The Last Colony of Snohomish Departs
A mother chooses her family over a religious sect’s move to California, pulling her children from the train at the final moment.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A dramatic incident at the station marked the departure of the remnant of the Robinson religious colony for Monrovia, California. Just before the train which was to carry the colonists to Seattle pulled out, A. Bickford, to prevent the breaking of his family circle, grabbed his baby from his wife's arms and told her that if she followed the colonists she must do so without the child. She gave up her trip and Bickford returned home, accompanied by the crestfallen woman and their four children. The last remnant of the colony, which, for some years past, has had a hazardous existence on a dairy farm two miles from Snohomish, departed yesterday.
“A. Bickford, to prevent the breaking of his family circle, grabbed his baby from his wife's arms.”
Religious colonies were a fixture of Pacific Northwest history, often seeking communal isolation on the rural fringe. This story captures the immense personal pressure families faced when communal zealotry collided with the realities of domestic life.
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