Item Detail
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Seager, Mary Robinson
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1874-1942
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MSS SC 3057
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Biography
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Mary Robinson Seager was born on April 27, 1874 to parents Harriet Vilate Pitkin and William Kennedy Robinson in Logan, Utah. Her mother and stepfather, Charles Burtis raised Mary in Logan. Mary was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in May of 1882 by O.J. Larsen and then later baptized by her stepfather on December 7, 1893. She received her patriarchal blessing on September 27, 1886. In 1890 Mary went to the first year of existence for The Logan Agricultural College. In the fall of 1892 Mary met Orin Austin Seager. Mary Robinson attended the dedication of the Salt Lake Temple from April 6th to May 18th 1893. On December 27, 1893 Mary Robinson and Orin Austin Seager were sealed in the Logan temple. Their first child, LaRue Robinson, was born on October 18, 1894 and their second daughter, Irene, on December 6, 1896. In September of 1897 the family moved to help settle Cardston, Alberta, Canada. Their first son, Orin Burtis was born on March 22, 1900, but died when he was three weeks old of pneumonia. Their fourth child was born on September 26, 1901. In 1906 the family moved from Cardston to LaGrande, Oregon and two months later to Logan, Utah. On March 17, 1907 the family bought a farm in Tremonton, Utah. Three children were born between the years 1906-1910. Their last child was born on February 6, 1914. In 1929 their daughter Irene was killed in an automobile accident so Mary raised five of her children in her home. In 1941 Mary was crippled in an automobile accident and in 1955 had to have her right leg amputated. The couple moved from Tremonton to Salt Lake City in 1944 so Orin could do genealogy work. Mary Robinson Seager died March 1, 1962 of cancer.
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Part of the Orin Austin Seager collection, located in second section of a plastic bound volume entitled, "Orin Austin Seager and Mary Robinson, Settlers of Cardston, Alberta, Canada in 1897, settlers of Elwood, Utah in 1905," written by their granddaughter Karen Seager Segalla. The biography is 40 typed pages. The papers discuss some of Mary's childhood, including canyon trips, theaters, circuses, and parades. Mary was also one of the first students to be enrolled in what is presently Utah State University. When the family moved to Canada the family struggled to make it through the cold winters and the bad crops, but Mary loved the people in Cardston, especially Zina Young Card. Within the collection there are three photographs of Mary as well as deeds to land that the family owned.