Flower in the River: A Family Tale Finally Told

Margaret Dreier Robins - Voice of Thunder

• Natalie Zett • Season 3 • Episode 96

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It’s time to explore the remarkable life of Margaret Dreier Robins, a powerful yet often overlooked voice in the Eastland disaster narrative. Born into privilege in 1868, Margaret chose to dedicate her life to labor reform and women's rights, becoming a pivotal figure in Chicago's social justice movement.

Key points:

  • Margaret's early life and her transition from New York socialite to social reformer
  • Her work with the Women's Trade Union League and Hull House alongside Jane Addams
  • Her crucial but largely forgotten warnings about the Eastland's dangers before the 1915 disaster
  • The shocking disparity in passenger limits: 143 for regular service vs 2,500 for excursion trips
  • Her fierce advocacy for proper investigation after the tragedy
  • Her tireless work schedule (6 AM to 2 AM) managing both the disaster aftermath and ongoing labor reforms
  •  Margaret’s husband, Raymond Robins, is equally intriguing— particularly his mysterious 1932 disappearance while en route to meet President Hoover. Found two months later in North Carolina living under an assumed name, his story adds another layer to Margaret's already compelling narrative.

 Resources mentioned:

Natalie Zett:

Hello, I'm Natalie Zett and welcome to Flower in the River. This podcast, inspired by my book of the same name, explores the 1915 Eastland disaster in Chicago and its enduring impact, particularly on my family's history. We'll explore the intertwining narratives of others impacted by this tragedy as well, and we'll dive into writing and genealogy and uncover the surprising supernatural elements that surface in family history research. Come along with me on this journey of discovery. Before we dive in, I want to take a moment to acknowledge the devastating fires in California. It's heart-shattering to see the damage and the impact on so many lives, human and other creatures, great and small. So if you're looking for a way to help, I recommend checking out Charity Navigator to find trustworthy organizations that are providing relief. Every little bit makes a difference. Now we're going to move into today's episode. It's Natalie and I want to welcome you to episode 96 of Flower in the River, and we'll start off with a quote has always been the dream of a great, free people With the doors of opportunity swinging wide, open for body, mind and soul to grow untrammeled. Somewhere we closed a door. Now we must find that was not an instagram quote. It was written 80 plus years ago by margaret dreier robins.

Natalie Zett:

Margaret is another person who's fairly well known when it comes to discussing histories of the labor movement or the history of the women's rights movement, but she's not widely known and I'm kind of surprised. And for sure her history with the Eastland disaster is rarely mentioned, and I'm calling today's podcast Margaret Dreier Robins Voice of Thunder, and you're soon going to see why. It's a tale of battles won for working women and a tragedy that shook a city and one woman's relentless fight to transform American labor. So when other people saw only darkness and hopelessness, margaret forged paths to justice. If we go back to 1915 Chicago, we have to step back and remember that at that point it was defined by stark contrasts. There were magnificent mansions that lined the boulevards while working people often crowded into tenements, industrial titans built their empires while laborers fought for basic rights. And in the midst of Chicago we find an unlikely champion of working women, a woman born into privilege who chose to dedicate her life to the labor movement. Margaret was a remarkable figure who bridged the gap between Chicago's social classes and she fought tirelessly for women's rights and labor reform.

Natalie Zett:

She was born into New York's upper class in 1868 and was the daughter of a successful German immigrant businessman. Her mother, who was about 20 years younger than her father, was also a German immigrant, and the entire family were members of the German Evangelical Church of Schermerhorn Street, and that would be the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. The entire family was very socially progressive, and that includes all of Margaret's siblings. Margaret was the firstborn, and you can see the influence of her leadership on the other siblings as well. Margaret could have lived a life of comfort and social gatherings and parties, but instead Margaret chose a different path. At age 19, she chose to venture into Brooklyn Hospital, beginning a lifetime of social reform work that would eventually bring her to Chicago.

Natalie Zett:

Two events that influenced her while she lived in New York were the General Slocum tragedy and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. If you remember, the General Slocum was a ship, and on June 15, 1904, it caught fire and sank in the East River of New York City. At the time of the disaster, the General Slocum was on a chartered run carrying members of St Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church to a church picnic. Sound familiar? Yeah, an estimated 1,021 out of the 1,342 people on board died. A few years later, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire took place on March 11th 1911, and that caused the deaths of 143 people, mostly immigrant women. I've covered both of these stories in previous podcasts and I'll give you links to those in the show notes.

Natalie Zett:

By 1904, margaret had found her calling in the Women's Trade Union League, an organization fighting to improve working conditions for women. A year later she married Raymond Robbins, another social reformer, and together they made their home in Chicago's famous Hull House settlement, working alongside the legendary Jane Addams. Jane Addams was an American social reformer and pacifist and co-winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1931. And she's probably best known as the co-founder of Hull House in Chicago, one of the first social settlements in North America. In Chicago, margaret's leadership abilities really grew. She rose to become the president of the National Women's Trade Union League, a position she would hold for 15 years. Under her guidance, the organization fought for women working in some of the city's most demanding and dangerous industries, from department stores to meatpacking plants. She wasn't afraid to challenge powerful interests, organize strikes and demand better conditions for female workers.

Natalie Zett:

Margaret understood something fundamental about American society that true progress couldn't come from charity alone but required systemic change. She worked to expand trade unionism for women, trained female union leaders and fought for protective labor legislation at both the state and federal levels. Her appointment to the Illinois State Unemployment Commission in 1915 marked a recognition of her expertise and dedication. But in 1915, well, that would prove to be a pivotal year for Margaret and for Chicago itself. As she continued her work for labor reform, she would soon find herself confronting one of the city's greatest tragedies the Eastland disaster. On July 24, 1915, chicago awakened to an unthinkable tragedy. The SS Eastland, an excursion steamer meant to carry Western Electric employees and their families on a pleasant summer outing, capsized while still moored to the dock in the Chicago River. Over 800 passengers and crew members lost their lives, making it one of the greatest maritime disasters in American history. But what made this tragedy even more devastating was its predictability.

Natalie Zett:

For years, margaret and her allies in the women's labor movement had raised alarm bells about unsafe conditions on Lake Michigan's excursion boats. This is from the August 9th 1915 issue of the Chicago Examiner Headline. Women had issued warning on Eastland that the National Women's Trade Union League has been protesting against the instability of lake steamers since 1911, anne has several times informed the members of the League about the instability of the Steamer. Eastland was asserted in an address by Mrs Margaret Robins, president of the National League, at a meeting of the local branch organization yesterday afternoon. The meeting was held on the lawn of Miss Grace Scribner's home, 2523 Park Place, evanston. About 40 members of the League were present.

Natalie Zett:

Mrs Robbins pointed out that members had been warned against traveling on certain lake steamers, and especially the Eastland, since 1911. We have been very active in protesting against the instability of lake steamers, she said, and have sent reports to members about them from time to time. Our latest effort in this line was two weeks ago when we petitioned President Wilson by resolution to see that the persons responsible for the Eastland disaster be punished and a thorough investigation of its causes be made. The president has given assurance that a thorough investigation will be made, which will not only be a benefit to the lake traveling public but to the Union men employed on steamers. The numbers are shocking. As a regular passenger vessel, the Eastland was certified to carry 143 people, but under different regulations for excursion boats staying within five miles of shore, it was permitted to carry over 2,500 passengers. Margaret's frustration with this logic was palpable in her letters.

Natalie Zett:

I want to pause for a moment. I'm still trying to find other articles that corroborate these numbers, but I can say this On the front of my website, wwwflowerintheriver, if you scroll all the way down to the bottom, I have reprinted a letter and the title is here is the Evidence. And it was written by an engineer whose name was John Devereaux York. He sent it to the powers, that be on August 3rd 1913, and he warned about the structural defects of the Eastland and said that a serious accident might happen unless these defects are corrected. And what does it boil down? To A lot of things. I'd like to just reduce everything to greed. It's not just greed, but I'd have to say greed is a big factor in a lot of the things that have happened, and the majority, in fact all of the disasters that I have covered, have been preventable.

Natalie Zett:

So I'm going to read to you a section from a book that I found. It's Margaret , her Life, letters and Work, written by Mary E Dreyer that would be Margaret's younger sister. It was published in 1950 by the Island Press Cooperative in New York and it is in the public domain. So this was five years after Margaret's death in 1945. And what I want to say about that is I discovered this book on Hathatrust. So Hathatrust. It's H-A-T-H-I Trust, t-r-u-s-t, so Hatha Trust. Not sure why they came up with that name, but it's a massive digital library and preservation repository designed to provide long-term access to scholarly material. It was founded in 2008 by a consortium of research libraries to collaborate on digitizing, preserving and sharing books, journals and other academic resources. Again, this one is fairly easy to search on, even though they have so much information. Locate this without a whole lot of effort.

Natalie Zett:

It is a surprise to me that the story of Margaret Dreyer Robbins was omitted from the various books and other sources that talk about the Eastland disaster, because her story is so important. So let's get into this. I'm quoting from Margaret's bio, written by her sister. Margaret was in Chicago when suddenly, in midsummer, a horrible catastrophe befell the city. The steamship Eastland, hired to take excursion parties on Lake Michigan, capsized at the dock with about 2,600 people on board, of whom a large number were children. Many of the dead were her neighbors, which added to the anguish she felt for the bereaved families. The Chicago League met the next day and passed a resolution which laid the blame squarely on the inspection service of the federal government. Quote I must write to send you some word in the midst of this terrible disaster which has befallen Chicago, the city is shocked and dazed. The streets are thronged with thousands of men and women looking for their dead. For the accident occurred in the heart of Chicago. The Eastland was still at her dock and in the river at LaSalle Street, only a few blocks from the Board of Trade and the Great Banking Center. At LaSalle Street, the river is about 300 feet wide and in crossing the bridge you feel you could reach with an outstretched hand the people on the Eastland. To us who have seen the boat in the river, the tragedy seems incredible. Margaret wrote to her sister-in-law, Elizabeth Robbins, on July 26, 1915, quote For years, the Lake Seaman's Union and the Chicago Federation of Labor did everything to protest against the dangers of overcrowding and repeatedly called attention to the rottenness of the ships in use.

Natalie Zett:

In 1911, the Chicago Federation of Labor printed the findings of its committee and circulated it by the thousands, bringing it up to date. In 1913. We wrote repeated letters to Mr E F Sweet, assistant Secretary of Commerce, and finally, in a letter dated June 22, 1914, and finally, in a letter dated June 22, 1914, concluded with these words the overcrowded condition allowed will result in the loss of thousands of lives, even though the boat be tied to the docks. Thank you, the Eastland was known for a cranky ship and was recognized as one of the least safe vessels on the lakes. The Western Electric Company chartered the Eastland and five other lake boats for its picnic for its employees.

Natalie Zett:

As a passenger boat, the Eastland was allowed to carry 143 passengers as an excursion steamer. Outside the five-mile limit she was allowed to carry 600 passengers and within the five-mile limit the site of land is supposed to be such a safeguard to the lives of the passengers. By the decision of the Grand Haven and Chicago government inspectors she was permitted to carry 2,500. Why a ship allowed to carry 143 passengers as a lake steamer is allowed to carry 2,500 passengers as an excursion steamer passes all comprehension. And now that this terrible calamity has come upon us, we are going to investigate, and the investigators are the members of the United States Steamboat Inspection Service, the same men whose criminal negligence made possible this disaster. We are trying to unite all Chicago in the demand that the investigation be conducted by other authorities. Commissioner Redfield has made public the correspondence between him and Mr WH Hall, general manager of the St Joseph and Chicago Steamship Company, owners of the Eastland. This company and the Goodrich Company have been vigorous in their protests against the necessity of the safety requirements of the Siemens bill, stating that the excursion steamers never sail beyond the five-mile limit. The safety requirements were originally to be enforced July 1st, but the company stated this would interfere with their excursion traffic and so no part of the Siemens bill goes into effect till November 4th the five-mile limit.

Natalie Zett:

The Eastland tragedy occurred in the heart of a great city on a mild summer morning, with the elevated trains and streetcars thundering by within a few hundred feet, with small boats all about, a city fire station a few dozen steps distance, the boat still at her dock, and 1,200 people drowned. It strikes me as both significant and strange that Margaret, a historian of the Eastland disaster, saw everything so clearly. Her analysis was precise, unflinching, and yet it never made it into George Hilton's book, for example, which surprises me given his usually meticulous research. In fact, I couldn't find any mention of her connection to the Eastland documented anywhere except in these old volumes. And this deserves our attention because while, yes, others had raised concerns about the Eastland, margaret and her group were different. They didn't just warn, they desperately tried to sound the alarm with a clarity and urgency that now seems well prophetic. And you can hear it in her writing, this deep, simmering frustration that builds into what I can only call righteous anger. The rawness of her words even now. It's absolutely fascinating, so I'll continue reading. All theaters and places of amusement were closed yesterday and the city is in mourning. All the passengers were poor people. Some were our immediate neighbors and friends. You will remember that the Chicago River receives all the sewage from Chicago and the city is now facing a typhoid epidemic among the survivors.

Natalie Zett:

Later Mr Redfield came to conduct the investigation. Margaret felt outraged, for he stood by all the members of the United States Inspection Service which was in his department and spoke. She declared, as if the drowning of 1,200 men, women and children at a dock in the heart of a great city was nothing to make much of. She telegraphed to President Wilson in the name of the League quote personnel suggested federal board inquiry into the Eastland disaster thoroughly unsatisfactory. No representatives of labor and the traveling public urged commission independent of department under fire and on which labor and the traveling public are represented. Several meetings by social agencies were called to consider what could be done, but Margaret was impatient and indignant at the slow process of securing effective action in the face of this tragedy and the quote-unquote criminal negligence of the inspectors. Several more telegrams went to President Wilson and a committee was appointed to look into the correspondence on Victor Olander's charges of laxity in 1914.

Natalie Zett:

She was overwhelmed by the sorrow in her district, among the people she knew, and told of the crushing blow in another neighborhood where many of the people lived who had gone to the picnic Quote. 29 funerals took place in one little church, 13 in another one family of eight father, mother and six children were all buried together. There are not enough gravediggers, not enough coffins, not enough hearses. Marshall Field's auto trucks have been in use. Judge Landis hasn't joined any of the United States inspectors to board the Eastland and of course effort is being made to call off Redfield's investigation. The Polish alliance sent a long memorial to the president as about 300 Polish boys and girls drowned.

Natalie Zett:

I had a talk with Victor Ollender yesterday and told him to employ Harold Ikes if he found it necessary to engage a lawyer. I especially want to forestall having this important question handled by some inane human beings. I told Victor Ollender to go to bed and get 12 hours sleep. He looks as if he's lost 20 pounds. It was hard for Margaret to free herself from the tragedy and the anguished people among whom she lived and yet other matters pressed upon her Quote.

Natalie Zett:

Life has been exceedingly strenuous this summer. My days have begun at six in the morning and not ended until one or two the next morning. I do not want this to bother you, for I am just as well as can be, but I should like a little breathing spell. My last letter was so filled with the tragedy of the Eastland that this is just a word to catch up with a bit of family news. Raymond and that would be her husband, by the way is leaving for Chinsegat tonight and hopes to make possible the long promised trip to Fielder for the visit north. I had hoped to go south this summer and stay at Chinsegat, but the growing work since the convention and now the Eastland tragedy which must be handled by the citizens, has made it necessary for me to postpone my visit, perhaps forego the pleasure altogether Before we continue. Shinsegit is referring to land that was purchased by Margaret's husband, raymond Robbins, and we'll talk more about him, and he named this area Shinsegit, which he said was an Alaskan Inuit word which means spirit of lost things. That's going to come up again, by the way. We'll continue.

Natalie Zett:

Margaret was involved in strikes and personal matters, all of which forced her thoughts into other channels. Quote Annie Mullenbach called me up to say that Jim is very much more comfortable at the hospital. I sent him a basket of fruit and some books, with which he was delighted, and Annie said he was as pleased as a child with the basket and insisted upon personally unpacking it and telling her what she could carry home. Quote we had a remarkable strike with a very great victory involving about a thousand girls, canvas, glove workers, kimono and wrapper makers. The strike lasted just a week. We have won the recognition of the union a preferential union shop, an arbitration board, a committee on grievances and adjustments and a wage board. The decision of the wage board will be retroactive to the day the girls went back to work. These workers represent Russian, jews, poles and Italians. I wish you could have been present when the vote was taken after seven hours of discussion, when practically 800 girls all wished to talk at one and the same time in three different languages.

Natalie Zett:

Elizabeth Christman, as president of the Glove Workers Union Local 18, presided during half of the meeting. Someone had taken her gavel and, in despair at the disorder resulting, she gladly accepted a friend's slipper and, with the heel pounded for order. You can hardly imagine anything funnier than to see this heel waving in the air. The glove workers yesterday took in 212 new members, and ladies' garment workers will doubtless do the same. I mailed you a picture from the Chicago Evening Post showing the girls marching back to work carrying American flags, preceded by a union band. In honor of their return, the factory was decorated with American flags also. What do you think of that? There were many very amazing and amusing things that happened behind the scenes, but I shall have to leave that until we meet Mr Schaffner of Hart. Schaffner Marks was the man who really helped us win this agreement. It is nice to get a good reference from an employer, isn't it? Amy Walker Field and I signed the agreement for the league. That's the end of that section.

Natalie Zett:

So, despite the personal toll, margaret was working from six in the morning until one or two the next morning. She refused to let the tragedy be forgotten or dismissed. When Secretary of Commerce William C Redfield appeared to downplay the disaster, she was outraged noting that he spoke as if the drowning of 1,200 men, women and children at a dock in the heart of a great city was nothing to make much of, and the Eastland disaster stands as a stark reminder of the importance of the labor movement's fight for safety regulations. Margaret ' role in both warning of the danger and fighting for justice afterward exemplifies how one person's dedication to worker safety can make a difference, even if, tragically, those warnings go unheeded. And please remember, during that time women couldn't even vote. So what Margaret and her friends accomplished was nothing short of miraculous miraculous. When I first researched Margaret's genealogy, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Her parents were German immigrants, her father an iron merchant, and the family was very well off. They had several children, all of whom were successful, progressive and deeply compassionate toward others. So back to Margaret. She married Colonel Raymond Robbins, and we're going to learn about Raymond.

Natalie Zett:

So while Margaret Dreyer Robbins devoted herself to fighting for workers' rights and safety, margaret also faced some intense personal struggles. Her husband, raymond, himself a noted social reformer, prohibitionist and philanthropist, battled with periods of depression that would ultimately lead to one of the most mysterious disappearances in the early 20th century. On the 3rd of September 1932, robbins was traveling from the City Club in Manhattan to the White House, where he was supposed to meet with Herbert Hoover to discuss the urgent need for stronger enforcement of the prohibition. What was prohibition? Prohibition was a period in US history from 1920 until 1933 when the manufacture, sale and transportation of alcoholic beverages were banned nationwide. Raymond Robbins was making a case for prohibition for the last nine months on a 286-city tour, but in September 1932, robbins disappeared. After a two-month search he was located in a boarding house in Whittier, north Carolina, under the name of Reynolds Rogers.

Natalie Zett:

Various newspapers reported that Raymond somehow came down with a severe case of amnesia, to the point where he didn't recognize his wife until she had visited him three times. J Ed Kniep, the journalist who helped uncover Raymond's whereabouts, described finding him at a boarding house dressed in overalls and a carpenter's cap a far cry from his former life as a wealthy philanthropist. But in this transformation we can perhaps see not somebody who was running from his problems, but someone seeking healing in his own way. We really don't know. There's a lot more to Raymond's story. In fact he has quite a storied background as well. But for the sake of time I'll have to pause here, and hopefully this has tantalized you enough to do some further research on both of these amazing individuals.

Natalie Zett:

So the story of Raymond and Margaret Robins reminds us that even society's strongest advocates and reformers, they face their own deeply human struggles. Margaret's dedication to social justice never wavered, even as she dealt with personal uncertainty and loss. And Raymond well, despite his struggles, he found a kind of peace in the mountains of North Carolina, occasionally even speaking at local churches in support of conservation efforts. And Margaret died at age 76 in 1945. Raymond died in 1954.

Natalie Zett:

So sometimes, when you scratch beneath the surface of a seemingly simple story about success, you find something a lot more valuable, a lesson about how purpose, tenacity and yes, character can carry us through our darkest hours to our finest moments. Take care, have a good week and I'll talk to you again. Hey, that's it for this episode and thanks for coming along for the ride. Please subscribe or follow so you can keep up with all the episodes, and for more information please go to my website, that's wwwflowerintherivercom. I hope you'll consider buying my book, available as audiobook, ebook, paperback and hardcover, because I still owe people money and that's my running joke. But the one thing I'm serious about is that this podcast and my book are dedicated to the memory of all who experienced the Eastland disaster of 1915. Goodbye for now.

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