Phil, Thanks very much for your welcome, and the overview of the group's research interests. It will be fascinating to follow the threads. A key member of my line is Christopher Robley (1787 - 1838), the one who left Wetheral for New South Wales. He left involuntarily, by the way, having been convicted in 1807 of stealing several promissory notes (value: 220 pounds), cash (1 pound 8 shillings and 6 pence), 2 silk handkerchiefs (value 1 pound 5 shillings) and 1 sheet of paper (value 1 penny). He was sentenced to be hanged, but was reprieved, with a sentence of transportation for life to the colony of New South Wales. (He arrived on 16 December 1810.) He must have behaved himself, because by 1818 he had a conditional pardon (he was a free man, but could not return to the UK, except on pain of death). By 1820 he was a Police Constable, back on the right side of the law! All this left a lovely paper trail, from contemporary newspaper reports of the trial to a whole range of convict musters, leave applications, etc. In all this, the name is spelt "Robley". It used to be a shameful thing in Australian society to have a convict in your family line. Nowadays it's trendy, and very desirable! Certainly it's great genealogically, because the authorities generated many records, most of which survive. (For example, I know that Christopher was 5' 9 1/2" tall, of ruddy complexion, with dark brown hair and hazel eyes.) Hope this is of interest, John John Ross Albury, NSW Australia -----Original Message----- From: Roblee, Phil <[email protected]> To: 'John Ross' <[email protected]> Date: Monday, 17 August 1998 23:20 Subject: RE: Robley: Wetheral, England > NSW, Australia >John: >Welcome to the group! Looks like you and Eileen Young have done some >homework. All of us are struggling to determine the origin of the earliest >Roblee / Robblee / Rublee / Rublier / etc. American settlers. In a way, I'm >hopeful that your link helps us all resolve that dilemma. In another way, >I'm hopeful that yours are of a different branch. My father, and several of >our relatives, always said that Roblee (the way we spell it) is of french >origin. Some theorists speculate that we're descendants of Joris Jannsen De >Rapalje, a French Heugonot(sp?) who immigrated to America from Holland in >1565. Others claim the original name was some variation of De Robilliard or >Rublier. Someday we'll get there. >I think you'll find our group to be VERY helpful, and VERY interested. >Except for Doug Detling's recent mailing of the Roblee/et al archives >(e-mails), the line has been rather quite due to vacations, etc. I suspect >your correspondence will generate much conversation. Again, welcome to the >group. I look forward to the dialogue that your correspondence generates. > >Phil Roblee >