Ida's story: Coming to the canal, meeting Vincent Finch

In 1872, 9-year-old Ida Robbins traveled by ship with her parents from Maine to California to reunite with family members. Her father was ship Captain George Robbins, who hauled cargo up and down the West Coast. Robbins became particularly impressed with Hood Canal, and around 1878 he gave up the seafaring life and moved his family to the west side of the canal, where they became the first white settlers in the area.

About that same time, Vincent Finch came from New York to the Washington Territory, found lodging with the Robbins family, and became attracted to Ida. Even though Vincent was nearly twice her age, Ida married him in 1880. The newlyweds purchased 40 acres on the canal adjacent to the creek that flowed past the Robbins' house, and Ida's father built them an eight-room home.

Ida gave birth to the couple's first child, a boy named Emery, in 1881. Her mother, Hattie, assisted at the birth. Shortly after her grandson was born, Hattie died while visiting her parents in California and was buried in Stockton. When Ida's second son, Sydney, was born, she had the assistance of a local Skokomish woman. Ida stayed with a friend in Seattle for the birth of her third child, Lawrence, who died shortly after he was born.

Vincent worked at a series of small logging camps along the canal, sometimes being away from home for up to two weeks. When he worked at Miller's Creek, not far from Hoodsport, Ida and her dog would walk down the beach at low tide to visit him and put in a grocery order at the camp cook house. She would catch the tugboat coming from Port Gamble for the trip back to Hoodsport.

Ida returned to Seattle for the birth of her fourth child, Albion, a healthy boy. Around this time, she and Vincent applied for a 160-acre government Donation Claim next to the 40 acres they owned. To prove up on their claim, they moved back to the original Robbins four-room home up the creek, leaving their big house empty. Skokomish people traveling by on the canal would sometimes shelter there for a night, and Ida would often find a salmon or a bucket of clams or blackberries left for her on the porch.

Ida's fifth child, Harrison, was born in 1888. In early spring, 1890, the Finches, James McReavy and Jack Dow made plans to form a town out of the Finch's 200 acres to the north and McReavy's claim to the south. On the first day of August 1890, Vincent and Ida traveled to Shelton and signed a certificate naming their property Hoodsport and dedicating the streets and alleys to the public forever. A post office was established in the Finch home, with Vincent as postmaster, and Ida had another baby - this time a girl, Hazel.

In 1897, Vincent kissed his family goodbye and headed to the Yukon gold fields. Even though she was again pregnant, Ida gave her blessing, believing he would come back with their financial future assured. With Vincent away, Ida was appointed postmaster, with son Sidney as deputy. She was not very happy about that because as she was already caring for her children, including 4-month-old baby Robert, livestock, bees, garden and orchard. Measles hit the community - including Ida's children - in 1900. Alone and without a doctor she nursed them all back to health. Meanwhile, Vincent wrote that he planned to stay in the Yukon for three or four more years. By then, when writing to relatives in Maine and California, Ida was referring to her husband as "Mr. Finch" rather than "my hubby," which she had called him in earlier years.

Ida's father had remarried after his wife's death. When his second wife died in 1903, Ida became responsible for his care. She also took in travelers who needed a place to stay, and she seldom had fewer than 10 people to cook for. In 1904, she was able to give up her duties as postmaster, which left her enough extra time to start a Sunday school for local children, in partnership with her friend Alice Dow.

In 1908, Ida's oldest child, Emery, now a forest ranger, became the first person to be married in Hoodsport when he wed Mabel Peterson at the Finch family home. Ida prepared an elegant wedding supper for her son and his bride.

In 1909, Ida received word that Vincent had traded his mining claims for fruit orchards in Penticton, B.C., and that he would return home as soon as he could to fetch his wife. Ida, now 46 years old and with only Robert still at home, was not happy about the idea of pioneering again in another country with a husband she hadn't seen in 12 years. Nevertheless, with the prospect in mind, she decided they no longer needed their large home on the canal and traded it to Mary Jane Dickinson for land in Seattle, while retaining the Robbins home on the creek and the property where Captain Robbins had once had his store and boat building shop.

The reunion between Ida and Vincent, in 1910, did not go well and he returned to Canada alone. Son Albion, who had moved to Canada to help his father in the orchards, came home for a visit and convinced his brother Sidney to go back to Penticton with him. Sidney packed a small bag and told Ida he would be back in a couple of weeks, but it would be 31 years before he saw Hoodsport again.

To be continued...

■ Jan Parker is a researcher for the Mason County Historical Museum. She can be reached at [email protected]. Membership in the Mason County Historical Society is $25 per year. For a limited time, new members will receive a free copy of the book "Shelton, the First Century Plus Ten."