This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: ROBSON, METCALF Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/lEC.2ACE/862.2 Message Board Post: Matthew, In Jan 2005, I was in contact with you in answer to your message #1785 on the Genforum.com Metcalf Family Genealogy Forum. James METCALF Jr. b. 1842 England was my desceased brother-in-law Jim McNETT's GG grandfather. The Clifford O. METCALF that you speak about was actually Clinton O. METCALF b. 16 Jun 1876 WI, d. 23 Feb 1968 Cuba City, Grant Co., WI. Clinton's sister, Alma Ann METCALF b. 14 Oct 1865 WI, d. 1933, was married 12 Feb 1885 in Lafayette Co., WI to William ROBSON b. 19 Aug 1863 WI. William & Alma were my brother-in-law Jim McNETT's great grandparents. Jim named his youngest son Clinton after Clinton METCALF. Jim told me the story below about William ROBSON's father, Thomas ROBSON, & how he came to the United States in 1849. "Thomas Robson was of Scottish descent. On Robson's voyage from England to the United States in 1849, the ship that he sailed on became lost in a storm and sailed into the Gulf of Mexico. The ship's captain sailed the ship to the mouth of the Mississippi River and forced the passengers ashore and left them there. Robson and some of the other passengers cut timber for a raft and loaded it with their possesions. They purchased a horse to pull the raft with a rope from the river bank. When the horse could not be used, they used poles to push it. When they got to the present day location of Dubuque, Iowa, they found a sign that read "Free land --- 17 miles". Robson and the others walked the seventeen miles and homesteaded land there. Robson's father gave him a gold coin when he left England to come to the United States in 1849. He never spent the coin and the family of his great-great grandson James D. McNETT has that coin today." Jim always called his GG grandfather "Pa" ROBSON. Pa used to go to ND & capture wild horses which he brought back to WI. There he broke them & sold them. Pa bought some land just outside of Cuba City, WI & built a small cabin on it. The family called the property "the 80 acres". Later on, the family bought (or built) a house in Cuba City & moved to town. On occasion, Pa liked to take a drink & smoke his pipe which his wife Alma disapproved of. So Pa would go out to the cabin until things cooled down. Jim told of going to the cabin & finding Pa sitting out back in his rocker smoking his pipe. Pa would say " Sit down Jimmy" & they would sit & talk. The Fever River ran through the lower part of the 80 acres. The river was called the "fever" river because the water caused typhoid fever. I know that my nephews would like to have copies of the photos & family histories that you have. Sincerely, Fred Downs