Chloe's Paternal Grandfather was Peter Robison. Her Paternal grandmother was Mary Ann Ashley. Her Maternal grandfather was Rufus Pack, and her maternal grandmother was Jane Robison. Mary Ashley's father was Richard Ashley. Her mother was Elizabeth Hughes Ashley.


One of the smartest things James Abbott ever did was to marry Chloe Robison. He loved her dearly, and was always patting her, singing love songs to her and calling her "Lassie." They often sat together on the loveseat with Jim's arm around Chloe or holding her hand. Although the two were very different, they complemented each other, bringing a sense of peace, happiness and love into their home.
Chloe was a good manager. She was adept at managing the home. Everyone in town thought Jim was making a lot more money than they were. During the depression, Chloe couldn't afford to buy shoes, so she made them out of denim and beaded the toes. She would buy a whole bolt of muslin and make attractive dresses for the girls. She bottled hundreds of quarts of fruit and vegetables from their large garden. By this time some of the older girls had married and moved away. They, especially Bertie, would send home clothes they didn't need any more. Chloe would skilfully adapt the clothes to make new ones for the younger children. When other families in town received welfare during the depression, none was given to the Abbotts because everyone assumed they were rich. As far as the children knew, there was no depression; they had what they needed in their family, the same as they had always had. Jim and Chloe knew that they could have used some help and knew that they made no more money than the other families in town.

Chloe had a reputation as an excellent cook. Whenever the General Authorities came to Bunkerville to visit, she always fed them. One General Authority said, "We'd rather have Sister Abbott's fried potatoes than all the steak in the world." She would cut up tiny pieces of potato, fry them in lard and sprinkle 2 or 3 teaspoons of sugar on them. The potatoes were brown, beautiful and delicious.

Every 2 day she baked fifteen loaves of bread.. When the neighbors sent their children over to borrow a loaf of bread, she would say, "tell your mother she doesn't have to pay it back," because she didn't want anyone else's bread. Her fried potatoes, bread, sweet butter, cakes and wonderful food contributed to more than the family's nourishment, however, as Chloe, in various accounts, is referred to as a"queen-sized, lovable grandma."

Chloe always had a quilt on frames and her daughters and granddaughters learned to quilt form her. During the Summer, they would set up a quilt on the back lawn and sit there in the shade and quilt and visit. They would often get a quilt done every day.

In contrast to Jim's gregarious, outgoing dispostition, Chloe was quiet and reserved. She was content to stay in the background, taking care of her family. People would confide in her, knowing that she would not betray a confidence. Many times while she sat quilting, someone would say, "Aunt Clo, you've never said a word," and she would reply, "I'm a good listener." She avoided gossip or saying anything unkind about others.

As a result, she was frequently upset at the treatment Jim received from others in town. Some of the time her tears were for herself. She told her Grandson Dan's wife, Delores, that people would tease her about having 14 children, saying, "Did you say your name was Abbott or Rabbitt?"

The unkindness of neighbors did not stop them from coming to the abbott home, where they were always fed and welcomed. Jim and Chloe never turned anyone away.

Jim would tend to verbally correct and redirect a disobedient child, but Chloe used more direct action. The children all hoped that their father would be the one to punish them and not their mother. She would send them out to get their own pomegranate willow, then proceed to apply it to their backsides. At times, two children caught in the same wrong would go off after Chloe's punishment to compare welts. When Jim did resort to the willow he only gave them a couple of half-hearted swats on the behind. Jean summed it up by saying, "Oh yeah, we danced many a tune to the pomegranate willow." We got many a lickin' but also got away with plenty."

Chloe was a good nurse. During and influenza epidemic, she went day and night to the homes of others, nursing and comforting them. Once, when three of the children had measles at the same time, she put all three in the same bed so that she could take care of them and lessen the chance of transmission to others in the family. She delivered many babies, particularly her own grandchildren, then stayed with them in the home to help out for a week.

It appears that the only source of conflict between Jim and Chloe was based on religion,if indeed there was any conflict. Chloe rarely attended church on Sunday, while Jim and the children were faithfully there each week. When she did attend she complained of the common sacrament mug and the dirty men with dirty birds drinking from it before her.

Her daughters excused her lack of attendance because she was home preparing the meal. On Sundays, relatives filled the house for dinner. During this period in the Church it was not uncommon as mothers rarely went to church meetings when their children were small. Though she didn't go herself she stayed up late on Saturday nights getting the shoes and clothes ready for the children to wear the next day.

Chloe's language was another problem. Jim would never utter a swear word, he would get upset when she peppered her conversation with swear words occassionally. Perhaps the biggest irritation, though was Chloe's coffee habit. She enjoyed coffee dearly and loved to dunk her toast in it. She thought there was nothing to take the place of a good cup of coffee. Jim often chided her about it. Before he died he told her that if she didn't quit drinking her coffee he wasn't going to come get her when she died.

Near the end of her life, Chloe finally did quit. She was critically ill at Dixie Pioneer Memorial Hospital in St. George and had not been allowed to have any coffee. Two or three years previously she had moved to St. George to live with her daughter Marvel. She had been in the hospital for a hysterectomy and subsequently suffered a stroke that took her life.

Chloe had been sleeping in the hospital with one of her daughters seated at the bedside. Chloe woke up, raised her head and looked toward the corner of the room and said, "Tom, what are you doing here? Where's Jim?" Then she turned a little and said, "Oh, Jim, I'm so glad you came," She laid back down and died shortly afterward at age 81, thus ending her fourteen year wait to be with Jim.

("Tom, we assume, was Jim's half-brother, who had died in 1948)

- By Ronald B. McIntire