The
Nicholas Robbins Family
EDITORIAL CHANGES, REFLECTIONS
and
GRATITUDE
Editor's Introduction: It has been a great pleasure and honor to develop the website and publish the newsletter over the past six years. Our goal has always been to increase knowledge about our family, its history and traditions and to promote kinship. Our heartfelt thanks to all who have helped us further this mission by contributing items and photos for publication and by emailing us with their ideas and feedback. Seldom does a month pass when we don't hear from someone who has read something on the website that helps them make a connection to our family. That has been most gratifying. Thank you.
We are very pleased to announce an editorial change for the website and newsletter. Commencing with this newsletter, Julie E. Callahan of Alexandria, Virginia, will be our new Managing Editor and Website Director. Regular readers of the website already know Julie through her marvelous transcriptions of her great-great grandfather's diaries which are being serialized in the "Memorabilia" section and through her biographical sketches and photos appearing in the "Supplements" section. Julie is very creative and capable and has a lot of good ideas to enhance the website. And she is very anxious to hear from you about your areas of interest and your branches of our family tree. Please join me in welcoming her by email at jucallahan@yahoo.com. Please also note the change in the website address and domain name. The new address is www.nicholasrobbinsfamily.org. We feel this address is more consistent with our goal to be a focal point for information about our family.
Age has caught up with me a bit although it has been hard to admit to it. My desk always seems to be piled high with various projects I have been working on and my email in-box seldom has less than forty messages awaiting replies. I've been looking for Nicholas Robbins for so long and in so many different places, I feel like I would recognize him on the street if I could be sent back in time three hundred fifty years or so. Perhaps the Good Lord will spare me long enough to find and document his marriage and the births of his children. DNA analysis holds out some promise. Clark Robbins and I will continue our search for DNA matches with other Robbins who can trace their ancestry back to England and our research progress will be shared with you periodically on the website. And, along with my continuing research on our family lines, I will always be available for any special assignments Julie may have for me.
This message would not be complete unless I pinned some roses on my daughter, Valerie and son-in-law,
Mark. In a time of overwhelming grief, they helped me put together this website as a diversion. We started with the photos Missy had taken in Cambridge, Duxbury and Plymouth and added some maps to pinpoint the locations of our family's earliest American residences. As visitors began to show an interest, we started to accept and publish supplemental histories of the various branches of the Nicholas Robbins family tree. Beyond word processing, emailing and web browsing, I am pretty much computer illiterate, so what we have as a website today, we owe to Mark's computer genius and creativity and Valerie's organization and coordination skills. Without their dedication, devotion and many hours of work, this website would not have been possible. For all of our family, friends and visitors, who have found this website meaningful and helpful, thank you Mark and Valerie Vickers. We are most grateful.
Finally, many thanks to all who have contributed biographical materials, family histories, pedigree charts, public and church records, cemetery records, photos,
diary and journal abstracts, newspaper clippings and the like, for publication on the website. It has been a privilege to publish your stories and to help you make genealogical connections. New materials are always welcome. They are the lifeblood of the website. So if you have something you would like to share, please send it in.
Lawrence G. Robbins
It is a tremendous honor and pleasure to be the new editor of The Nicholas Robbins Family website to foster the collective knowledge of our Robbins Family. Lawrence's knowledge of our family is vast, amassed through years of diligent research and documentation. He has been a great mentor and supporter to me as I researched my Robbins ancestors and transcribed family diaries over the past four years. Thank you, Lawrence.
The prospect of getting to know the readers of The Nicholas Robbins Family website is very exciting to me. I look forward to working with you to honor your ancestors through publication on the website and to assist others in their quest to make a family connection. My grandmother was a proud Robbins who made sure I learned about the accomplishments of our family. I feel confident that many of you, too, have stories and photographs of your family to share with others.
Please do feel free to contact me at the e-mail address cited above. As Lawrence mentioned, we have discussed ideas to bring even more visitors to our website and to enhance reader involvement; however, I want very much to hear your comments and ideas.
Please return to the website soon. In the very near future, I will share with you a transcription of my great-great grandfather's Diary of 1851.
Julie E. Callahan
HORACE F. ROBBINS,
HIS FAMILY and DESCENDANTS
(Editor's Note: Following the publication of a Supplement on Hiram Robbins in August, 2009, we were most happy to hear from William K. "Bill" Robbins, a descendant of Hiram via his son, Horace F. Robbins, and to find that he had quite a treasure trove of materials on this family which he was willing to share on the website. Horace's line from the immigrant ancestor is: Nicholas Robbins, John Robbins, Jeduthan Robbins (Sr), Jeduthan Robbins (Jr), Eleazer Robbins, Consider Robbins, Bartlett Robbins, Hiram Robbins, Horace F. Robbins. So far as we have been able to determine, this branch of the family has resided in Plymouth Colony/County, Massachusetts continuously from the time the family arrived in 1638 down to the modern day. For further information about these family lines, the reader may contact William K. "Bill" Robbins via email at brobbins@htcplus.net.)
HORACE F. ROBBINS, son of Hiram and Susanna (Stearns) Robbins, was born on November 12, 1856 in Abington, Massachusetts. He married Elizabeth A. Rose on March 16, 1879 in Hanover, Massachusetts. Elizabeth was the daughter of Joshua S. and Anna (Perry) Rose, born on April 11, 1859 in Hanover. After marriage they resided in Hanover, where Horace was employed in the shoemaking business. They had one child, Kenneth Lincoln Robbins. Elizabeth A. (Rose) Robbins died on July 28, 1924 in Hanover. Horace passed away there on November 15, 1925. They are buried at Hanover Center Cemetery.
Sources of Information: William K. Robbins family records, U. S. Census records, Hanover Town records and Hanover Center Cemetery records.
KENNETH LINCOLN ROBBINS, SR., son of Horace F. and Elizabeth A. (Rose) Robbins, was born on August 29, 1893 at Hanover, Massachusetts. He married Mildred Lawrence Turner on July 1, 1920 at Hanover. Mildred was the daughter of Otto B. and Bertha (Johnson) Turner, born on March 26, 1895 in Rockland, Massachusetts.
According to his obituary, Kenneth was well known in district baseball circles as an outstanding pitcher during his youth. The obituary also notes that he was a member of the Hanover Fire Department for a number of years.
Kenneth served in the U. S. Army during World War I. According to his service records, he enlisted at East Bridgewater, Massachusetts on September 20, 1917 and served in the AEF in France in 1918, rising to the rank of Sergeant in a Headquarters detachment prior to his honorable discharge following the end of the war.
Kenneth and Mildred settled in South Hanover after marriage and had one child, Kenneth Lincoln Robbins, Jr. Beginning in the 1920s, Kenneth managed several A & P grocery stores until around 1938, when he opened a Texaco gas station/variety store on Broadway Street in South Hanover. He died at his home in South Hanover on December 5, 1966. Wife Mildred survived him by twenty-four years before passing away on December 9, 1990 at Rockland. Kenneth and Mildred are buried at the Hanover Center Cemetery.
Sources of Information: William K. Robbins family records, Hanover Town Certificates of Birth and Marriage, U. S. Army Enlistment Record and Honorable Discharge Certificate, Brockton Enterprise (newspaper) obituary dated December 6, 1966 and Hanover Center Cemetery records.
KENNETH LINCOLN ROBBINS, JR., son of Kenneth Lincoln and Mildred Lawrence (Turner) Robbins, was born on March 15, 1921 at Hanover, Massachusetts. He married Virginia Corrine Clark on April 12, 1942 at Rockland, Massachusetts. Virginia was the daughter of William Charles and Cordelia (LeGendre) Clark, born on August 8, 1918 at Quincy, Massachusetts. After marriage they settled in Rockland and raised three children: Deborah Ann, b. 1944; Paula Clark, b. 1948; and William Kenneth, b. 1954.
Kenneth served in the U. S. Coast Guard during World War II. According to his service records, he enlisted at Portland, Maine on August 19, 1942, and served as a Motor Machinist Mate along the East Coast and in Hawaii prior to his honorable discharge at Boston, Massachusetts on October 23, 1945. Following his death in 2011, his family received a Certificate of Award signed by President Obama, "on behalf of a grateful nation in recognition of devoted and selfless consecration to the service of our country in the Armed Forces of the United States."
After his discharge from the Coast Guard, Kenneth went to work for Paul Clark Ford in Brockton, Massachusetts, retiring in 1986 as the Parts Dept. Manager after a forty year career. Virginia stayed home to raise their family until 1962, when she went to work for Rockland Motors as their Office Manager, a position she held until her retirement in 1993 at the age of 75. In 1972 the Robbins moved to Hanson, Massachusetts, where they were to reside the rest of their lives.
Virginia died on October 1, 2009 at the South Shore Hospital in Weymouth, Massachusetts. Her obituary notes that she was a former member of the Holy Family Mothers Club and an avid Boston Red Sox fan. Kenneth passed away on September 18, 2011 at his home in Hanson. His obituary also counts him as a big fan of the Red Sox as well as the New England Patriots and notes that he enjoyed reading mystery novels and watching game shows. Kenneth and Virginia are buried at Hanover Center Cemetery.
Horace F. Robbins
Kenneth Lincoln Robbins, SR.
Kenneth Lincoln Robbins, JR.
Sources of Information: William K. Robbins family records, U. S. Coast Guard Personnel Record and Honorable Discharge Certificate, Patriot Ledger (newspaper) obituaries dated October 3, 2009 (Virginia) and September 21, 2011 (Kenneth), and Hanover Center Cemetery records.
FAMILY FORUM
(Editors Note: You are cordially invited to submit queries, announcements and notices related to Nicholas Robbins and his descendants. Topics many vary from information requests and "lost sheep" inquiries to birth and marriage announcements and family reunion notices. If you are able to provide an answer to a previous query, please send it in so we can publish it for the benefit of the original correspondent and other family researchers. Please send correspondence of this type to Julie Callahan via email at jucallahan@yahoo.com. If emailing the material is impractical, please let Julie know by email so arrangements may be made to send them by regular post. Thank you.)
1. JEDUTHAN ROBBINS of Plymouth Colony/County, Massachusetts, grandson of the family founder, Nicholas Robbins. Seeking information on the name Jeduthan. Where did that name come from? Submitted by Nancy Pisco of Lords Valley, Pennsylvania.
Good question! We have seen the name Jeduthan (also spelled Jeduthun) in other New England records of that era but it is rare. Colonial New England family naming practices do not seem to apply here. If they had, Jeduthan, being the first-born son, would have been named after one of his grandfathers, Nicholas Robbins or John Jourdaine. The practice of giving children Biblical names such as John, Joseph, Samuel, Josiah and Benjamin for boys and Mary, Elizabeth, Sarah, Rebecca and Ruth for girls and names associated with moral qualities such as Content, Obedience, Patience, Charity and Mercy, was also in widespread practice during the Colonial era. These names were then passed down from generation to generation. A person named Jeduthun appears in the Bible in First Chronicles, Chapter 25, where he is noted as a musician, appointed by King David to provide music during temple worship services. Perhaps that Jeduthun is the namesake of Jeduthan Robbins, grandson of Nicholas Robbins. Response by Lawrence G. Robbins with some help from Wikipedia and the Bible. If you have further information on this topic, Nancy Pisco would appreciate hearing from you via email at jonanp@verizon.net.
2. POLLY (ALLEN) ROBBINS of Kennebec, Piscataquis and Oxford Counties, Maine and Worcester County, Massachusetts. Richard G. Smith of Burnet, Texas, a descendant of Polly and her husband, John Robbins via their daugher, Lucy Robbins, has been seeking information on the parentage and early life of Polly for years. Our records have not been much help, being limited to the marriage record of Polly and John at Sangerville, Piscataquis Co., Maine in 1825, the birth records of their children at Guilford and Exeter, Maine during the late 1820s and early 1830s and the 1850 U. S. Census for Peru, Oxford Co., Maine. That last record established her age at 45 (thus born around 1805) and her birthplace as Maine. That was the only birth data we had for her at the time we published The Nicholas Robbins Family in 2006.
Richard has continued to research the Allen families of Maine over the years and about a year ago he came across a promising candidate for the younger "Polly", a common nickname for Mary in New England during that era. Her name was Mary Allen, born at Manchester, Kennebec County, Maine on July 24, 1804, the daughter of Jotham Allen and Thankful Longley. Census research indicates Jotham and his family had removed to Readfield, about five miles north of Manchester, by 1810 and to Wellington, Piscataquis County by 1840. Wellington is about twenty miles southeast of Sangerville and Guilford, the locations of John and Polly's marriage and early married life. By the time of the 1850 U. S. Census, Jotham and Thankful Allen had returned to Readfield and John and Polly (Allen) Robbins had removed to Peru, Maine. In the 1860 Census for Peru, taken on July 6, 1860, Polly is listed as a seamstress, age 55. If the census is completely accurate she would have been born between July 7, 1804 and July 6, 1805. Mary, daughter of Jotham and
Thankful Allen, was the only one found who fits this time frame.
Richard's research on this family continues and he welcomes any additional proof regarding the identity of Polly (Allen) Robbins and her parents. He may be contacted via email at rgsmith_gen@verizon.net.
3. MOSES ROBBINS, son of John and Betsey (Standish) Robbins, of Portland, Chautauqua County, New York at the time of the 1850 U. S. Census. We have recently been tidying up our research on Moses and find that we have overlooked some data on a possible marriage between Moses and Amanda Morgan supplied to us some time ago by Hal Hileman. Hal is a top notch researcher on John and Betsey's children so we thought it might be prudent to begin with what he gave us and see where it led. He has "Moses Robbins, b. 1827 in Connecticut, m. Amanda Morgan, 1855 in Ohio, d. 1872. Child: Hiram Robbins, b. Apple River, Illinois, no date." The birth date and place for Moses corresponds to the data in the 1850 U. S. Census.
We next went on-line and came upon several sites with data on this family. Based on what we found, it appears that by 1856 Moses and his family had joined the rest of John and Betsey's children and their families in the trans-border region straddling Jo Daviess County, Illinois and Lafayette County, Wisconsin. According to a later census record, three children were born to Moses and Amanda in Illinois and two children were born to this couple in Wisconsin, including the above mentioned Hiram. This census record also indicates that Moses and Amanda moved to Iowa after the birth of their fifth child in 1865 and had two more children in Iowa in 1867 and 1869. According to Hal's data, Moses died in 1872. We could find no further reference to his death on-line nor could we find any record of this family in the 1860 or 1870 U. S. Censuses. The only census we could find that enumerated Amanda and her children was taken in 1880 in Hancock County, Iowa and that was eight years after Moses was believed to have died. There is an older Robbins male living with this family in the 1880 U. S. Census, who does not appear to be related to Amanda. He is A. J. Robbins, age 28, born around 1852 in New York. Amanda's obituary in 1911 says she was preceded in death by a "stepson" named Dell Robbins. Is this A. J. Robbins? If it is, was Moses married previous to Amanda and, if so, to whom? The fact that A. J. Robbins was born in New York around 1852 suggests that he might be a son born to Moses and an unknown wife, prior to his move from New York to Illinois.
We would very much appreciate hearing from anybody having records pertaining to this family, particularly the marriages and death of Moses Robbins, the birth records of Amanda Morgan and any of the children, and copies of the 1860 and 1870 U. S. Censuses or some record of where Moses and Amanda and their family were living at the time of those censuses. Please contact Lawrence G. Robbins by email at boprobbins@yahoo.com.
Richard D. Robbins Family Reunion
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Beginning at Noon
Hart Historic District on Union Street
Hart, Michigan
It is a potluck, so bring a dish to share. Drinks and tableware provided. If you have questions, please contact Donna Trommater by telephone at (231) 873-2863. Looking forward to seeing you.