had spinning bees where they made raw wool into yarn to be woven into cloth. They took turns holding these bees in each other’s homes, and were rewarded with supper.

Each family had a few milk cows which were herded and guarded on the meadows by the men, while the women were given turns to use the milk to provide butter and cheese for their families.

[Once, on the Fourth of July, it was Mary Prothero’s turn to make cheese. The Protheros were from Wales and were relatives of the Edwards family; they were also among the first and most prominent residents of Paragonah. Mary’s daughter, Susie, had a new pair of shoes, but her mother lent them to another girl to wear to the celebration since they wouldn’t be going. When the cheese was in the press, however, a neighbor invited the Protheros to go to the dance with them. Susie was nearly in tears as she sat at the dance, trying to keep her bare feet covered while her new shoes danced gaily over the floor on the other girl’s feet. From Ilene Kingsbury’s Paragonah Patrols.]

In fact, the community was as united as one big family in their work. The men, when going to the canyons for firewood, went in companies or squads of six or eight. This was a time of suspense, lest their stock or crops be destroyed, and preparations were always considered for attacks which might be made by Indians.

Eventually, a corral was built just north of the fort, it too having high walls for protection, and the men took turns guarding the stock in the corral at night and on the meadows by day. The fort was considered one of the strongest and safest forts in the area, and was occupied until 1862. In 1860, a town site was measured off, and by 1862, new homes were being built and people were leaving the fort.

William Robb is said to have built both Ellen and Susannah a log house, which stood side by side on the property east of and across the road from the fort, on the south corner of the northeast block. The date was probably about 1861.

Some family writers have suggested that Susannah and Ellen “became good friends” during this time because they shared “the hardships of pioneer life.” There is, however, considerable evidence of bitterness on the side of Ellen’s children so this “friendliness’ is somewhat unlikely.

Not long after his arrival in Paragonah, William was summoned to Salt Lake by Brigham who had learned of the “fortune” in gold coins that William had brought from Australia. Brigham persuaded William to make a large loan to the Church for the purpose of financing wagon trains from Missouri. (The ill-fated handcart companies convinced Brigham that needy converts needed more assistance, and the practice had started of sending fully-equipped wagon trains out from Utah to meet the pioneers at the Missouri River.) A dispute as to whether the funds exchanged were a loan or a gift eventually led to a serious breach between William and the Church.

1861 was to prove an eventful year. On April 15, Susannah gave birth to her first daughter, Isabelle, who was known as “Baby Bell.” Then, in October, during the Conference, Brigham called William Robb, among others, to go to the Cotton Mission to Washington County, in order to help settle Utah’s Dixie. It was Brigham’s hope to make the entire Mormon country self-sufficient, and he was optimistic that the climate and soil in Dixie would be good for growing cotton.

At first, William was reluctant, because he liked the life in Paragonah and had seen the small rocky valley he was being sent to, the many hills and sparse vegetation, except for greasewood and cactus. The decision was a hard one. Some family accounts say the decision was reached by “family discussion.” According to William, Jr., his father “deserted Ellen as they were not getting along well since the polygamous marriage.” No doubt, the lack of harmony between his two families, his obvious preference for his younger wife, and his desire to follow the dictates of the Church were all factors leading him to decide to go.

 It was then decided that William and Susannah and their two children would go to Harrisburg, a village in the Dixie area, while Ellen and her eight children would remain behind in Paragonah. William Jr., also called Bill, was put in charge of the farm and cattle, with the aid of his younger brothers: Thomas (14); John (12); Alex (10); Adam (9); and George (7). Ellen and her daughters, Ellen (18) and Ann (16) had many tasks of their own. They sheared the sheep, then spun wool into yarn which they then wove into cloth for the family clothing. The vegetable garden provided food and livestock yielded milk for butter and cheese. During the summer, the family lived down on the meadow in a log house so they could more readily look after the cattle, taking the excess cheese and butter to Salt Lake to be sold or traded for things not easily available in a small town.

Some time after 1864, Ellen had a big brick house built for her family, hiring the Spillsbury boys from Toqueville to build it. It was one of the first brick houses in Paragonah. Two stories high, it had four large rooms, each with its own fireplace, and was still standing in 1967, when JTW III and June visited the area.

Helen Bell Robb Home
Paragonah, Utah

Ellen was very proud of the beautiful dishes she brought from Australia and had a special cupboard built to display them. The townspeople, men as well as women, called on her to admire them. Since there was not occasion in Paragonah for Ellen and her daughters to wear the silk and satin brocaded clothes they brought with them, they sold them to the women in town to be made into fancy hats. The Robb women were content to wear homespun dresses and knit stockings, just like the other pioneer women of the day.

1864, the Edwards family arrived in Paragonah from Wales and the two families got acquainted. Both Sarah Edwards and Ellen Robb were strong women, each with a large family to care for alone, and they had much in common. Not long after their arrival, Sarah’s oldest son William married Ellen’s daughter, Ann (1868); then, in 1875, Ellen’s son, John, married Sarah’s daughter, Sarah Ann. [In 1864, Ellen’s older daughter Ann, who had married a man named Anderson, died, and Ellen was grieved, for she was close to her girls.]

Meanwhile, William and Susannah (22), Samuel (3), and Baby Bell (1) left for Harrisburg in the Spring of 1862. They traveled with two covered wagons, one drawn by a mule team and the other by oxen, bringing with them food, clothing, grain, vegetable seeds, axes, shovels, hammers, nails, a plough, hoe, and anvil. The trip took four days - a distance of about 60 miles. Susannah hated to leave Paragonah, especially since Aunty and Uncle Hawkins had settled in Beaver, Utah, some 30 miles the other side of Paragonah, and visiting with them now would be even more difficult.

William and Susannah Robb Home
Harrisburg, Utah

For their home, William chose a knoll overlooking the valley, and he and Susannah worked hard building a two-room house out of hand-cut sandstone bricks. Flat rocks were placed side-by-side to make the floor as level as possible until lumber could be secured o make a wooden floor. Both rooms had a huge fireplace, and the door that faced north led to the living room.

While they were building their home, the family lived in one of their covered wagons which had been set into the ground. That first spring and summer were spent clearing the ground of rocks and planting crops. After the harvest, the home was completed before winter set in.

Harrisburg had been settled by Moses Harris, an early settler in San Bernadino, on the Virgin River near Quail Creek, but flooding drove the settlers further up Quail Creek to the Cottonwood Creek fork. The location and climate seemed ideal for a good life: crystal clear water for domestic use, crops and livestock; a splendid forest of pine timber to provide firewood just a day’s ride away. However, it proved hard to wrest a living from this desert country. The spring gave little water, and it was a problem getting the water to where it was needed most.

Even so, Susannah was happy in her new home. She was proud of the fine, big fireplace whose flickering firelight often provided the only illumination at night, since candles were not always available. They were considered “modern conveniences” in those days. Susannah learned to spin and weave; she became adept at cooking over the open fireplace; she knit sox and sewed dresses, shirts and trousers. The family bought shoes from the local shoemaker, but went barefoot as much as possible to save the shoes. Cotton, molasses, honey, fresh and dried fruits, brooms and straw hats were sent to Iron and Beaver Counties in exchange for potatoes, cheese, meat and candles.

The years went by. It was Susannah’s and William’s sorrow to lose two more children during those years. Susannah born in January, 1864, died in October that same year; and Albert, born in September, 1866, lived only 19 months. Both babies were buried in the little Harrisburg Cemetery just south of the Robb home.

A month after Albert’s death, William took the grieving Susannah to the Endowment House in Salt Lake where they were married for time and all eternity (“endowed”) and their three dead babies sealed to them, as were Samuel and Isabelle. Susannah was comforted by the belief that the time would come when she would again hold her babies in her arms.

Baby Bell was seven and Samuel almost ten when Lydia Ann was born on October 31, 1868, and the family’s prayers that the new baby be granted life and health were granted. Hard times, however, came upon Harrisburg. In 1869, a grasshopper plague, a Navajo raiding party and low water caused many of the Robbs’ friends to leave Harrisburg. In the next few years, occasional flooding destroyed more valuable land, driving still more folks into the new town of Leeds just three miles away.

Meanwhile, not far way, some miners were becoming interested in the possibility of a silver strike. In 1870, a prospector named John Kemple set up the Harrisburg Mining District and started developing a mine, but in 1874, there still wasn’t much more than small scale mining. Although the boom years took place after William Robb left Harrisburg in 1874, he is said to have sold wine and meat to the small settlement in the mining area prior to his departure.

Susannah and William hoped to have another son and looked forward to the new baby due in the spring of 1873, but when the time came, Susannah became very ill. Since there were no doctors or nurses nearby, the only help came from a neighbor, and Susannah gave birth to a stillborn son on April 26. Hemorrhaging badly, she knew she was dying and asked her grief-stricken husband to bring the children to her. She told Samuel to be a good boy, comfort his father all he could, and help Bell look after the little girls. Bell was so sad and frightened she could not go to her mother, instead creeping away to cry alone. Kissing her two baby girls goodbye, Susannah spent the last few moments alone with her husband.

Susanah Drummond Robb and baby boy
Harrisburg, Utah Cemetery

She was laid to rest, her baby boy in her arms, in the Harrisburg Cemetery, next to the graves of two of her children. She was only 33 years old, had borne eight children, lost four of them, and had done her best to carry the burdens of her short life. On her tombstone is inscribed:

In Memory of Susannah Robb
Born Nov. 13, 1839
Died April 26, 1873
Farewell dear Mother Sweet they rest
Weary with years and worn with pain
Farewell till in some happy place
We shall behold they face again.

William stayed in Harrisburg for less than a year after Susannah died. Samuel, who turned 15 the fall after her death, and Bell, who turned 12 just before, did their best to help with the farming and other chores and help care for Lydia Ann (4) and Eliza Jane (2) but it was more work than they could manage. William brought the family back to Paragonah to get Ellen’s assistance, but she couldn’t do much, since she was ill. She tried, but on April 11, 1874, shortly after William and the children returned, Ellen died at the age of 55.

Ellen, like Susannah, had had a hard life. She had given birth to eight sons and three daughters and lost four of them. She suffered the heartbreak of losing a husband of twenty years to a teen-aged girl, and she raised her children virtually alone for the last thirteen years of her life. A fine business woman, wife and mother, intelligent and courageous, Ellen Bell Robb carried her responsibilities and heartaches with strength and dignity. (her portrait, which reveals a lovely, clear-eyed, steady woman of grace and intelligence.)

William lived in Ellen’s big brick house with Susannah’s four children, Ellen’s children being grown and independent by this time. Bell took care of her father until he died. After his return to Paragonah, William made an effort to gain back some of the money he had loaned the Church, and was offered some cattle as payment. When he went to Strawberry Valley to obtain the cattle from the Church herd, he was allowed to chose only the scrubs. His account was then credited at the rate of $79 a head, while the going rate for good cattle was between $10 and $20 a head. William felt the Church had cheated him royally.

He sometimes refused to wear a shirt, either wearing a burlap one he made himself, or doing without one altogether. Once he went shirtless for several days and contracted pneumonia. (One family story has it that this is what led to his death.) His family would visit him in his big house and bring him clean clothing, but he would toss it aside. A tall man with a full red beard, William was free-hearted, had a terrible temper, smoked a strong pipe, talked with a marked Scottish brogue, and hated April because he thought it was an unlucky month.

William Robb
Parowan Utah

Note:  This history has been edited by the publisher