What Was Happening in 1936? A Snapshot of History

To complete the setting of Shirley's diary before I start posting her daily entries, it's important to understand the world that she lived in.  Here's what was happening locally, nationally, and internationally that year.

Michigan:

Frank Fitzgerald, Republican, was the governor.

The Green Hornet radio shows debuted in Detroit.

The Michigan Wolverines baseball team compiled a 20-5 record and won the Big Ten Conference championship.

The Detroit Red Wings hockey team compiled a 24-16-8 record and finished in first place in the NHL American Division and then went on to win the Stanley Cup against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

A new state record for high temperatures was set during the July 13-14 heat wave.  At Mio, in northern Michigan, it soared to 113°F.

The United Auto Workers began the Flint Sit-Down Strike.

The Muskegon County School Library system was created by James TenBrink, the County School Commissioner, out of concern that there were no public and few school libraries in Muskegon County outside of the City of Muskegon.  This eventually became the current Muskegon Area District Library.

United States:

The country was in its eighth year of the Great Depression.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was in the fourth year of his first term. He was reelected to his second term in November.

The Hoover Dam was completed.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania suffered the worst flooding in its history on St. Patrick's Day.

Richard Hauptmann, who was convicted of kidnapping and murdering the Lindbergh baby, was executed.

Margaret Mitchell published Gone With the Wind.

Life magazine debuted.

The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge opened to traffic in California.

Radiation was used to treat disease (leukemia) for the first time.

An influenza epidemic occurred during 1936-1937.

The first National Football League draft was held.  The second American Football League was founded. The Green Bay Packers defeated the Boston Redskins 21–6 for the NFL championship.  In baseball, the New York Yankees defeated the New York Giants, 4–2.  

The Great Ziegfeld won the Academy Award for Best Picture.  Luise Rainer won Best Actress for her role of Anna Held in that movie.  Frank Capra won Best Director for Mr. Deeds Goes to Town.  Paul Muni won Best Actor for his lead role in The Story of Louis Pasteur.  

World:

Europe and Asia were gearing up for World War II, which would officially be declared in Europe in 1939. Italy had already invaded Ethiopia in 1935, and Japan was at war with China in 1937.

King George V of the United Kingdom died, and his son Edward VIII (David) ascended the throne.  King Edward eventually abdicated by the end of the year, choosing to marry an American divorcee, Wallis Simpson.

The IV Olympic Winter Games opened in Garmisch-Prtenkirchen, Germany. 

Nazi Germany reoccupied the Rhineland in violation of the Treaty of Versailles and Locarno Treaties. 

Peter and the Wolf, a Russian fairy tale musically composed by Sergei Prokofiev, debuted in Moscow. Soviet Union.

The British luxury liner, the RMS Queen Mary, made her maiden voyage across the Atlantic.

Alan Turing submitted his paper "On Computable Numbers" to the London Mathematical Society for publication, introducing the concept of the Turing machine, a model of a general-purpose computer.

The Spanish Civil War began.

The 1936 Summer Olympics opened in Berlin.  African-American athlete Jesse Owens won the 100-meter dash.  The U.S. men's national basketball team won the first Olympic basketball tournament in the final game.

Beryl Markham became the first woman to make an east-to-west solo transatlantic flight, from England to Nova Scotia.

Stalin began his Great Purge in the Soviet Union.

The Rome-Berlin Axis was formed.

The BBC launched the world's first regular high-definition television service.

Hitler mandated that all German boys aged 10 to 18 join the Hitler Youth paramilitary organization.

Shirley's Home in Norton Township (now Norton Shores), Michigan

When I first set out to discover where Shirley lived in 1936, I found Wm. B. Robbin [sic] in the 1936-7 Muskegon City Directory (which includes information for the county, as well) living on Rural Route 5.  That wasn't exactly helpful information!  However, it turns out the family is listed more than once in the same directory!  Besides the alphabetical listings by Rural Routes, there are alphabetical listings by household.  What's interesting is that household listings had apparently current and outdated information, because it listed Bryan and Marie at their current address and also Marie at their old address!

"U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995," database, Ancestry Library Edition (https://ancestrylibrary.com : accessed 30 December 2020), entries for Marie, Robt L, and W Bryan Robbins; citing Polk's Muskegon (Muskegon County, Mich.) City Directory Vol. 1936-37 XXX, p. 359.

In the bottom entry of the above image, we can see that W. Bryan, an automobile mechanic, and Marie Robbins were householders (h) on the east side of Austin, 5 houses south of East Broadway in Norton Township.  The entry above states that Robert L. Robbins (Bob) resided or roomed at his parents' home. The top entry shows Marie Robbins as a machine operator for the Amazon Knitting Company, and that she resided on Rural Route 5 on East Broadway in Muskegon Heights.  That location was their former address, confirmed by the 1930 Federal Census, which lists the family at 416 East Broadway, Norton Township.  The Muskegon Heights listing in the directory was likely the post office that served the rural route.

I then did a search in Google Maps for the intersection of Austin and Broadway, and looked at that map, wondering if the house furthest south on the east side of Austin would have been the same one my Robbins family was living in.

Zooming in on Google Street View, I was able to capture this image:

This did look like the house I had seen in some of the photos in scrapbooks Marie made for Bob and Joyce, which have been scanned (Marie apparently made a scrapbook for each of her five children, with photos of some of their recent ancestors as well as relatives, and photos of each of them from babyhood to adult).

Joyce and Jack on the back steps of the Austin Street house, c. 1936.
Notice the back porch is being enclosed, and there is a water pump off to the right.

Joyce, Marie, and Bryan, 1935
On front steps of Austin Street house

These photos taken by Joyce and added to her scrapbook in 1984 confirmed I had the correct house.

The caption in the scrapbook reads:
"House on Austin St. Muskegon, Mich. This picture of house taken in 1984 They added to front."

Back of house, 1984

Shirley's Friends, Neighbors, and Community Members

There were two families that Shirley mentions frequently in her diary: the Servers and the Taylors.  Marie Server was Shirley's best friend.  In 1930, the Robbins and Server families were enumerated three homes apart, living on East Broadway in Norton Township.  The Server family consisted of the parents, Thomas and Lillian, and two much older siblings, Lyle and Genevieve (b. c. 1915 and 1917, respectively).  Marie was born c. 1926 and was the same age and in the same grade as Shirley.

Lyle and Doris Taylor, 1935
Grant, Michigan
They were probably visiting Bob who was working on farms
 in the area, as there are several photos of them with him.

The Taylor parents seem to have been close friends with Bill and Marie, Shirley's parents, and frequently visited from their home in Ashland Township in neighboring Newaygo County, often staying for a weekend at a time. The parents were Ernest Sr. and Orah, and their children were Lyle (b. c. 1920), Doris (b. c. 1921), Ernest Jr. (b. c. 1923), and Phyllis (b. c. 1925). These children were close in age to Bob, Billy Jr., and Shirley Robbins and were good friends with each other, too.

Mrs. Rosengren and Mrs. Smith were mentioned as Shirley's teachers in elementary school.  Mrs. Rosengren was probably Ora Fern (DeCamp) Rosengren, wife of Alvin.  There were three Mrs. Smiths, all teachers, listed in the 1940 census who had lived in Muskegon Heights in 1935: Mildred M. Smith, an English teacher, divorced; Gladys L. Smith, a Kindergarten teacher, married to Vernard A. Smith; and R. Jessie Smith, enumerated simply as a teacher, married to T. Lynne Smith.  Mrs. Smith, Shirley's teacher, was probably not Mildred, as that Mrs. Smith likely taught high school, given that she was a teacher of a specific subject.  Perhaps we'll be able to learn more through the diary entries.

I will update this post with more information on the above families as I research them.  I'll also post about other friends, neighbors, and community members as we come across them in the diary entries.

Shirley's Extended Family: The Lewises

Lewis Family Reunion, 1937
Hosted by Percy and Claris (Smith) Lewis

Shirley's maternal side of the family was very large because her mother was the seventh of 13 children, 11 of whom survived childhood.  Shirley's maternal grandparents and five of her mother's siblings lived in Muskegon County, so they are often mentioned in the diary.  Here's some background on that family.  I probably do not have an accurate account of all the cousins who were born by 1936.

Shirley's maternal grandfather was George Emmett Lewis, born 1868. In 1891, he married Mary J. Wilkinson, born 1872.  He was a carpenter and built many homes in Muskegon County throughout his lifetime. They lived in Muskegon Heights starting around 1913.

The thirteen children of George and Mary, and their birthdates, were: George Richard (1892; died 1913 in a motorcycle accident); Harrison "Harry" (1894); Alvin Lee (1895; died in infancy); Horace Russel (1897); David Alexander (1899); Donald (1901); Marie (1902 - my great-grandmother and Shirley's mom); Percy (1903); Bonnie May (1905); Leslie W. (1907 - a male); Bessie M. (1909; died in infancy); Bertha Katherine (1911); and James Preston (1913).  Although Marie was the exact middle child, she was the oldest daughter.

Harry was a pharmacist and lived in Grand Rapids, Kent County with his wife, Annie Foote.  They had a son, George, born in 1919.

Horace married Amelia "Belle" Brewer and they lived with their two children in Wadestown, West Virginia.

David and his wife, Jennie Batchelor, lived in Mecosta, Mecosta County, Michigan with their two children.

Percy and his wife Claris Smith also lived in Norton Township, Muskegon County.  They had eight children and at least three of them were born by 1936.

Bonnie was probably still married to her first husband, William Smith (no known relation to Clarice) in 1936.  She was married an additional two times, but I do not have the marriage dates.  She and William had at least three children.  I am unsure of where they lived in 1936 (more research will be forthcoming!).

Leslie, his wife Henrietta Dobb, and their three children lived in Muskegon.

Bertha was single at this time and probably living with her parents in Muskegon Heights.  

James was married to Alice Wheeler and they had two children.  They lived in Muskegon.

Lewis Family Reunions were held every year and they were a Really. Big. Deal.  Group photos were often taken, and they are treasured.  In the photo above, not only are most of George and Mary's children and grandchildren shown, but also some of George's siblings, nieces, and nephews, as well as many in-laws.

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, Shirley had an Uncle Don and Aunt Bertha on her father's side, who were a married couple, Don being her father's youngest sibling.  On the Lewis side, her mother had an older brother Don and a younger sister Bertha.  I'll clarify which Don and Bertha are being mentioned in the diary when their names come up.

Shirley's Extended Family: The Robbinses

Shirley mentions extended family often in her diary, because both her father's and her mother's families lived either in Muskegon County or in adjacent counties.  Several family members lived within walking distance, too.

Here's some background on Shirley's paternal grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins.  Her paternal grandmother was born Mary May Kimball in 1873, but she had many names.  Mary's mother, Lucy (Dickinson) Kimball, died when she was one week old, and her maternal Aunt Mary (Dickinson) and Uncle Phillip Weaver adopted her.  They already had a daughter named Mary, so three Marys in the household were probably too much!  She was nicknamed Lula after her mother.  Although never officially adopted, she went by the last name Weaver more often than Kimball until she married.

In 1892, Mary Kimball/Lula Weaver married Angelo Merrick Robbins who was born in 1874. They had seven children; six who survived infancy: Floyd Arthur (1893), Lloyd George (1894), William Bryan (1896; my great-grandfather and Shirley's dad, a.k.a Bryan), Reva L. (1898), Angelo Merrick Jr. (1904), a stillborn baby boy (1906); and Donald Charles (1914), another "bonus baby", born 10 years after his next-oldest sibling. 

The Robbins Family, 1917
Left to right: Mary Kimball/Lula Weaver Robbins, holding Don on her lap; Angelo Jr.; Lloyd; William Bryan; Angelo Sr.
Probably taken in Muskegon, shortly before Lloyd went off to war. Bryan followed the next year.
Not shown: Reva, who was mentally ill and institutionalized at the time.

By the time this diary was written in 1936, Angelo Sr. (1923); Floyd (1916); and Reva (1926) had all died.  Lula married Orlando Horace "Pat" Kenfield, a widowed farmer, in 1928 and was known ever after as "Grandma Kenfield".  She and Pat lived within walking distance of Shirley's family, just down the road and around the corner, so to speak.

Pat and Mary/Lula Kenfield
c. 1941
at their home at 2782 E Broadway, Muskegon Heights

Lloyd and his wife Josephine Huff lived in Grand Rapids, Kent County, where he worked as a carpenter in the construction industry.  They never had any children.  If they appear in this diary, it's not frequently, probably because they're much older and live further away.  This uncle is whom Shirley's brother Lloyd Jack was named for.

Angelo Jr., often called "Angie" or "Ang" and his wife Elsie Vogt, appear frequently in the diary.  They marry in the first month of 1936 and live close by.  Elsie seems to be a favorite aunt of Shirley's.  Don, although 10 years younger than Angie, married three years earlier, to Bertha Barringer.  They also live nearby, with their toddler, Don Jr. ("Sonny"), born in 1934.  Don Sr. often hung out with his nephew Bob, Shirley's oldest brother, as there were only six years' difference between them.

There may be a little bit of confusion that may occasionally need clarification throughout the diary: Shirley had more than one Uncle Don and Aunt Bertha.  Her mother, Marie Lewis, had siblings with those names.  We'll visit the Lewis family tomorrow.

Shirley's Immediate Family

 

The Robbins Family
Back row, left to right: Jack, Bryan, Bill Jr.
Front: Marie, Bob with Joyce, Shirley
October 1942 - six years after the diary was written
5 Acres farm, Coopersville, Michigan

In nearly every entry of her diary, Shirley mentions either one or both of her parents and at least one sibling.  Her family was obviously an important part of her everyday life.  Here's a little background about the family she grew up in and how old they all were at the time of this diary.

Shirley's dad was William Bryan Robbins, Sr.  Born June 5, 1896 in Hesperia, Michigan (which lies on the Newaygo-Oceana County border), he was named for that year's Democratic presidential nominee  and famed orator, William Jennings Bryan.  Sometimes he was called Bryan and sometimes he was called Bill.  He came with his parents and siblings to Muskegon Heights, Michigan from Ensley Township in Newaygo County around 1916.  I'm calling him Bryan in this diary when I mention him, to clarify that it's not Bill Jr.  He was 39 and 40 years old during the year this diary was written.

Shirley's mother was Marie Lewis.  She was born May 15, 1902 in Whitehall, Muskegon County, Michigan.  Her family moved to Muskegon Heights around 1913.  She was 33 and 34 years old the year this diary was written.

Bryan and Marie met when Marie's maternal grandfather, John Wilkinson Sr., died September 10, 1917.  Bryan was working as a chauffer and drove the hearse for John's funeral.  They started courting the next few years, through Bryan's service during World War I in North Russia as part of the American-North Russia Expeditionary Forces (read more about his service at my AnceStories blog here).  When Bryan returned to the U.S. after his service, he and Marie married on Christmas Day 1919 at her parents' home at 1132 Hoyt Street, Muskegon Heights.  They lived there until after the birth of their first two children.  They had been married 16 years the year the diary was written, and celebrated their 17th anniversary the last week of 1936.

Robert Louis Robbins ("Bob") was their first child, born September 21, 1920 in Muskegon Heights.  He was my paternal grandfather.  Two years later in the same city, William Bryan Robbins, Jr. ("Billy") was born, on May 22, 1922.  Bob was 15 and 16, and Billy was 13 and 14 the year this diary was written.

Marie, with Shirley and Jack
Probably around 1929 or 1930

In 1923, the couple was enumerated for the Michigan census of WWI Veterans in the city of Muskegon, which borders Muskegon Heights on the north and west.  In 1924, they lived in Conklin, Ottawa County for a short time, before returning to Muskegon by the summer of 1925, where Shirley Marie Robbins was born August 14, followed by Lloyd Jack Robbins ("Jack") on June 3, 1927.  The family was enumerated in 1930 15 416 East Broadway, Norton Township, Muskegon County. However, Joyce Elaine, the "bonus baby", was born in Muskegon on December 26, 1933, 87 years ago today.  They lived on Broadway at least until 1935, then moved to their home on Austin Street, at what is now 2874 Austin, where this diary takes place.  Shirley was 10 and 11, and Jack was 8 and 9 when the diary was written.  Joyce was mostly two years old in 1936 and turned three the last week that the diary was written.

Joyce and Bryan (with doll), 1935,
 at the house on Austin Street,
 where this diary takes place.

At the time of this diary, Bryan was an unemployed, disabled WWI veteran.  He was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and one of the triggers of his disorder was sudden, loud noise.  Because of this, it was nearly impossible for him to work in his trade, automobile mechanics, for a while.  In addition, there was wide-spread unemployment due to the Great Depression.  Bryan stayed home and cared for toddler Joyce, while Marie worked at the Amazon Knitting Mill, also known as the Amazon Hosiery Mill, in Muskegon.  Bob contributed to the family income by working on a farm in Grant, Newaygo County, about 30 miles east.  Billy, Shirley, and Jack attended the local elementary school (I'm still researching which one).  Billy had a paper route and Shirley did a lot of the household chores and even prepared meals and baked.

In skimming through the diary, I have not come across a mention of any family pets.  But I've seen photos of a dog named Jack taken around this time.  That has got to be confusing, given the fact that Shirley's younger brother had the same name!

Joyce with Bryan and a dog ("Jack"?)
on the back porch of the Austin Street house, 1934.
Notice the electric wringer washer.

Introducing Shirley's Diary: A Depression-Era Girl's Story

 

Eighty-five years ago today, a 10-year-old girl named Shirley received a diary as a Christmas gift from her mother in Norton Township (now Norton Shores) on the outskirts of Muskegon Heights, Michigan.  She wrote in it nearly every day in the coming year of 1936; she missed a few days, but came back and filled them in later, a common occurrence, as any diary-keeper can tell you.

Dec 25, 1935
Dear Daughter
Wish you a Merry
Xmas & many of
them - Mother
 [added later, Marie's birthday "May 15" and "June 5 Dad."]

This girl's name was Shirley Marie Robbins, and she was the third child and oldest girl of my great-grandparents, William Bryan Robbins, Sr. and Marie (Lewis) Robbins. She was a younger sister of my paternal grandfather, Robert Louis Robbins.

I discovered this diary just a few months ago in my paternal grandparents' things that had been shipped west from Michigan to Washington State after they passed away in 2003 (Grandpa) and 2012 (Grandma).  Some of the things came to my dad as the oldest son, and some came to me as the family historian.  After Dad's death in late 2019, the boxes of family history photos, documents, and books were stored in my spare room.  Life is finally settling down after his death and the chaos of the pandemic; recently, I started sorting items and storing them in better containers for future preservation and sharing with family, which is how I found the diary.  How I wish I had found this diary before 2020 started, because 1936 was a mirror year of 2020:  they were both Leap Years and election years and the days of the week match.  For example, today, December 25, 2020 is a Friday.  Christmas Day 1936 was also a Friday.

This book is for the
year 1936.
Shirley Marie Robbins

Additionally, I would have liked to have published this blog last year, because it poses many questions that probably only Great-Aunt Joyce, Shirley's little sister and the youngest of Bill and Marie's five children, could answer in full.  Sadly, Joyce passed away five days ago, on December 20, 2020 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  She would have been 87 years old tomorrow, December 26th.

Shirley (left) and Joyce Robbins
Mother's Day 1944
5 Acres farm, Coopersville, Michigan

I don't have a lot of knowledge about Shirley's life, nor have I (yet) located a good photo of her taken in 1936 or in that general time frame.  What I do know is that she was born August 14, 1925 in Muskegon, Muskegon County, Michigan. I know her parents started their married life in nearby Muskegon Heights, and lived in Conklin, Ottawa County, Michigan early on.  At some point, they returned to the Muskegon Heights/Norton Township area, where this story take place.  I don't know if they were living in Muskegon proper at the time of Shirley's birth, or if she just happened to be born there.  Some of these puzzles may be solved as I research during the coming year.  I'll share more about what I do know about Shirley's post-diary life at the end of 2021.  I will let you know that she passed away February 17, 1992.

Join me on this journey as we learn more about Shirley's life as a 10- and 11-year-old girl, our Robbins and Lewis family history, the history of Muskegon County, and life during the Great Depression.