Rounding the 20th Century

Hey everyone,

For those of you who think I might have disappeared, I'm still here! I know I haven't posted much in the way of research, but I have been slowly chipping away at it. I just rounded 1900 in John William's line, and I'm proud to announce I have over 550 descendants of John William alone. Slowly but surely they will make their way up here.

Also some exciting news: I just upgraded to Reunion 9 for my genealogy software. (Sadly, there's a serious lack of genealogy software options out there for Macs.) So not only am I busy adding more family members to my chart, I've also been busy updating my gedcom files.

Thanks so much for all the help of those who have contacted me with family info. All of it is much appreciated!

302 and Counting

So I've finally got around to putting all that research onto a descendant chart which can be downloaded here.

All 302 descendants on this list are confirmed. All of the dates are correct to the best of my knowledge. This list so far has been about 3 months in the making, so feel free to ask any questions you may have. As you can see I've slowly been posting on each individual family. I'm going to slow down on research a tad until I catch up with myself again. I'm also in the process of putting all of this, plus sourcing info, into a Gedcom file which I hope to post shortly.

Some helpful links:
Pat Thompson found a great website for looking up land records and deeds:
Check it out here!
It can be a little confusing at first, so if you need help let me know.

Notes So Far

Time for another head count. I now have on my list 205 confirmed direct descendants of William McRobie. This is based solely on census and marriage records. I'm going to take a break from censuses for a little while and focus on trying to confirm dates (birth dates, marriage dates, death dates...) for as many people as I can. I'm also in the middle of compiling Civil War information including: soldiers, regiments, battles, deaths, pensions, etc. That should be up here soon as well.

Here is the most recent descendant chart:
William_McRobie_Confirmed_Descendants.rtf

Here is the most recent gedcom:
William_McRobie_Descendants.ged

Some notes on these files:

Joseph McRobie is still not included, though I have talked to another researcher that has shown me evidence that he is actually John McRobie's and Mary Margaret Murphy's son. I am trying to collect a little more evidence, and hope to include this in the next round. Here is what she had to say:
" Joseph McRobie was the son of John (Josh) and Mary Margaret Murphy McRobie. This John was the son of Elisha McRobie. John (Josh) McRobie died Feb. 1858 and his wife died before 1860. John and Mary Margaret McRobie died in Allegany Co. WV. They had 8 children."

Jane McRobie is listed as a daughter of Andrew (son of John William). This information comes via another researcher that says to have found it in the Sanders book. There are no census records to confirm this.

All birthdates are approximate and based on census records. A lot of times ages will vary a few years from census to census as opposed to just adding 10 years. (i.e. A person will be listed as 26 on the 1860 census and 38 on the 1870 census.) I attribute this mostly to the enumerator mishearing, guessing, or being lazy. I have saved copies of all of the census records transcribed, if anyone would like to see them.

Head Count, 1840 Census, 1850 Census

So the current head count for direct descendants of William McRobie Sr. is at 367 (give or take a few). And this also doesn't include anyone that's currently living. However, very few of these people until recently were actually confirmed. I was just counting on everyone else's good research to pull through. So I've finally decided to sit down and confirm some more relatives and here's what I've slapped together (listed by household):

Text file: 1840_Census_Transcribed.rtf

Listed on the 1840 Census:
John William McRobie
Elisha Dewitt McRobie
William McRobie
Andrew McRobie (s/o John William)

Text file: 1850_Census_Transcribed.rtf

Listed on the 1850 Census:
John William McRobie Household
.....Delilah [51]
.....John [26]
.....Hugh [22]
.....Jane [21]
.....Silena [16]
.....Abraham [14]
.....Elisabeth [11]
.....Francis [10]
.....Hester [8]
.....Thomas [6]

Elisha Dewitt McRobie Household
.....Azenath [43]
.....Hannah [26]
.....Sarah [22]
.....Michael F [19]
.....Elisabeth [12]
.....Winfield [1]

William McRobie Household
.....Sarah [33]
.....Magdalene [10]
.....Ellen [8]
.....Lucy [6]
.....Rhoda [4]
.....Roland [2]
.....Rachel [1]

John McRobie Household
.....Mary [36]
.....Samuel [10]
.....William H [8]
.....John [6]
.....Henry C [5]
.....Francis [4]
.....Martha [3]
.....Hugh [1]

Andrew F McRobie Household
.....Elisabeth [26]
.....Harriet [1]

William P McRobie Household
.....Lucinda [27]
.....Columbia [1]

Some notes:
The 1840 census only lists the Heads of Households' name. Other than that, it lists the number of people in the household divided into age categories. By comparing the 1840 to the 1850 census, I was able to conclude who was who.

Figuring out which Andrew was which was slightly difficult. I believe that the Andrew McRobie in the 1840 census is the son of John William because he is already married at the time. Andrew F McRobie's (Elisha Dewitt's son's) wife would have only been 15 at the time, so this seems unlikely. Also I have a wedding date for them (though unconfirmed at the moment) in 1842. The first Andrew (John William's son) seems to disappear from the 1850 census. I've tried different variations of his name, and have searched in Virginia as well, and haven't found anything yet. If anyone has found this information let me know!

Also interesting to note, that William P McRobie (son of Elisha Dewitt) was living in Barbour County, Virginia in 1850. Barbour County was formed in 1843, and is now part of West Virginia. It's fairly close to the Maryland border, and definitely plausible that he had moved.



So the official confirmed relative count is now up to:
54