field@msn.com wrote: > > One of my mother's correspondents sponsored the hypothesis that Samuel Curtis (Curtice) was the father of the following: Joshua, Joseph, James (1755-1795, m. Nancy Mast), Thomas, Sarah (married John Robbins), Benjamin, Caleb and John. Some of this may have come from Mrs. Trogden, who I think believed the Curtis family was Welsh and came directly to N.C. in the 1750s, rather than from Virginia. James is my ancestor, through the Hoovers. > > This was 25 years ago. Have we made any progress? > > Al Field > Washington, D.C. > field@msn.com > None so far on the Robbins line. I have not found, nor has anyone shared, any documentation proving Sarah Curtis was a real person and not just another fictional character used to fill in the undocumented Robbins genealogies. The only conteporary records I've found for a John Robbins record his wife's name was Rachel. However, a bio of one great grandson published in 1886 reports John Robbins's wife was Elizabeth Curtis. I have not yet seen any proof John Robbins's wife was named Sarah. 28 Sept 1765, John Robins and Rachel (R) his wife to Thomas Little, 100 acres adjacent Thoams Hill on Caraway Creek; wit: Wm Brown, Wm Millikan [Rowan Co. deeds, 6:263-264] 15 Feb 1768, John Robins and Rachel (R) his wife to William Robins, 202 acres on Caraway Creek "being part of a tract wihish sd John Robins purchased of Henry McCullah"; wit: Wm. Millikan, Samuel Millikan [Rowan Co. deeds, 6:568] HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY, INDIANA (Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co., 1886), pp. 863-864 [Sugar Creek Township]: George W. Robbins, druggist, Pickard's Mill, Indiana, came to Clinton County March 1, 1865, and settled in Sugar Creek Township, on section 35, buying 120 acres of land on which he lived seven years. In the fall of 1873 he exchanged a part of his property for lots in Pickard's Mill and money, and engaged in the general mercantile business a year. He then sold out and built his store building, and May 25, 1875, put in a stock of drugs and groceries. In 1876 he sold his stock and rented the building until April, 1886, when he and his son bought the stock of W. W. Cormack, and now are conducting a successful bneiness. Mr. Robbins was born February 1, 1829, in Wayne County, Indiana, and when ten years of age accompanied his parents to Fulton County, Indiana. He was married in Montgomery County, April 22, 1855, to Rachel Fisher, who was born in Tippecanoe County, August 22, 1832, but was reared in Montgomery County, her parents moving there when she was ten years old. She was a daughter of James and Phoebe (Moon) Fisher, natives of Ohio, the father born in Highland Connty, January 3, 1808, and died in 1878, and the mother born in Clinton County in 1810, and died in 1846. Mr. and Mrs. Robbins have had seven children--Mary C., born January 17, 1856, died March 15, 1874; Olive, born October 15, 1857; Charles, born March 29, 1860; Emma, September 15, 1863; U. S. Grant, August 9, 1868; Schuyler Colfax, August 6, 1870, and Myrtle, August 7, 1874. In politics Mr. Robbins is a Republican. He is a member of the Society of Friends, his wife being a member of the Baptist church. He has served Sugar Creek Township as justice of the peace four years, and has been in the postoffice either as postmaster or assistant nine years. His parents, James and Miriam (Davis) Robbins,were natives of Randolph County, North Carolina, the father born Jannary 7, 1789, and the mother in 1793. His mother died in Fulton County, March 9, 1869, and his father in Sugar Creek Township, September 25, 1873. His paternal grandparents were Moses and Alice (Harlan) Robbins, and his maternal grandparents were Emmor and Alice (Stocker) Davis. The latter were Quakers, and Mr. Robbins's mother was deprived of her membership because of her marriage to a Methodist. His paternal great-grandparents, John and Elizabeth (Curtis) Robbins, were also natives of North Carolina, of Welsh descent. The former was a Baptist clergyman, and at the battle of Guilford Court-House was taken prisoner by the Tories, and his ill treatment while a captive affected his mind and he never fully recovered although he lived to be 100 years old. On the same evening the grandfather of Mr. Robbins was carried off by the same band of Tories, but being only a boy was released in a few days. Alice Harlan, his grandmother, and an older sister were compelled by the same band to pilot them to the home of Captain John Bryant, whose wife was a sister of the grandfather's, he being at home on furlough at the confinement of his wife. The Tories surrounded the house, and while the two girls crouched inside of the door, Bryant was shot down in his house and the girls left to get home as best they could.