The Journals of Robert Hall Tinker, 1870-1901

"But may be some sister or lover may pursue these pages some day with pleasure. It is with the belief that this book will have a circulation that I dot so elegantly these narrow lines." - Robert Hall Tinker This is the second in a series of journals written by Robert Hall Tinker (1836 - 1924). Volume 2, 1870-1901, covers his marriage to Mary Dorr Manny and their honeymoon in the Hawaiian Islands, his return trip to Europe, and his business enterprise in Colorado. In this volume Mr. Tinker describes life as adventurous but not always cheerful. The journals describe how Robert feels after learning about his mother's passing and the daily agonizing pain inflicted on his sister-in-law Hannah before her illness culminates in her own death. The journals end as Mr. Tinker loses his left foot in a train accident and the tragic death of his wife, Mary, on September 4, 1901. Mr. Robert Hall Tinker (1836-1924) was born in the Sandwich Islands (modern Hawai'i) on the last day of 1836. His parents, Reuben and Mary Tinker, were missionaries in Hawaii throughout the 1830s and returned to the United States in 1840. Robert spent most of his childhood in Westfield, New York. In 1856 he moved to Rockford, Illinois to work at the Manny Reaper Company where he became a successful businessman and the future mayor of Rockford. Inspired by the architecture of Switzerland during a trip to Europe, Mr. Tinker designed a Swiss-style chalet on a bluff overlooking Kent Creek in Rockford. While working at the Manny Reaper Company, Mr. Tinker eventually fell in love with and married the widow Manny (Mary Dorr-Manny) in 1870. The Tinker family was prominent in the community and they lived a happy life until the death of Mary in 1901. Mr. Tinker eventually married his wife's niece Jessie Dorr and they lived in "Tinker's Cottage" with their adopted son Theodore until Robert's death in 1924. Mr. Tinker's Cottage still stands today as a museum and as a monument to the history of Rockford.