Robie, Alfred A. (1872–1909) and Carrie Lilian (Sadler) (1867–1926)

Alfred and Carrie Robie from North America were pioneers of the Avondale Health Retreat in Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia. Subsequently they were moved to a similar facility that was being established in Rockhampton, Queensland but the enterprise was short-lived and they returned to the United States.

Alfred Robie was born in September 1874 to Norris and Sarah (Dowe) Robie in New Hampshire. His father was a farmer, his mother a teacher. The three children in their rural home were Carrie E. (b.1866), Charles N. (b.1868) and Alfred A. (b.1872).¹ As a ten-year-old his mother, Sarah, listened to William Miller preach and experienced The Great Disappointment of 1844.² Alfred was raised in a Seventh-day Adventist home and attended South Lancaster Academy, beginning in 1890. It was there that he was converted in a revival service conducted by Ellen White. He advanced to a nursing course at Battle Creek Sanitarium. Carrie Lilian Sadler, who was a few years older than Alfred, was in the same nursing class. After their graduation they married on January 22, 1898, in Chicago, Illinois. They worked in home nursing, waiting for an appointment to an overseas mission field.³

In Australia

Alfred and Carrie’s opportunity for mission service came in 1900 when they were appointed to Australia. At the time the Australasian field had very few trained nurses and hydrotherapy treatment rooms were being opened with a lack of staff and inadequate funding. They sailed from Vancouver and arrived in October⁴ to take the leading roles in the Avondale Health Retreat at Cooranbong, New South Wales.⁵ They were making a valuable contribution when, less than twelve months into their term, they were transferred north to the Rockhampton Treatment Rooms in Queensland.

The Rockhampton venture was poorly equipped, had a contaminated water supply and was operating on borrowed money. Nevertheless, they made a valiant start and quickly became influential in the broader community. Carrie spoke at the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and conducted a course in physiology at the Young Women’s Christian Association. Two non-Adventist young people also enrolled at the Avondale School for Christian Workers as a result of their recommendations.⁶ Some wealthier clients travelled south to enter the Avondale Health Retreat for extended treatment. After careful economy the Rockhampton enterprise was cleared of debt by July 1902.⁷ In mid-1903 it was reported that they had given 3,557 treatments, some health foods were sold and many subscriptions were taken for the Good Health periodical.⁸

Excellent results, however, were short-lived. Rains did not come in 1902 and a drought descended on the surrounding cattle stations until, in 1903, the usual clients had no cash and the number of free treatments soared. Alfred and Carrie injected their own funds⁹ but the persistent drought and dire financial situation continued and eventually forced the enterprise to close in mid-1904.¹⁰ As a last resort they went door-to-door in nearby Mount Morgan, canvassing the basic physiology book titled The House We Live In. They took fifty-five orders in the month of June¹¹ but Alfred’s elderly parents heard of their plight and pleaded for them to return home. During their four years of service in Australia they had adopted two little children. In August 1904 the family boarded the SS Persic for New York via England.¹² Alfred’s father passed away two years after their arrival back in New Hampshire.¹³

Home in America

Alfred and Carrie did some sanitarium nursing and then settled in Newburgh on the upper Hudson River, New York. Their home was positioned in the vicinity of many people needing private nursing. Alfred nursed, among others, the sacred song writer, Ira Sankey, who died in 1908. On December 28, 1909, Alfred died prematurely of typhoid fever at his home¹⁴ and was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery at nearby New Windsor, New York.¹⁵

Some confusion is connected to Carrie’s subsequent history. There is a marriage certificate testifying that on March 9, 1924, Carrie Lilian Sadler Robie, chiropodist, married divorcee Fred Van Beuren, hatter, in Newburgh, NY.¹⁶ When she was interred a little later near Alfred in the Woodlawn Cemetery in 1926 her headstone was engraved “Lillian S. Robie, 1867-1926, Resting.”¹⁷

Sources

“Alfred A. Robie.” FamilySearch.org. Intellectual Reserve, 2020. Retrieved from https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/L5X9-RW3.

“Alfred A. Robie.” Find A Grave Memorial, 2020. Retrieved from https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/132046218/alfred-a-robie#source.

“Brother and Sister A.A. Robie…” Union Conference Record, November 1, 1900.

“Brother and Sister Robie…” Union Conference Record, September 1, 1904.

“Carrie Lilian Sadler Robie.” FamilySearch.org. Intellectual Reserve, 2020. Retrieved from https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KZ93-7L4.

Crothers, W[illiam] M. “The Avondale Health Retreat.” Union Conference Record, December 1, 1900.

Gilbert, F[rederick] C. “Sarah E. Dowe.” ARH, February 6, 1919.

“Lillian S Robie.” Find A Grave Memorial, 2020. Retrieved from https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/132046206/lillian-s-robie#source.

Mills, J[oseph] H. “Report of the Queensland Conference for the Past Two Years.” Union Conference Record, September 11, 1903.

“Monthly Summary of Australasian Canvassing Work.” Union Conference Record, August 1, 1904.

“Owing to the great depression…” Union Conference Record, July 15, 1904.

Robie, A[lfred] A. “The Work in Rockhampton.” Union Conference Record, March 1, 1902.

Robie, Carrie E. “Alfred Robie.” Atlantic Union Gleaner, January 19, 1910.

Robinson, A[sa] T. “Rockhampton.” ARH, September 9, 1902.

Robinson, Loretta V. “Experiences in Australia.” ARH, June 30, 1903.

Wheeler, Lee S. “N[orris] L. Robie.” ARH, November 8, 1906.

Notes

1. “Alfred A. Robie,” FamilySearch.org. Intellectual Reserve, 2020, accessed May 25, 2020, https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/L5X9-RW3 Note: In the sources both the Robie and Sadler families have various spellings and birth years.↩

2. F[rederick] C. Gilbert, “Sarah E. Dowe,” ARH, February 6, 1919, 31.↩

3. Carrie E. Robie, “Alfred Robie,” Atlantic Union Gleaner, vol. 9, no. 3, January 19, 1910, 7.↩

4. “Brother and Sister A.A. Robie…” Union Conference Record, vol. 3, no. 11, November 1, 1900, 15.↩

5. W[illiam] M. Crothers, “The Avondale Health Retreat,” Union Conference Record, vol. 3, no. 12, December 1, 1900, 14.↩

6. A[lfred] A. Robie, “The Work in Rockhampton,” Union Conference Record, vol. 5, no. 3, March 1, 1902, 16.↩

7. A[sa] T. Robinson, “Rockhampton,” ARH, September 9, 1902, 16-17.↩

8. J[oseph] H. Mills, “Report of the Queensland Conference for the Past Two Years,” Union Conference Record, vol. 7, no. 18, September 11, 1903, 14-15.↩

9. Loretta V. Robinson, “Experiences in Australia,” ARH, June 30, 1903, 12-13.↩

10. “Owing to the great depression…” Union Conference Record, vol. 8, no. 14, July 15, 1904, 7.↩

11. “Monthly Summary of Australasian Canvassing Work,” Union Conference Record, vol. 1, no. 15, August 1, 1904, 6-7.↩

12. “Brother and Sister Robie…” Union Conference Record, vol. 8, no. 17, September 1, 1904, 7.↩

13. Lee S. Wheeler, “N[orris] L. Robie,” ARH, November 8, 1906, 23.↩

14. Carrie E. Robie, “Alfred Robie,” Atlantic Union Gleaner, vol. 9, no. 3, January 19, 1910, 7.↩

15. “Alfred A. Robie,” Find A Grave Memorial, 2020, accessed May 29, 2020, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/132046218/alfred-a-robie#source.↩

16. “Carrie Lillian Sadler Robie,” FamilySearch.org. Intellectual Reserve, 2020, accessed May 28, 2020, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KZ93-7L4.↩

17. “Lillian S Robie,” Find A Grave Memorial, 2020, accessed May 29, 2020, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/132046206/lillian-s-robie#source.↩