Bio of ROBBINS, Amy (WARE) (b.1877), Hennepin Co., MN
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EXTRACTED FROM: History of Minneapolis, Gateway to the Northwest; 
Chicago-Minneapolis, The S J Clarke Publishing Co, 1923; Edited by: Rev. 
Marion Daniel Shutter, D.D., LL.D.; Volume I - Shutter (Historical); 
volume II - Biographical; volume III - Biographical
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Vol III, pg 782-784
AMY ROBBINS WARE
The cultivation and development of her talents along many lines have gained for
Mrs. Amy Robbins Ware recognition as one of the gifted women of Minnesota, but
nothing has brought her into greater prominence than her Red Cross work in
Prance and her authorship, which perhaps finds its culmination in a most
interesting volume concerning her war experiences entitled, "Echoes of France."
She is today most active in many fields of labor, bending toward intellectual
progress and the bet­terment of conditions affecting public welfare along many
lines. In 1890 her parents moved their home from Merriam Park to Robbinsdale,
Minnesota. Here the civic interest and enthusiasm of the two elder daughters of
the founder of that attractive suburb still centers. Her ancestral line is
traced back to the colonial period in American history, inasmuch as she is a
descendant of John Howland, a Mayflower Pilgrim, through her
great-great-grandfather, Captain Abraham Shaw, whose grand­daughter, Mary Shaw
Robbins, became the mother of Andrew Bonney Robbins, while her mother, Adelaide
Julia Walker, is a descendant of the Barlows and Mings of that period. Although
their home was in Willmar, Minnesota, at that time, the birth of their daughter,
Amy, on September 7, 1877, took place in the home of her uncle, Thomas Barlow
Walker, in Minneapolis. Her deep and active interest in art was un­doubtedly
fostered during the visits of her childhood, with the many happy hours spent
among the art treasures of this uncle, whose art collection in its variety,
scope and beauty can scarcely be equalled in the galleries of the world. From
the age of eight years Amy Robbins manifested a marked love for violin music,
which at that time she began studying under Carl V. Lachmond and Heinrich Hoevel
and later she became a violin teacher. Amy Robbins was graduated from the East
Minneapolis high school with the class of 1896 and specialized in architecture,
practicing the pro­fession until 1898. She completed a course in the University
of Minnesota, with the Bachelor of Science degree, in 1901, and she studied
applied design, wood carving, leather and jewelry, in the summer schools of the
Minneapolis Handicraft Guild in 1905 and 1906. In the following year the
University of Minnesota conferred upon her the Master of Arts degree, for which
she had majored in dramaturgy, historic design and archaeology. She early found
that keenest joy which arises from the intellectual stimulus that comes through
comprehensive study, research and investigation.
Mrs. Amy Robbins Ware's home, "The Orchards," was a gift from her father and
mother and is one of the beauty spots of Robbinsdale. In 1908 she established
the Orchardcrafts Guild and she spent the years 1913 and 1914 on the European
continent accompanied by her mother, continuing her studies along handicraft and
architectural lines. Of the family party were also Dr. and Mrs. Rodda, Mrs. R.
P. Gillette and her son, Louis, and a cousin, Ann Walker.
Her family history indicates the ready response which her ancestors have ever
made to the call to the colors and it was but natural, therefore, when her own
country became involved in the great World war that Mrs. Ware should at once
devote herself to the cause. On the day when the United States declared war with
Germany, the 6th of April, 1917, she entered the American School of Telegraphy,
studying Morse and radio telegraphy until September, 1917, after which she
continued a radio department under the Woman's Naval Service, Incorporated,
training women whom Dunwoody
Naval Training Station could not accommodate. She taught in both day and night
classes from September, 1917, until March, 1918, at which time she was accepted
for canteen service with the American Red Cross and sailed for France on La
Touraine on the 14th of March. Crossing the submarine infested Atlantic in
safety, she was assigned to duty at the Third Aviation Instruction Center at
Issondun, where she taught radio at night to prospective observers, while
continuing her Red Cross canteen work through the day. Her work in that
connection was important because of the fact that the officer in charge of the
classes had been transferred elsewhere and Red Cross headquarters granted the
request for her services as instructor. When the Red Cross sought volunteers to
go to the front in September, 1918, Mrs. Ware at once re­sponded and took part
in emergency canteen work and nursing throughout the St. Mihiel and Argonne
drives, being under fire at Field Hospital, No. 41, where there were no other
women save those of her own unit. She had learned the maneuvers of the flyers in
the Radio work at the Aviation Center and in her volume "Echoes ot France"
describes the first air battle which she witnessed at Sorcey under the caption
"Birds of the Night." She was on duty at Evacuation Hospital, No. 9, at
Vaubricourt and at No. 11 at Brizeaux-Forestierre in the Argonne until December
8, 1918. At length her zeal and ofttimes self-imposed tasks reduced her
resistance to such a degree that she succumbed to a lung infection. On December
26, 1918, she was obliged to give up her canteen work at Quai d'Orsay. After a
month at the American Hospital at Menille she was sent to the Riviera to
recuperate. Having regained her health, she was transferred from the Red Cross
to the army, on the 15th of April, 1919. For the four succeeding months she was
a member of the faculty of the University established for the American
Expeditionary Forces. Stationed at Savenay Hospital Center, she taught
architecture, lettering and mechanical drawing. Having served sixteen months
overseas she received her honorable discharge from the Army Educational Corps at
New York, June 14, 1919, and returned to Robbinsdale.
On the 12th of May, 1920, Mrs. Ware once more entered the government service as
teacher in the army school at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, and in connection
therewith she did notable work in the E. and R. Special Summer School at Camp
Grant in that year while later she became supervisor of education at Fort
Snelling, where she resumed her radio teaching in 1921.
It has not only been in the period of strife and stress that Mrs. Ware has aided
her country. She has been an active participant in many civic interests and has
been a helpful member of the Hennepin county republican speakers' bureau and
other political organizations. She belongs to various patriotic societies,
including the Maine Society of Descendants of the Mayflower, the Old Trails
Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution of Minneapolis, the American
Women's Overseas League, of which she was national vice president as well as
third vice commander of the American Legion in the Department of Minnesota,
1921. She is president of the Tourist Club of Minneapolis, 1923-4, of which club
her mother is an ex-president, and a member of the Busi­ness Women's Club of
Minneapolis. In recognition of her sympathetic understanding of the tragic needs
of their war orphans the French Committee in Paris has elected Mrs. Ware,
National American representative for the school for training these orphans to
efficient self-support in "L'lnstitute Foch," which is the American branch of
the Joffre Institute for Vocational Training.
Her religious faith is manifest in her membership in the Presbyterian church.
Her volume "Echoes of France," published by the Farnham Company of Minneapolis,
deserves more than passing mention. It is a book of verse prepared "In the
darkened ship and in the roaring forest of Argonne," as is set forth in the
preface by Edmund Baehr and is dedicated "to the lads who went west." Her
experiences are told with much feeling and some humor and include an interesting
recital of a search in a pouring rain for eggs to feed her patients, the way
they made pudding and chocolate on an army stove, the pipe of which was too
short, as well as descriptions of heart-breaking tragedies. The volume expresses
every feeling and emotion of a keen, sensitive woman in that most difficult
position, portraying not only the horrors of war but also the wondrous beauties
of the sacrifices that were made by the brave little land of France and the
incomparable spirit of the American soldiers. It carries with it blessing and
solace to those who lost their dear ones on the battle fields of the western
front and altogether is a most interesting and graphic picture of war conditions
and the attributes called forth in that time of stress. The little volume bears
an introduction from the pen of Richard Burton of the University of Minnesota
and a preface by Edmund Baehr of the University of Cincinnati, who was one of
her co-workers in France.
Back in civilian life once more Mrs. Ware may be found with her sister, Edith
Robbins (Daniel), at their office No. 4223 Crystal Lake avenue, engaged in her
favorite task as architect for the many homes now being erected in Robbinsdale,
under their personal supervision. It would be impossible for a woman of Mrs.
Ware's nature to sit idly by while the tide of humanity flows on to its destiny,
or be occupied with the merely superficial interests when weighty problems are
to be solved and the world's work is to be done.
The latest work from her pen is a comprehensive treatise on "The Permanent Court
of International Justice as the Logical First Step Toward Prevention of War."
Her active support of the administration on this issue has received an
expression of personal appreciation from President Harding. She has also
broadcast radio talks on this and other subjects, from the Minnesota League of
Women voters. Her contribution to intellectual, civic and moral progress has
been real and valuable.