The
Nicholas Robbins Family
EDWARD K. ROBBINS
EDWARD K. ROBBINS (A biographical summary of the subject and his family abstracted from Robbins family records, related census data and an obituary) Re: The Nicholas Robbins Family, No. 7.47.9
Edward K. Robbins was born in Exeter, Maine on August 2, 1837, the ninth-born child of James and Mary (Treadwell) Robbins. As a young man, he migrated to the New York City area with several of his brothers, most of whom became builders on Long Island. In 1860 Edward married Adelaide A. Briggs of White Plains, New York. Later census records indicate that Adelaide was born in January, 1843 in New York State. Perhaps Edward and Adelaide resided in Maine for some period after marriage, son Richard being born in that State in 1862. By the time of the 1870 Census, the family had returned to White Plains where Edward was noted as a builder and head of a household which included Adelaide, Richard and a William Briggs, age 23, perhaps kin to Adelaide although no relationship is noted in the Census. This family's whereabouts were not discovered in the 1880 Census. In the Census of 1900 Edward and Adelaide were recorded as boarders in the household of Henrietta Halsey in Brooklyn, New York. Edward was again noted as a builder. That Census also notes that by 1900, Edward and Adelaide had been married 39
years and had two children, one of whom was still living.
According to an obituary in a Brooklyn newspaper, Edward K. Robbins died at his Brooklyn residence in early October, 1904, after a two year illness with Bright's Disease. The obituary notes Edward as a long time Brooklyn resident and a well known member of the Stuyvesant Heights Republican Club. His survivors were noted as wife Adelaide A. Robbins, son Richard D. Robbins, also of Brooklyn, two grandsons and a granddaughter.
Richard D. Robbins followed his father into the building profession. Around 1885 he married Eugenia Bogert. Eugenia was born in June, 1862 in New York, daughter of Henry and Helen Bogert. In the 1900 Census, Richard is recorded as a home builder, residing with Eugenia, three children and mother-in-law, Helen A. Bogert, in Brooklyn's 24th Ward. The children are noted as: Harold K. Robbins, born in December, 1885 in New York, in school; Helen D. Robbins, born in April, 1889 in New York, also in school; and Richard D. Robbins, Jr., born in December, 1897 in New York, at home. Apparently Eugenia's mother had died or moved elsewhere by 1910. Otherwise the family was still intact and living in Brooklyn that year. By the time of the 1920 Census, Richard had taken up farming and had moved with Eugenia and son Richard to Chester, Connecticut. By 1930 Richard, now a widower, was noted as a lodger in the home of Etta Davenport in Rockland, Sullivan County, New York. In the 1930 Census, Richard's occupation is given as "fishing guide".
Submitted by Lawrence G. Robbins, February, 2009.
Mr. Robbins may be contacted by email at boprobbins@yahoo.com.