We were at a great little Robinson reunion last Saturday at the home of a Robinson cousin just north of Indianapolis IN. I have only recently become acquainted with this cousin in person but we have been emailing for a while. Our grandfathers were brothers. Two other cousins and their spouses also were there. One I had never met and the other I had not seen since we were about 16 (now in our mid sixties). We are all descendants of Francis Marion Robinson (b. 1858 York Co. PA) and Emma Content Stump (b. 1865 Loudonville OH) who are buried in Martin County IN. Francis Marion Robinson is the son of Stephen Grant Robinson (b. 1838 Harford Co. MD) and Isabella Jane Minnich(k) (b. 1841 York Co. PA.). Stephen Grant Robinson was the son of William Robinson (b. ? supposedly MD) and Mary Grant (b. ? possibly MD). During a great day of comparing notes, looking at pictures (and eating) a few things kept popping up. One was discussion of several persistent family stories that just don't check out in current research. I'll bet that about everybody here has a few of those... I have learned over the years of researching however that there is usually a grain of truth to the stories but generations get confused with other generations over many years of repeating the stories. Sometimes things get stretched a little. One of our stories is a little like that. We had all been told over many years that we were related to Wild Bill Hickok . My Indy cousin tracked that one down and found that we are related strictly by a marriage and share no DNA with him. Stephen Grant Robinson was publicly (newspaper obit of one of his sons) and privately said to be related to U. S. Grant through his mother (Mary Grant). Another family story was that we were related to the John Robinson Circus family. My own mother had told me many times that when she was a young girl in Evansville IN that she was able to go to the circus for free since her father always got free passes because they were family. During the reunion a note from a deceased relative (I forget which one) popped up which said that Mary Grant was a sister to U. S. Grant and that William Robinson was a brother to The early John Robinson (there were about 3 generations of John Robinson's in that circus) of the John Robinson Circus. Neither of those stories check out as stated but as I said there HAS to be a grain of truth in there somewhere. The stories are too persistent and widely spread through the family. The little information we have about William and Mary (Grant) Robinson came from Stephen Grant Robinson's information in the census and from his death certificate. There may also be a possibility that the Grants were involved with the circus as performers??? It is a little hard to believe that we are the only ones connected to these people... This is my mother's family of Robinson's. My parents were both Robinson's (driving me nuts researching) and my father's side is through the Virginia Robinson's, Christopher Robinson of Hewick, John Robinson, Col. William Robinson, Benjamin Robinson, Francis Frank Robinson, Paschal Conner Robinson, Alonzo Lee Robinson, Francis G. Robinson and me, Francis J. Robinson... I can't help but think that there is a good possibility that the MD Robinson's may be connected to the Virginia Robinson's. Baltimore MD is only about 165 miles from the area where Hewick is located. Of course the possibilities are endless... AAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!! OK, I'm better now... :) Francis Robinson Central Indiana, USA robinson@svs.net