Robert was raised in poverty, hardly knew what it was to have enough to eat and most of the time destitute for clothes. He went to school at the age of eight for one year, his education didn't amount to much. When he was ten years old he went to work for one pence per day. He had to board himself. When he was sixteen, he received ten pence per day working in a lime rock quarry; he thought he was rich. He worked like this for several years in the summertime. The winter times were very hard for him. He learned to read and write where he worked, taking advantage of every opportunity he had. Being active he obtained employment and tried to please those he worked for.
He attended the church of England for some time. He wanted to serve the Lord, but he could not find the way. When he was about 20 years old he met an elder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints. He and his friend went and heard the elders preach on the first principles of the Gospel. He was quite interested in their talks. They returned to preach in two weeks, Robert was delighted with their teaching. After the meeting he walked part way home with them and decided to be baptized. The following Wednesday according to appointment, he met the elders at a canal and was baptized. He was promised that the Bible would appear to be as a new book. He found it so and could read it with pleasure. It was meat and drink for him to advocate the doctrine of the gospel he had received.
It was not long until he was called on a mission. He enjoyed it but had much opposition. He baptized three persons and spent much time preaching the gospel.
He was appointed to go to Zion, but financially was not able to do so. He finally got a job at Plymouth in a sugar refinery for 12 schillings a week. His wages were increased until he was able to save money. He labored hard to introduce the Gospel wherever he worked. After eight months he left and went to Cornwall and worked in the mines for two or three years. He converted six people while there. One of his converts was a young girl named Mary Stevens. He baptized her on July 14, 1854. They were married four months later.
By the year 1862 he had saved a good sum of money. They boarded the "Antarctic" steamship for New York with a small company of 20 Latter-Day Saints. They left New York on the same evening on which they arrived and traveled by train to St. Joseph, Missouri. From here they took passage on the steamboat "Amahi" for Florence, Nebraska. After four weeks in Nebraska Robert was engaged to drive a team to the Salt Lake Valley for $10 a month. His wife took very sick while on the plains and died and was buried at Fort Laramie, Wyoming, September, 1862. In October he started for Salt Lake arriving there on a Sunday afternoon. All members of the company agreed to give thanks to God when they reached Salt Lake. Robert was called upon to be the mouth in prayer.
One of his old friends persuaded him to go to Franklin, Idaho arriving there November 15, 1862. He stood guard at the fort many times, because the Indians were so hostile. He held many important positions in the church too. After arriving at Franklin, Idaho he met Selena Sarah Goode Marshall. They were married in the old Endowment House January 2, 1863. From their union thirteen children were born.
For a short time they lived in a dugout. Robert, being a mason and very handy with the hammer and saw, built them a house which was the first in Franklin. It was a very humble home. It consisted of two rooms made of sand-rick. They used a board for a bench and table. Four posts and two 2 X 4's with rope threaded through to hold a straw tick was their bed. He made all of their furniture, but dishes were very scarce. He soon managed to get a farm. Selena worked for some saints and received some money that way. For light they made candles of tallow. Selena studied and became a nurse and mid-wife. She went out practicing and helping all her fellowmen from one end of the valley to the other.
They bought another farm in Cove, Utah and moved there with the first settlers in 1871.
One day he went to the church house and paid his tithing of $100. The bishop made a comment on his honesty in paying his tithing and also toward his fellowmen. Robert replied that he didn't owe any man and now he was straight with the Lord. He said "I am going now to visit all my children." He started that evening to make his visits by making the first with his daughter Sarah Porter at Mapleton. He arrived there that evening and died during the night at the age of 74. It was December 28, 1900. His life had been full.
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