Our first John Robins has been traced to yet another "three brothers came..." legend.

This one is a classic of the form. The source traces the family line to a John Robins that was born in New Jersey, April 10, 1760. It turned up in a history of the Robins family, reprinted from a manuscript in a Bible of Newton D. Robins, brother of Dr. Milton Robins, and written by Dr. Robins, dated 1 January 1885:

"About the year A.D. 1700, three brothers came from Wales to the United States, one settled in New England, one in New Jersey and one in South Carolina, and when they emigrated West they generally followed the same parallel of latitude and from there the numerous family of Robins are supposed to come.  Our ancestors settled in New Jersey and the first actual knowledge we have of them were two brothers named John Robins {born April 10, 1760, died 1840} and Daniel Robins who were born in Sussex County, New Jersey about the year 1760.  They moved to Washington Co., Penn about 1778, where they were married. Our Grandfather John Robins was married to Sara Daily [about] the year 1781.  Both families moved to {Bainbridge} Ross County, Ohio about 1790 but on account of the great sickness of the Sciota and Paint Creek bottoms near Chilicothe, Daniel Robins moved to the Brush Creek hills on the Ohio river and John Robins moved to the west part of Ross County, Buckskin Township, Ohio... ."1

However, Zina V. Robins (1872-1964) wrote his nephew, Zina Edmond Moore, on the 6th of January, 1947, that, "Uncle Albert Robins sent each of us a full statement of our part of the Robins family from the landing of a John Robins at Elizabethtown, New Jersey in 1664, he was a Scotchman."2

Or, perhaps, John Robins(1) was a tailor from Scotland landing as a good-natured indentured servant, ready to work off his passage sometime in the early 1700s – the correspondence and records at hand cannot prove either passage.3

While we obviously can't consider any one of the above legacies as "verified" genealogy, the children attributed to John(1 and 2), as well as the other Robins' chronicled by the good Doctor Milton, are included here. The large number of John Robins' in New Jersey between 1650 and 1800 has stymied even the intrepid Ms. Sharon Moore, as of this writing. Happily, the research efforts of our correspondents, Sharon Moore and Elva V. (Moore) Templeton, coincide nicely with Dr. Robins' efforts of the Century-before-last, beginning with John Robins(2), born in Sussex County, New Jersey; he, removed to that earlier, rebellious hotbed of Scotch-Irish anti-Federalist activism, Washington County, Pennsylvania, where his son Philip was born in 1785, and then thence to Greenfield, Highland County, Ohio.

It is there, with Philip's generation, that Milton picks up the narrative, repeating, "Our parents moved from Greenfield Ohio to Shelby County Indiana, Oct. 1821, where they settled on a farm, or rather in the wilderness as there was no settlement near than 75 miles except those who came in the last few months. Both of our parents were earnest Christians and members of the M.E.* Church. They were converted about the time of the Great Cane Ridge revival** in Kentucky and were always true to their profession. Their house was the preachers' home in an early day and their home a preaching place on the Columbus Circuit in early times."4

In that -- their willingness to plunge into an unsettled and unsettling Wilderness, with "wild Indians" about, and bringing their religion along with 'em -- the Philip Robins' and Milton Robins' households were very like most of America's intrepid pioneers: certain in Faith, and strong in purpose.

* "M.E. Church" (and) ** "Great Cane Ridge Revival" -- Methodist Episcopal Church adherents joined with Baptist and Presbyterian congregants, and other frontierspeople, in 1801, in their thousands; folks that lived within a few day's travel of Cane Ridge, Kentuky -- a place in Bourbon County, Kentucky near Paris named by Daniel Boone when he passed through on one of his early explorations --at one of the seminal "Scottish Camp Meetings" where folks came, camped in family groups, and attended hours-long sermons between socializing over a span of days. This meeting was " one of the landmark events of the Second Great Awakening... ."5

Descendants

1 John Robins ["landed at Elizabethtown, New Jersey from Scotland."]

2 John Robins 1760 - 1841 [born
  +Sarah Daily  Abt 1760 - 1852
....  3 Daniel Robins Abt 1783 -
....  3 Philip Robins 1785 - 1835
....  +Nancy Boyd 1791 - 1858
........  4 Milton Robins 1810 -
........  +Frances Powell 1816 -
............  5 Alfred Vernon Robins 1837 -
............  +Maggie Smith
............  5 James Robins 1838 -
............  5 Mary Frances Robins 1841 -
............  +George M. Senour
............  5 Milton Robins 1843 -

........  4 Rezin Robins  Abt 1817 -
........  +Mary (?)  Abt 1823 -
........  *2nd Wife of Rezin Robins:
........  +Harriet Boyd  Abt 1820 - Abt 1850
............  5 Nancy Robins  Abt 1839 -
............  5 Samuel Kirk Robins 1847 - 1875
............  + Sarah Margaret Clark  1849 - 1931
................  6 Zina V. Robins  1872 - 1964
................  6 Mary Margaret Robins  1874 - 1954
................  +William Young Moore 1871 - 1944 (see "Moore" for descendants.)
....................  7 Zina Edmond Moore 1896 - 1984
....................  +Jessie Mae Butterworth  1899 - 1954
....................  7 William Roy (“Roy”) Moore  1901 - 1972
....................  +Ruth Ruggles  1903 - 1932
....................  *2nd Wife of William Roy Moore:
....................  +Beatrice ”Bee” Bethema Stites  1913 -
....................  7 Harvey Lee "Harve" Moore 1903 - 1985
....................  +Roxie Alpha Wheeler 1909 -
....................  7 Melva Mae Moore Abt 1905 - Abt 1908

............  5 Albert L. Robins  Abt 1847 -
............  5 James B. Robins  Abt 1848 -
............  5 Martha E. Robins  Abt 1850 -

........  4 Newton Dudley Robins
........  4 Philip Robins
........  4 Dr. Franklin Robins
........  4 Margery Robins
........  +William Law
........  4 Nancy Emily Robins
........  +Samuel Sandifer
........  4 John Robins (?)

....  3 John Robins
....  3 James Robins
....  3 Isaac Robins
....  3 Moses Robins
....  3 Charles Robins
....  3 Rachel Robins
....  +John Jones
....  3 Hannah Robins
....  +William Wiley

1) Robins, Dr. Milton, "Family History," transcript included in the Bible of Newton D. Robins, brother of Dr. Milton Robins, and written by Dr. Robins, 1 January, 1885, edited by Anne Johnson and forwarded to us by Sharon Moore, August, 2004.

2) Robins, Zina V., "Letter," addressed to Zina Moore, January 1947.

3) Templeton, Elva [Moore]"Rakestraw-Butterworth Roger," distributed letter to her sons, ca. 1997.

4) Robins, Milton, op. cit.

5) Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cane_Ridge, 2006.11.04