Gerald Dawson Robison Later Known As "Shorty"

Having already told of my Grandpa Gerald, and his being born in Doniphan, Missouri, the same hometown as my father in-law, Dan Hanners. I thought it good to include here pictures of my grandpa's growing up days. He was born in Doniphan, but his father, Lester Ernest Robison, was an engineer out of the railroad Depot in Poplar Bluff, Butler Co., Missouri, a town east of Doniphan. They lived just a short way from the Depot.

Here he is in his baby buggy.

Here he is in his little dresses, (and with his mother, Nellie Mae Ponder-Robison), which made many think it was pictures of his younger sister Bernice, but such is not the case. Little boys wore dresses in those days, and the hair is far to light to be pictures of Bernice.

Here he is with his father, Lester Ernest Robison, and mother, Nellie Mae Ponder-Robison.

I do wish this picture was better, but it is the only copy I have.

Since his grandparents, William Tehcumseh Sherman Robison & Emma Ellen McDandel-Robison, lived near Doniphan, I can't help thinking that this could have been their house he is coming out of, or it could be his parents home in Inola, Rogers Co., Oklahoma.  Don't you just love his little button up shoes?!

This is the saddest picture of Gerald and his mother Nellie and sister Bernice. I believe it was taken soon after the death of his father, who died at age 23, on September 17, 1914, when Gerald was but five years old. They had been living in Inola, Rogers Co., Oklahoma, at the time his father died. After his death, Nellie took her two young children, and moved back to Doniphan, to be near her family. There she married again, to Edwin Russell Knickerbocker, Sr., and had a son Edwin, Jr.

Here they are, back in Doniphan. Bernice, Nellie, and Gerald Robison.

Bernice, Nellie, & Gerald Robison c.1918 Doniphan, Missouri.

Dig the outfits!