Son of John Robert Haslam and Margaret Howarth

Married Esther Catherine Williams, 30 Jun 1881, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah

Children - Robert Willams Haslam, Evan Haslam, John Howarth Haslam, Sarah Haslam, William Nugent Haslam, Hettie Ann Haslam, Margaret Mary Haslam, Clarissa Haslam, Byron Haslam, Leone Esther Haslam, David Jeremy Haslam

History - Robert Howarth Haslam was the first child born to John R. Haslam and Mary Howarth, natives of Bury, Lancashire, England, who left for the United States on the ship, Ellen Maria, sailing January 10, 1853, bound for New Orleans. They were among the Mormon pioneers that crossed the plains in 1853 with the Cyrus Wheelock company, arriving in Salt lake City, Utah on October 15, 1853.

Esther Catherine Williams was born May 27, 1857 in Llanegwad, Carmarthenshire, Wales, to Evan Williams and Sarah Jeremy. The Williams family left Wales on April 9, 1861, sailing from Liverpool, England on April 16, 1861 on the packet ship, Manchester, under the direction of Claudius V Spencer. They arrived in New York on May 18, 1861, having with them their children, Thomas Jeremy, Mary, William Nugent, Sarah Jane, David Jeremy, Esther Catherine and Ann.

That same year their company with ox teams, started across the plains, and all walked that were able to do so, including four year old Catherine.Their mother, Sarah, became ill when they reached Florence, Nebraska, and the little family was forced to stay there for six weeks; so the balance of the company went on without them. During this period Evan Williams began to understand the Gospel, accepted it and was baptized. They journeyed on with the next company, and when they reached the Sweetwater in Wyoming, little three year old Ann died of Scarlet Fever.

A son, John, was born and buried while they were on their journey west. The family arrived in Salt lake City on September 23, 1861 in the last ox team company, under the direction of Captain Ansel P. Harmon. It was also known as the John W. Young Company.

John R. Haslam built a small adobe home at Sixth West between Second and Third North Streets. Robert Howarth was born the 15th of August 1854 , even before the roof was on their little home, and he often told how they had to move the bed from one side of the room to the other in an attempt to shield mother and babe from the hot August sun.

Robert Howarth Haslam was one of seven children, having six brothers and sisters. He also had six half brothers and sisters. Little is known of his childhood years, but as a young man, he became a carpenter by trade, working for the company of Asper & Noall for many years, as did his brother, John William.

Robert met Esther Catherine Williams, whom he courted for about three years, and they were married the 30th of June, 1881, in the Old Endowment House in Salt Lake City. Robert built their first home at 244 North Fifth West where they went as bride and groom. He had left the carpenter trade, had gone into partnership with Charles Hill in a store located at First North near Fourth West Street. At a later date, he and some of his brothers, started a grocery business uptown, but he, finally using his carpenter experience, built a butcher shop and grocery store in front of one side of his home and went into business for himself. There were two or three bedrooms, a parlor, dining room, and kitchen in the home. As his family increased in size, he built three more bedrooms over the store. There was no indoor plumbing. There was an outhouse. It was years before a bathroom was built into the house.

Eleven children were born to Robert Howarth and Esther Catherine Williams Haslam. The children in order of their births are Robert Williams, Evan, John Howarth, Sarah, William Nugent, Hettie Ann, Margaret Mary, Clarissa, Byron, Leone Esther, and David Jeremy. They also added to their family in 1905 a grand daughter, Esther Sarah, six months old, who was left motherless through the death of their daughter-in-law, Miriam Taylor Haslam, of Bright’s Disease and Scarlet Fever.

Esther Catherine was a hard-working mother in her home as was her husband in the store. She was also a woman of high principles and great faith. Her hospitality was shared by all who knew her. Anyone coming into the home for a chat or afternoon visit was invited to partake of whatever food was available at the time, whether it was a large meal already prepared for the family, or a small hastily prepared lunch of cold meats, cheese, milk and bread.

Aunt Mary Jeremy had a house on the corner of 5th West and 2nd North. My mother looked after many of the needs of Aunt Mary. We children used to run errands for her also. Because of my mother’s goodness to her, Aunt Mary left her home to mother when she died. My father and mother had the house torn down as it was very old. In 1913 father built a lovely nine room home and a duplex on that corner. Dave and Erma lived in the duplex for some time. The family live in the big house, but when father died, mother and Esther moved into the duplex; Dave and Erma moved into the big house. Their oldest son, Robert Williams Haslam moved into their home at 244 North 5th West when the family moved from 244 North 5th West to the big house.

Several of the children were old enough to help in the business,. Robert H. Haslam was very industrious, working early and late, and his establishment became well known in the community, and was maintained by three of his sons after he retired with Robert Williams, the oldest son, manager and butcher, and his two younger brothers, Byron and David, managed the produce, foods, and mercantile part.

Robert Howarth Haslam was active in the Church, and during the past few years of his life, he worked daily in the Salt lake Temple. He was always ready and willing to do the Lord’s work. Two of his sons were called upon to fill missions for the Church--Robert Williams to England and David Jeremy to the Central States in the United States.

As one daughter, Hettie Ann, wrote, “I remember our family and home life to be very happy and secure. We worked together as a family in all the chores that had to be done around the house helping our mother and helping our father in his store. Our father was a kind, loving father, but he was also very firm in what he expected us as children. There was one thing he would never put up with--sassing our mother. Esther Catherine Haslam was very loving also, but it was a little easier to get favors from her, although she would always abide by what father said. Mother had a black leather strap hanging up on the stairs leading downstairs, and all she needed to do was mention using the strap and we soon straightened right up! Seldom did she have to use it on us.”

“Our little sister, Sarah, died in 1877 when she was only nine months old of the Measles. Our dear brother, William, contracted Diptheria when he was a young, single man of 28 years. The disease paralyzed his throat. He passed away on March 12, 1916. He also had such a high fever with the disease which also helped to cause his death. Our brother, John, left home one day with his friend, the Emertson boy, and it was two years before John came home again, although he kept in touch with the family. He first stayed in Nevada and then went to California, where he learned the carpentry trade which he used the rest of his life.”

“As children we congregated either in the kitchen or in the dining room, doing our studies around the dining room table. There ws no central heating; so we had a stove in the kitchen and dining room, and a heater in the parlor later on. We seldom used the parlor in the winter except for special occasions. I remember when my brother, Evan, paid for the first electrical fixture we ever had in the parlor.”

“Christmas was a special time. We always hung up our stocking and got the wonderful treat of an orange. My brother, Rob, would always put a piece of coal in all of our stockings when he got older. Our first Christmas tree was one brought all the way from Kaysville by Brother Webster. The trip was so long that he always had to stay overnight with us. Our decorations on the tree were candles which we always lit, strings of popcorn, cranberries, and several homemade paper chains.”

Mother had an old washing machine that had to be turned by hand. It had a wooden dolly to hold the clothes. Because it was such hard work, Brother Betts, who was the janitor of the Sixteenth Ward, was hired to turn the washer for mother. He was small of stature, but he was strong, and he would take the handle and turn it right and then left and back again, while he sang hymns the whole time. He knew the batch was done by how many verses he
had sung.”

“Mother always cooked on a cola stove. She never did have any other kind of stove in her entire life. She did not want any other. It had a reservoir on the side, and with this and every kettle in the house, we heated water for our weekly bath on Saturday night. Mother would put a big wash tub between two chairs and fill it with clean water and bathe three or four little ones, empty the water and refill with clean water and start the procedure over again until everyone had a bath.”

House cleaning included lots of hard work on the part of everyone. My brother, John, would get in one corner of a room, and I would be in the other corner. We would clean on our hands and knees until we met in the middle. Mother always made new carpets each year at cleaning time. They were made from old rags that were kept for this purpose. We girls had a lot of ironing to do to help our mother. We had heavy irons that we heated on the coal stove and lifting them wore us out. My father wore butcher aprons in his store every day as he handled the meats. They were made out of white linen. We had to boil them to get them clean. I can remember ironing ten to twelve each week for him.”

"The mode of transportation in those days was either horse and buggy or the streetcars that went down 5th West to town. Because we lived so close to town, we generally walked. On special occasions, we would, as a family, travel in our horse and buggy to Liberty Park for a picnic. Mother would make a huge lunch and pack it in a big wash basket. There was no waxed paper of foil to put the sandwiches or cake in; so she would wrap them in a clean dish towel. My father also had a delivery wagon pulled by a horse to deliver his groceries to his customers. Later there were outings in the family car to such spots as Brighton in Big Cottonwood Canyon, visits to Como Springs, and Saratoga. Seldom if ever, did we have ‘store-bought’ clothes. We shopped at the only good store at that time, ZCMI.”

Because my father had a grocery and meat store, we never went without good meals. Many times on a Saturday night, my father would bring two or three roasts that had been left over, and my mother would line them up in a large roaster and cook them together. Sunday breakfasts were always a delight, with veal chops selected personally from the family store by our father--eggs, home-made graham muffins, etc.”

“My folks were very religious and always went to Church. The gospel meant a lot to them. Because there were always so many little ones at home, with a family of eleven, mother and father would take turns staying home with the little ones, while the other one went to Sacrament Meeting. Because she had too many little babies at one time, Mother could never go to Relief Society, but I remember Rachel Folland, Emily Lewis, and Mrs. Cottam from the 16th ward Relief Society coming over to the house often after their meeting and mother would serve them lunch and they would visit.”

“All of our pleasure and recreation stemmed from our Ward activities. We always went to the Ward picture shows on the week end. The biggest majority of the young people were LDS in those days, and we had much in common. I remember that every single one of our neighbors were LDS also.”

“When father built our new house, that put us in the 28th Ward, and many times we would take the train up Emigration Canyon to the lovely big resort hotel, Pinecrest. We were never able to eat in the hotel, as it was for the rich, but we would look around then eat our picnic out in the canyon. My mother’s brother, William, who ran the Williams Furniture Store next to ZCMI, owned a cabin in Emigration Canyon, and we took trips up there occasionally.”

“In 1927 mother, accompanied by Mary Nebeker, a family friend, grand daughter Esther and her friend, took a trip on the Yellow Stages to Los Angeles to visit her daughter, Clarissa. By today’s accommodations, it left much to be desired, but was quite an eventful trip, and although she was 70 years of age at the time, she withstood the rigors of the forerunner of the Greyhound bus very well, especially the heat of the desert, with wind and sand blowing on through the windows, which had to be kept open for the only air conditioning they had.”

“It was indeed a sad day for the whole family when on the 20th of January, 1930 Robert Howarth Haslam passed away in Salt lake City at the age of 75. He was on the roof of his second-story house shoveling snow off the roof when the stress from shoveling caused him to have a strangulated hernia.”

After Robert Haslam’s death in 1930,his widow and grand daughter, Esther, moved to a small house next door which was also owned by the family where they lived in very comfortable circumstances until Esther Catherine’s death December 28, 1945 at the age of 88.

This devoted couple remained faithful to the Church throughout their lives and brought up their children with a true knowledge of the Gospel.

Information and quotes for this history were taken from the histories of Hettie H. Nelson, daughter, Esther Haslam, granddaughter and edited by Vera Hampshire, granddaughter.