Treasure Chest Thursday - Robbins Families in Arkansas

What a thrill it was for me discover information about the Robbins families in Arkansas in three past issues of “Madison CountyMusings.”  The biggest find was pages 9 through 25 complied and submitted by Lorine Ames in the 1983 Spring issue (volume II, number 1).  How I regret that I never connected with Lorine during her lifetime, but how grateful I am she published what she had gathered. 

  

Information new to me on page 11 was, “At Durham, Wash Co.,Ar. where the early Robbins Families settled, there is an old cemetery about 500 yds. east of White River and 1/8 mile north of school building.  Size approx. 60 to 70 lots.  On personal inspection in 1981, the only legible stone inscriptions were of three infants of Robert and Sara Robbins with dates 1844, 1847, and 1849. The only other family names were Maloy.” [sic]  I followed this up with a search on findagrave.com and found the cemetery listed under the name Malloy Cemetery.  Based on Lorine’s information, I added two more infants of Robert and Sara(h) Robbins to the listing and all three infants to my genealogy records.

Four more gems are mentioned on page 12.   The first of these is the “Williams and Hanna Families Manuscripts by David Hanna in State Library, Austin, Texas” [sic].  Naturally I'm planning to go take a look at that information in the near future because those are the surnames of men who "married into" the Robbins families.  They were also neighbors in Arkansas and Texas.  Some research that bears closer study mentions a possible link to Texas Ranger Captain Johnny Williams who donated the land for the Cherokee Hanna Cemetery.  I've already looked at the online catalog on Texas State Library website and found the call number for it.   

The second thing mentioned was the “Estate and Property Settlement of Enos Robbins ca 1860, in Williamson Co., Tx.” [sic]   Since I had not really focused on Enos, I went to the County Clerk's office in Georgetown, and paid a dollar a page for the documents.  I have really enjoyed going through them and of course will be blogging about them in the future.

A third is the McCord Cemetery, which I’ve now located on findagrave.com, “was also known as the Robbins Cemetery and may be found as such on death certificates of the 1920’s.”  The gravestone of Nancy, wife of Richard Robbins, that was still standing, but barely legible at the time of Lorine’s writing, has had a newer stone added that is legible.  Photos of both markers have been included on Nancy’s memorial page.

The very last line on page 12 mentions a book by Lloyd McConnell.  I now know there are several books by him I need to locate.  I also need to visit Madison and Washington Counties in Arkansas!  That lead me to look at the Fayetteville Public Library website.  There I found a Request for Research Form that I filled out and sent with a $15 check to their Grace Keith Genealogical Collection.  I have received a packet of information that includes a copies of

•  pages from Lloyd McConnell's "The Robbins of Washington County Arkansas",

•  a newspaper article about the McCord Cemetery,

•  information about land, deeds, marriage records, and other documents, and

• pages from the "Flashback", the local genealogical quarterly, with information about the Robbins.

All of this treasure is from the first three pages of Lorine's article.  As I continue studying it, I'm hopeful I'll find even more.  Then there are two more pages of information submitted by Lorine in Vol. 1, No. 4, Winter 1982.  They are about Enos Robbins and his daughter, Lucinda.

Even though these aren't my direct lines, they are part of my Robbins family who came from Washington and Madison Counties in Arkansas to the Milam and Williamson District in Texas.  Finding all of this information makes me feel as though I've struck gold!