Frances Robinson Mitchell Papers

Frances Robinson Mitchell, born in 1924, was the daughter of Lawrence Robinson and Geneva Steen Robinson. Mrs. Mitchell's family, the Robinsons, were involved in logging and lumbering in Maine and owned Sherman Lumber Company in Sherman Station, Maine. Frances Robinson attended Ricker Classical Institute in Houlton, Maine and enrolled in the University of Maine in 1942, attending for two years. She then served for two years in the U.S. Marine Corps Women's Reserve. She married Raymond Mitchell in 1947. In 1989 Mrs. Mitchell published a book, "Experiencing the Great Depression and World War II." She served as treasurer of the East Branch Land Company at its incorporation in 1973 and assumed a full time role in the company in 1979.

Frank L. Robinson, grandfather of Frances Robinson Mitchell and the first member of the family to work in the lumber business, had a long and varied career. Prior to starting his own business, he used his talent in setting up mill machinery at mills in Caribou, Maine; Salmon River, New Brunswick; and Alpena, Michigan. His first business of his own was a shingle mill in Palmyra, Maine, after which he built a portable mill at a site in Sherman Station in 1894 and bought a store there in 1898. In 1901 he built a mill in Columbia Falls and purchased a store and office along with blueberry barrens and timberland there. In 1907 Frank Robinson and his son Walter built a mill, office, boarding house and barn in Sherman Station; Sherman Lumber Company was incorporated that year. Three Robinson brothers, Lawrence, Walter and John, were partners with their father in the business. After their father's death in 1930, the three brothers shared duties in Sherman Lumber. During the Depression Lawrence also diversified into raising seed potatoes; money earned from this venture enabled the family to buy forestland, accumulating some 16, 000 acres. Lawrence became president of Sherman Lumber after the death of his brother Walter and remained so until he sold his interest in the company in the 1970s. He and other family members incorporated the East Branch Land Company, a timberlands and logging business, in 1973. Lawrence Robinson died in 1980.