Join us on February 18 for our open house and exhibit on the life & legacy of Owen Roblin.
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Category Archives: Families
From our archives: Rethinkng the Roblin family tree
by Linda Herman, Crofton, Maryland
Owen Roblin as a young man
I have recently begun to question the placement of Owen Roblin Junior, husband of Mary Ruttan, in the family of John Roblin and Sarah Wessels. Was Owen Roblin Junior, the husband of Mary Ruttan, the son of John Roblin or Owen Roblin Senior?
I recently saw a file where the researcher had placed Owen Roblin in the family of Owen Roblin Senior. My immediate thought was “This is an error.” I “inherited” my information of John Roblin and Sara Wessels and their family tree from earlier Wessels researchers and have been content to take it as it was–especially since the research was based on the work of C. Loral Wanamaker, who had done extensive research and is generally accepted as the authority on Roblin history.
However, in an article by Wanamaker, entitled The Roblins…Revisited, they make the following statement: “John Roblin died before letters patent were issued for Lot Number 25. The Heir and Devisee Commission awarded the lot to John Roblin Jr. of Whitby, ‘As eldest son and heir at law of John Roblin deceased’ in July of 1829.”
The information given to me gives a birth date of about 1791 for John Roblin Junior. The birth date of Owen was about 1776. Owen is still living in 1829; from this document it must be concluded that Owen is not the older brother of John Roblin Junior.
Looking at the marriage of Owen Roblin Junior and Mary Ruttan, I have an approximate date of marriage of 1794. Even if Owen had been born in 1776, he would only have been 18 eyars old at the time of his marriage; this is unlikely. though girls married young at this time, boys did not. They had to be old enough and capable enough to take care of a family; 18 would be questionable. Owen was likely born before 1776.
One piece of information the Wanamakers did not have was the date of birth for Sarah Wessels; her baptism is recorded in the records of the Dutch reformed Church in Paramus. She was baptised July 5, 1761 and was probably born a few months before that date.
Her sister Arianntje was born in November of 1768 and was baptised one month later. Her brother Nicholas was baptised in 1759. If she had been born by that time she would have been baptised then as well. We know she was born circa 1760-1761. Sarah Wessels would have been 15 or 16 years old in 1776.
Looking at the other children in the family of John Roblin and Sarah, we find the following:
- Elizabeth Roblin married Seth Stevens in November 1791. (1)
To have married in 1791, Elizabeth would have had to have been born in 1776. - Sarah Roblin married James Wilson by or before 1793. (2)
Sarah needs to have been born about 1777 to be old enough to marry at this time. - Rebecca Roblin married Garret Van Horn in January 1794. (3)
To have been married in 1794, Rebecca would have to have been born in 1778.
We have Sarah Wessels at 15 or 16 years old in 1776 and th birth of three children about 1776, 1777, and 1778. there is no time for a birth date for Owen Roblin Junior here.
There has also been some question as to the existence of a son Owen for Owen Roblin Senior but there is evidence of his existence and of his age.
- Return of Disbanded Troops, 4th township (Adolphustown) October 5, 1784 lists Owen Roblin with one male and one boy over the age of ten.
- The 1786 Provisioning Lists, 4th Township between July 1 and August 31, 1786 lists Owen Roblin with one male and one boy over the age of ten.
- The old United Empire Loyalist list includes:
Roblin, Senr., Owen Loyalist
Roblin, Junr., Owen, son of Philip
Roblin, Owen P., sone of Owen, Senr., is 21 years of age (4)
Owen P. Roblin Junior, son of Owen Roblin Senior, was born about 1792–quite old enough to marry in 1794 and start a family.
Was there an Owen Roblin, son of John roblin and Sarah Wessels? But if John Junior was the eldest son, he would have to have been born in 1792 or 1793 and would not be the husband of Mary Ruttan. (Author’s note: I find no evidence of “this” Owen Roblin.)
The information we have is compelling and unless something else can be found or shown our information indicates that Owen P. Roblin, the husband of Mary Ruttan is the son of Owen Roblin Senior.
1. The Reverend John Stuart’s Anglican Parish Register Baptisms/Marriages/Funerals, Kingston, Upper Canada 1784-1811
2. James and Sarah Wilson are witnesses to the inventory of John Roblin’s estate in February 1793. She is listed as Sarah Wilson and as married 1792-1793.
3. Anglican Register of the Reverend John Langhorn, Rector of Ernestown 1787-1814
4. Land Board Mecklenbert, 1793, 200
This article was originally published in the June 2001 edition of Quinte KIN.
Each face has a story to tell
Seventh Town Historical Society volunteer researcher Darlene Walmsley admits to an obsession. “When I see an old family photograph, I feel compelled to know more about the people in the picture.”
For one photo in the society’s collection, there was very little to go on. All that was written on the back was “George and Matilda Ferguson and family”. In faint pencil on the front were the names of each pictured child. Starting with these clues, and working with census records, George and Matilda were found to be George H. and Sarah Matilda Ferguson of Rawdon. The children proved to be more challenging to find as the pencilled-in names seemed to be family nicknames. Some children were listed on the 1871 census and another group of children were found on the 1881 census – so the conclusion was that the first group of children had left home by the time the 1881 census was taken.
The Ferguson family photo.
Family migration
We were also able to discover some of the family’s movements over the years – living in Rawdon Township before 1871 and Prince Edward County (Consecon and Ameliasburgh) in 1872. By broadening our search through census records, we also learned that one of the sons, Rozel, migrated to Saskatchewan around 1910 and at least three other siblings moved to New York State.
Unexpected discoveries
Ferguson death records from 1872
There was a final, poignant discovery with the mysterious absence of a couple of children who were recorded on the census, but absent from the photo. A little more digging in death records revealed some interesting facts, including the devastating impact of dysentery when the family were living in Ameliasburgh:
- A daughter Sarah was listed on the 1871 Census and died at age 5 on 17 September 1872.
- A son, Arthur (not the Arthur in the photograph), also died at age 3 of dysentery. The Arthur pictured in the photo was born in 1881.
- The children’s grandmother also succumbed to dysentery at that time.
Name variations
The wide variation in name spellings is a common challenge for family researchers – not only were surnames often misspelled by record-keeping authorities, but the common names used by people sometimes did not match their legal or registered name. This family were no exception. We found a reference to a Fergison instead of Ferguson, and with the given names, we found that: Janie was Deborah Jane, Stinson was Louis Stinson, and Mollie was actually Mary Minerva.
Another fairly common practice was to re-use given names – whether due to an early death of a child or other reasons. (An extreme example is how George Foreman named all his children George.)
George and Sarah’s first-born child was Lewis Seymour who was born 6 April 1859 and died 16 Sept 1872. There is a Stinson identified in the photo whom we assume is Lewis Stinson born 4 January 1878. In the 1891 Census there is a Louis aged 13, which seems to be a match. The family had named two of their sons Louis/Lewis. Lewis Stinson also has a WW1 registration with US address. He died 28 Mar 1950 in Clyde, New York, USA.
The Seymour middle name was recycled for their son Henry, who is called Harry in the photo. Complicating things further, another Lewis Stinson Ferguson (no relation to this family) was born to a George Ferguson in PEC in 1884. His mother was Netty Mack.
The name Arthur was given three times: first to the child who died in 1872, another Arthur (George Arthur) who was born in May 1880. This Arthur married Emma Lee in Toronto, and registered for WW1 in Connecticut, USA. The third Arthur (in the photograph) was born in 1881.
It’s said a photo is worth a 1,000 words. This remarkable photograph surely supports that theory.