Person Page 3,431

Eldridge G Robertson^1,2

Facts and Notes

• Birth: ScotlandBGO
• Death: 9 November 1864; Elkhorn, Fresno County, California, USABGO; Murdered (see Person Note)^3,4,5

• Note: The murder of E. G. Robertson was committed on the morning of 9 November 1864 by the Mason-Henry gang, according to the Martinez News-Gazette. A paper published by Phil Reader in 1991 indicates that the gang was made up of southern sympathizers who were incensed following the re-election of Abraham Lincoln. Robertson was a strong union supporter and ran a way station at Elkhorn on the Butterfield Line stage route linking Los Angeles to Sacramento. Robertson supposedly held a party at the station celebrating Lincoln’s re-election and made remarks slurring the morals of Southern women. The gang got word of Robertson’s comments and confronted him the following day as he returned from work in a nearby field. He denied making the comments, but the gang members murdered him anyway.
  
  Eldridge Robertson’s saga did not end with his death. The court case initiated by Robertson’s children alleges that his business partner, Cuthbert Burrell, swindled the family out of their share of the business. They sued the Burrell estate for $1,000,000, which they say their portion of the original business would have been worth in 1895.
  
  Note 1: Phil Reader’s paper identifies the victim as George Robinson from Maine. However, the wanted notice published in the Martinez News-Gazette clearly identifies the man as E. G. Robertson. Articles about the court case involving the children of Eldridge Robertson confirm he was murdered on 9 November near Elkhorn, although they do not mention the Mason-Henry gang. Phil Reader might also have gotten his origin wrong because Eldridge’s daughter, Esther Phelps, claimed in the 1880 Federal Census that her father was from Scotland.
  
  Note 2: The connection between Eldridge G. Robertson and Esther Phelps is based on the San Francisco article of 17 June 1895, which names “Esther Phelps” as one of Eldridge’s children. However, whether this is the same Esther Phelps who married Orville B. Phelps cannot be conclusively proved. Find-A-Grave indicates that the name of Esther’s father was J.W. “Tod” Robertson, a California pioneer of 1857 who was prominent in the stock business on King’s River. Unfortunately, the Find-A-Grave information is unsourced and did not provide any evidence to support their claim.

Citations

1. [S362] Online database, Find A Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/103915381/esther_eva-viola-phelps, database and images, memorial page for Esther Eva Viola Robertson Phelps (unknown–24 Oct 1896), Find a Grave Memorial ID 103915381, citing Vandalia Cemetery, Porterville, Tulare County, California, USA; Maintained by Scott Hayes (contributor 47380085); accessed 11 November 2023.
2. [S397] Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1880 United States Federal Census, https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=6742&h=16225625&indiv=try, Year: 1880; Census Place: Stayton, Marion, Oregon; Roll: 1082; Page: 166B; Enumeration District: 088, Record for Orvill B. Phelps
3. [S36] Newspaper article, https://www.newspapers.com/image/745370271, Martinez News-Gazette (Martinez, California), "Description of John Mason and Jim Henry," Saturday, 31 Dec 1864, Page 2
4. [S36] Newspaper article, https://www.newspapers.com/image/529272416, Daily Delta (Visalia, California), "The Suit Ended," Thursday, 18 Oct 1894, Page 2
5. [S36] Newspaper article, https://www.newspapers.com/image/457621985, The San Francisco Examiner (San Francisco, California), "Kept His Partner's Share," Monday, June 17, 1895, page 2