Eliza Bell Robinett

How We Connect

Eliza Robinett is the paternal grandmother of my paternal grandfather.  Her son Theodore is the father of Harmon Hopson Sr., my dad's father.

Early Life

When Eliza Bell Robinett was born on December 16, 1883, in Pike, Kentucky, her father, William, was 33, and her mother, Lou, was 35. 

Eliza was no stranger to heartache.  The year of 1918  was particularly hard on the Robinett family.  Within mere months the Spanish Flu epidemic that plagued the small Kentucky community swept through Eliza's family taking the lives of many of her loved ones.  Those she was left behind to cherish included her mother, father, and brother James, her niece Louemma Blankenship and her niece's two baby girls-Rachel who was only 2-years-old and Cara who only lived a single day.  Little Cara's mother was so ill from the flu that it induced a premature labor that her body just wasn't developed enough to endure.   

John C. Hopson and Eliza Robinett Marriage Record

First Marriage

17-year-old Eliza grew smitten with John C. Hopson, the son of Littleton Hopson and Mary Emmaline Brummitt of North Carolina.  Soon the couple found themselves with a baby on the way and knew what they had to do.  On Aug 20, 1901 Eliza and John made their way to Logan County, West Virginia to be married.  Six months later, they welcomed their first child, Marshall.  Together they would go on to have five more children: Theodore Roosevelt, Julia, William, Madelia, and Lona.

Eliza and John raised their family in a modest home on the Sandy River in Panther, West Virginia.  Eliza spent her days as a homemaker, taking care of the children and tending to the chores of the home.  While he was a learned man, capable of reading and writing, John made sure his family was taken care of by working the land outside their home into a farm.  According to the 1910 Census, the couple lived on a "rented, free, farm."  I assume that means they didn't own the land but were free to live there and work just the same.  

John didn't just grow corn for eating and selling at the local farmer's market.  No, he fermented those dried kernels into a fine mash and peddled his liquid fire.  He wasn't merely an entrepreneur, he was a fan of the drink himself.  He had once spent time in jail for manufacturing moonshine during his bachelor days.  He must not have liked his accommodations, though, because as soon as the opportunity to escape presented itself, he and a cousin did just that.  Sure, he was apprehended and had to finish serving his sentence but the punishment proved to be moot.  Once a free man, John went back to making and drinking his good ol' mountain dew.  His thirst for spirits eventually caught up with him and he died from a heart attack in association with alcohol abuse on Sept 5, 1912.  He left 28-year-old Eliza widowed with six children under the age of 10 to care for.

Second Marriage

Two years after the death of John, Eliza married again.  This time the groom of her choice was Basil Lester, the son of Elisha and Melvina Lester.  Like Eliza, Basil was recently widowed when his wife of 13 years, Eveline Hackney, suddenly passed away on June 23, 1913 from unknown causes. Her passing came just one month after the death of their infant son, Clell.  The loss of his wife put a lot of pressure on Basil because among the other children she left behind was a three year-old old baby girl who very much needed the nurturing care of a mother's touch.  When Eliza married Basil, she committed herself to raising 12-year-old Hettie, 9-year-old Nelson, 7-year-old Paris, and 3-year-old Nettie as her own.  With Basil, Eliza went on to have five more sons and daughters:  Sie, Basil Jr., Zelia, Isaac, and  Bassie-a baby girl who was stillborn in 1923.  The final headcount of kids living in the Lester home was 14.

Basil and Eliza settled their large brood into a home on Knox Creek in Pike County, Kentucky.  As she was accustomed, Eliza spent her days caring for the home and kids while her husband worked.  Basil, too, made a living as a farmer; and, also like John, he was awfully fond of his corn.  Some might argue that Basil cared for his corn a little too much.  

Details about what happened are hazy but this much of the story is known:  On Aug 10, 1930, Basil Lester was housed at the Pike County Jail on the charge of killing Pharoah Robinett, Eliza's brother.  Pharoah's body had been found at approximately 4:00am, shot dead with a gunshot wound.  Naturally, Basil denied killing his brother-in-law.  He told authorities that at the time of the shooting, he and Pharoah had been out in the field keeping watch for thieves because corn had recently gone missing from his farm. "We went to the field before dark.  I had a shotgun.  I don't believe Robinett had any gun. About 4 o'clock we parted ways at my garden. He started down the hill.  I turned up and was going up the hill home.  When I had gone about 100 yards I heard a gunfire and heard someone holler.  I did not know he was killed.  I was afraid to go back-afraid I would be killed."  Basil said, "Learning that they accused me of the shooting, I sent my son Nelson for Deputy Sheriff J. H. Wolford and he brought me to jail.  I did not kill Robinett." 

The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky) 04 Mar 1931, Wed. Pg 22

On March 2, 1931, the court hearing for the murder trial convened. During the trial, George Robinett, Pharoah's son testified that he heard his father and uncle arguing out behind their house. He said he heard his uncle curse his father and tell him to get on up the hill with his father subsequently pleading to be allowed to go home. George said he heard his uncle say, "You threw a gun on me before and now I've got you!" Minutes later, the victim's son heard a blast and the sound of his father's voice crying out. Sadly, Pharoah was dead before his son made it out of the house and down the hill where he lay. Having just heard his uncle and father in a dispute and the following gunshots, George felt in his gut that it was his uncle who had killed his father.  It was George who reported his uncle to the authorities and got the warrant for his arrest.  Sallie Robinett-Lester, Basil's own daughter-in-law and the niece of his wife and Pharoah, the victim, testified that he had borrowed the shotgun and four cartridges the day before the shooting and returned two cartridges the day of the shooting-which would have been after Pharoah had already been killed.  Witnesses said two shots were definitely heard that night but the sounds came from two separate directions.  They also spoke of a moonshine still near the area where the shooting took place and the attorney for the defense made a statement that the two men were at a still when the altercation took place but that the shooting was an accident.  His statement was far different than the one Lester originally gave police which said he merely heard the shot like everyone else and had no idea Robinett had been shot.  

Basil received a life sentence for murdering Pharoah Robinett; however, The life sentence was commuted to an eight-year sentence by Gov. Ruby Lafoon on Aug 27, 1935.  The governor cited that the sentence was lowered because clemency had been recommended by the trail judge, John Noland and the Robinett family.  Having already served five years, this made him eligible for release by 1939.

A Long Four Years

A lot happened for Liza in that four-year span.  She went from finding herself seated in a courtroom, torn between defending her husband and wanting justice for her slain brother to looking across the dinner table at an empty chair seated next to the faces of the children he left behind in her care when he chose to take her brother's life.  Basil's children from his first wife were motherless and had nowhere to go.  Liza had been their mother.  She took Basil's children to raise when she married him.  Her home was their home.  While he served time behind bars for taking a life that was important to her, she was at home feeding and caring for the many lives that were important to him. When the murder took place, most of the children they had from their previous marriages were grown and living out of the house but there were still four children in the home needing cared for: Zelia (15yr), Sie (12yr), Isaac (8yr), and Basil Jr. (3yr).  Liza was now the bread-winner and did what she needed in order to keep the farm going enough to care for her family.

On June 26, 1936, Eliza was hit once more with tragedy.  Her 26-year-old daughter from her first marriage, Maydelia, had died.  The cause of death was toxic adenoma and nephritis. Toxic adenoma is when a single thyroid nodule produces excess thyroid hormones, causing hyperthyroidism. Thyroid dysfunction affects the renal system so her adenoma likely caused the nephritis, which is a condition that causes kidneys to become inflamed, unable to function properly.  Rapid weight loss and swollen feet kept Maydelia tired and in pain.  She was married with three children at the time and certainly had depended on her mother for help caring for herself at times as well as taking care of the kids.  Eliza helped as best she could but there was nothing she could do to save her daughter.  She had to endure the pain of watching her wither away.  Maydelia's youngest two children, her sons John and Acie belonged to her husband Willie Pack; But, her oldest child-her daughter Emma Scarberry was the result of adulterous affair with a married man whom could not take her in to raise.  For whatever reason, it was decided that the daughter wouldn't continue living with her stepfather.  Liza took the necessary steps through the court system and legally adopted her granddaughter. 

Only a short year later, Eliza found herself making funeral arrangements once again. On August 28, 1937 her baby brother Sy Robinette was killed tragically in an automobile accident that resulted in a fractured skull. Eight months later, Eliza's daughter Zelia died as a result of encephalitis or swelling of the brain on . She was only 23-years-old. And six months after that heartbreak, Eliza's brother Marshall died from luetic meningitis, more commonly known as swelling of the brain due to sexually transmitted syphilis.

On April 22, 1940, Eliza was reported by the census enumerator as the head of the household, married but not living with the spouse.

Death and Burial

Eliza Robinett's Death Certificate

She died on May 14, 1965, in Majestic, Kentucky, at the age of 81 from myocardial infarction.  She was buried at the Frank Robinette Cemetery in Stopover, Kentucky.

Freaky Fact

Zelia Lester's Death Certificate

The 1940 Census shows Basil living in a home on Feds Creek in Pike County, Kentucky with his daughters Nettie and Hettie as well as his son-in-law William Robinett and several teenaged and young-adult grandchildren. Notice Eliza is not living in the house with them although she is quite alive and well at the time. This caught my attention and made me look closer.  On that census Basil is listed as "divorced."  As I searched through more documents and read through the fine print I discovered something else that caught my attention.  On another census record Eliza is listed as widowed.  This left me scratching my head because Basil was clearly alive and well at the time, even if he was living in a different house.  I searched some more and then I found something very interesting. On her daughter Zelia's death certificate Zelia's parents are listed as Basil Lester and Eliza Robinett; however, the informant's name is written as "Mrs. Eliza Hopson."  

As it turned out, upon the murder of her brother by her husband, Eliza not only divorced Basil Lester but she changed her surname.  She did not change it back to her maiden name but rather to the last name of her first husband although he had been dead for thirty years. That spoke volumes.  She could have kept the Lester name and just considered herself divorced or she could have taken back her maiden name, Robinett, and been considered divorced; but, instead she reclaimed the surname Hopson and with the use of the prefix "Mrs." she became the widow of John C. Hopson once more.  It was as if, with the mark of a pen, she attempted to erase every connection she had to her brother's killer. "

That's nice in theory," I thought, "but it couldn't be that simple when you had four children with that man.  You had to have something to do with him  whether you liked it or not." ... Or did she?  Maybe she didn't.  Maybe she distanced herself from her children, too.  That would explain why two of their children (and a handful of grandchildren) lived in the home with Basil in 1940 rather than with Eliza. But would children do that?  Leave the comfort of their loving mother's home to live with a murderer?  I'm sure a person would if the person who pulled the trigger is your father- the only person you see when you look at them is still "Daddy"; and, if you've not seen him for years, it's possible you might move in with them to make up for lost times.

I'll never know my great-great grandma Eliza's whole story. I will always have questions about new things I learn about her and I will always get lost in little fantasies about the things I don't know. What I do know is that despite a life of heartbreak, she sure had a lot of love to give. 

Sources

West Virginia, Marriages Index,1785-1971; Ancestry.com

Sortedbyname.com

"Kentucky Death Records, 1911-1965," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSR8-RPWC?cc=1417491 : 15 September 2019), > image 1 of 1; Office of Vital Statistics, Frankfort.


"Lúes Congénita." Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine. 2008. The Gale Group, Inc. 2 Jul. 2021 https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/L%C3%BAes+Cong%C3%A9nita