Thursday, November 8, 2007

Family Focus: Francis Marion McRobie

Francis Marion McROBIE (John William) was born 19 May 1840 in Maryland. He died 15 Apr 1904. He is buried in the McRobie Cemetery on Green Glade Road in Swanton, Garrett County, Maryland.

Francis lived in Allegany County, Maryland. He was a farmer. He served in the Union Army in the American Civil War. Francis enlisted at the rank of Private on 19 Dec 1861 in the 3rd Potomac Home Brigade, Maryland Infantry, Company D. He mustered out at the rank of Private on 29 May 1865. Francis also served in the 12th Maryland Infantry (an emergency 100 days infantry, created to guard the B&O Railroad) from 25 Jul 1864 to 6 Nov 1864.

Sources for Francis:
1. 1850 Census
2. 1870 Census
3. 1900 Census
4. Civil War Service from Ancestry.com
5. Civil War Pension
6. Picture of Gravestone

Francis married Lucy McROBIE on 22 Jul 1865 in Allegany County, Maryland. Lucy was born on 18 Jun 1842 in Maryland. She was the daughter of William McROBIE and Sarah PAUGH. She died on 4 Sept 1922 in Maryland.

Lucy lived in Allegany County, Maryland.

Sources for Lucy:
1. Entry in Marriage Licenses of Allegany County
2. 1850 Census
3. 1870 Census
4. 1900 Census
5. 1910 Census

Francis and Lucy had the following children:
Flora Alice McROBIE was born 19 Mar 1867 in Maryland.
Virginia Elizabeth McROBIE was born 19 Jun 1868 in Maryland.
John William McROBIE was born 2 Feb 1871 in Maryland.
Thomas Allen McROBIE was born 24 Dec 1872 in Maryland.
Albert A McROBIE was born 3 Oct 1875 in Maryland.
Mary McROBIE was born 10 Oct 1880 in Maryland.

Family Focus: Abraham Archibald McRobie

Abraham Archibald McROBIE (John William) was born on 26 Feb 1836 in Maryland. He died 31 Dec 1917 in Altamont, Garrett County, Maryland. It is thought he is buried in the McRobie Cemetery on Green Glade Road in Swanton, Garrett County, Maryland.

Abraham lived in Allegany County, Maryland. He worked as a farmer. He also fought for the Union Army in the American Civil War. Abraham was mustered in at the rank of Private in the 3rd Regiment, Maryland, Infantry, Potomac Home Brigade, Company D, on 7 Dec 1861. He mustered out at the rank of Corporal on 29 May 1865. Abraham was taken prisoner on 29 Jun 1862 when the 3rd PHB engaged Confederate forces in Moorefield, Virginia (now West Virginia).

Records for Abraham:
1. 1850 Census
2. 1870 Census
3. 1880 Census
4. 1900 Census
5. 1910 Census
6. Entry in "The McCrobie/McRobie/McCroby Family 1761-1996" by Wilma Nuzum Sanders. Pg. 4, pg. 8.
7. Civil War Service from Ancestry.com
8. Civil War Service from National Park Service
9. Maryland Soldiers in the Civil War, Vol 1
10. Civil War Pension
11. Death Certificate
12. Entry in "Maryland's Garret County Graves" compiled by the Daughters of the American Revolution. Pg. 161.
13. Picture of Gravestone

Abraham married Nancy Catherine FRIEND on 26 May 1856. Nancy was born in 1840 in Mason County, Virginia. She died in 1916 in Altamont, Garrett County, Maryland. It is thought she is buried with her husband in the McRobie Cemetery on Green Glade Road, Swanton, Garrett County, Maryland.

Nancy lived in Mason County, Virginia, until about 1855. She lived in Allegany County, Maryland, after 1855.

Sources for Nancy:
1. Entry in Marriage Licenses of Allegany County
2. 1870 Census
3. 1880 Census
4. 1900 Census
5. 1910 Census
6. Entry in "The McCrobie/McRobie/McCroby Family 1761-1996" by Wilma Nuzum Sanders. Pg. 4, pg. 8.
7. Entry in "Maryland's Garret County Graves" compiled by the Daughters of the American Revolution. Pg. 161.

Abraham and Nancy had the following children:
Columbus Lafayette McROBIE was born 26 Aug 1857 in Maryland.
Harriett McROBIE was born in 1861 in Maryland.
Stella F. McROBIE was born in 1863 in Maryland.
Elizabeth J McROBIE was born in 1866 in Maryland.
Sarah Almeda McROBIE was born in 1868 in Maryland.
Mary Ellen McROBIE was born in 1868 in Maryland.
Thomas R McROBIE was born in 1871 in Maryland.
Alfred Elijah McROBIE was born in 1874 in Maryland.
Abraham Archibald McROBIE Jr. was born in 1877 in Maryland.


Abraham has been one of the easier ones to dig up. The one road block I've found, like most others, has been trying to find Nancy's parents. If anyone has any information on this, I'd love to see!

Friday, October 26, 2007

Pictures Pictures

So this really has nothing to do with genealogy, but I figured I could at least plug myself on my own blog right? I've been doing a lot of photo restoration and retouching lately and decided to make a gallery blog to showcase. Anyone who's interested can see it here -- > Picture Perfect. If you have a photo you want restored, just email me.

Friday, October 12, 2007

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.

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Family Focus: Eleanora Silena McRobie Kelley

Eleanora Silena McROBIE (John William) was born in 1834 in Maryland. She was the oldest child of Delilah Murphy. Her date of death and place of burial are currently unknown.

Eleanora lived in Allegany County, Maryland.

Here are the records for Eleanora:
1. 1850 Census. John McRobie Household.
2. 1870 Census. Eleanora is listed as "Ellen Kelley." She is head of the household (assumably because her husband has died), and living next door to her sister Hester and her father John, and a few doors down from her brother Francis.

Eleanora married Samuel J KELLEY on 17 Jun 1856. His date of birth and date of death are unknown.

Records for Samuel:
1. Marriage Record.

Eleanora and Samuel had the following children:
Delilah L KELLEY was born in 1858 in Maryland.
David KELLEY was born in 1860 in Maryland.
Elizabeth KELLEY was born in 1862 in Maryland.
Roda A KELLEY was born in 1864 in Maryland.


Unfortunately I have found very little information on Eleanora, and almost nothing on Samuel. I have looked for the children in later records and still haven't managed to find them. I believe that Eleanora most likely remarried and that her and her children are listed with a new last name. If anyone knows of something that I missed, I would love to see it. I haven't seen any trees or charts that list even Eleanora's children.

Friday, September 28, 2007

Family Focus: Malinda Jane McRobie Kight

Malinda Jane McROBIE was born in 20 Apr 1829 in Maryland. Malinda was the daughter of John William and his second wife. It's thought that his second wife died in childbirth or shortly after Malinda was born. Malinda is the only child to live to a late age out of John's second wife's children. She died on 30 Apr 1896. She is buried with her husband in the Kight Cemetery on Maplewood Farm in New Creek, Mineral County, West Virginia.

Malinda lived in Allegany County, Maryland until 1850 and in Preston County, West Virginia, after 1870.

Here are the records I have for Malinda:
1850 Census
1870 Census
1880 Census
Death Register
Cemetery Transcription


Malinda married Henry Thomas KIGHT III in 1850. Henry was born on 12 Nov 1828 in Maryland. He died on 25 Aug 1910 in Mineral County, West Virginia. He was the son of Henry Thomas KIGHT II and Sarah SHARPLESS. He is buried with his wife in Kight Cemetery on Maplewood Farm in New Creek, Mineral County, West Virginia.

Henry lived in Allegany County, Maryland, until about 1866. He lived in Preston County, West Virginia, after about 1866. He worked as a farmer.

Here are the records for Henry:
Marriage Record from Ancestry.com
1870 Census
1880 Census
1910 Census
Cemetery Transcription

Malinda and Henry had the following children:
Percilla Ann KIGHT was born 29 Jun 1851 in Maryland.
Ezra KIGHT was born 6 Nov 1852 in Maryland.
Sara Frances KIGHT was born in 1854 in Maryland.
Mary Ellen KIGHT was born in 1855 in Maryland.
John Cain KIGHT was born in 1857 in Maryland.
William Sharpless KIGHT was born in 1859 in Maryland.
Benjamin C KIGHT was born in 1860 in Maryland.
Rebecca Jane KIGHT was born in 1863 in Maryland.
Lydia Margaret KIGHT was born in 1864 in Maryland.
Henry Johnson KIGHT was born in 2 Oct 1866 in Maryland.
Jacob Rotruck KIGHT was born in 12 Apr 1868 in Virginia.
Victoria Florence KIGHT was born in 29 Mar 1870 in Virginia.
Sylvia Leanna KIGHT was born in 4 Jul 1872 in Claysville, Mineral County, West Virginia.
Bailey Carlton KIGHT was born 11 Jul 1874 in Mineral County, West Virginia.

Saturday, September 8, 2007

Family Focus: Andrew McRobie

So I've been doing so much research these past few weeks, I wasn't even sure how to go about presenting it. First things first, I've found an awesome site that provides vital records for most West Virginian counties. Through this, I've managed to find birth registers, marriage registers, and death certificates (all scanned originals). The site is: http://www.wvculture.org. It's been an amazing wealth of information.


So I've decided to slowly focus on one person and their family at a time. Starting with John William's line, this post will be about his oldest son Andrew.

Andrew's mother was John William's first wife. Her name is still unknown. He was born in 1816 in Maryland. She died sometime before 1823. It is unknown if she had other children after Andrew, although the 7 year gap makes it plausible.

Finding records for Andrew has proven to be a little difficult so some of these records are pure speculation.

1. There is an Andrew McRoby that appears on the 1840 Census. Since the names of members of households weren't listed in 1840, we can't be 100% positive, but I'm wagering an educated guess that this is John's Andrew and not Elisha's Andrew.
2. Andrew is counted twice on the 1860 census.
3. Andrew served in the 3rd West Virginia Cavalry in the Civil War.
4. I also found a record (noted in a previous post) for an Andrew McRoby buried in Arlington National Cemetery that served in the West Virginia Cavalry and died during the Civil War.

PLEASE NOTE: I have no confirmation that the Andrew buried in Arlington National Cemetery is the same as John's Andrew. In fact, it does contradict some previous research, but still I feel it shouldn't be ruled out. Andrew does not appear on any censuses after 1860 (including the Veteran's schedules). It is a plausible explanation, albeit, not a confirmed one.

Andrew had five children with an unknown wife:
Archibald (born in 1839)
Daniel (born in 1843)
Jane* (born in 1845)
Issac (born in 1847)
William (born in 1849)

*Jane is not found on any census records but is listed in Wilma Sander's McRobie Genealogy and "The Burbach-Poorbaugh-Purbaugh Family in America 1771-1974" as the daughter of Andrew. So far I have not seen a record, nor talked to anyone, that would contradict these sources.

If anyone would like specific sourcing information and/or would like to see any documents, I am glad to share whatever I have. Just shoot me and email. Also, I'd like to make clear that this research is in no way infallible. If anyone has information to contradict it, I'm open to all possibilities.

Happy hunting!