Note: This biography of William Robey, Jr. was written by me, and was taken from various family and historical sources. William Robey Jr. and Mary Collins Robey are my 4-great-grandparents. R. Campbell, ed.

Biography of William Robey, Jr.

Pioneer and Frontiersman

William Robey, Sr. and Jemima Lewis
William Robey, father of William Robey, Jr., was the son of William Robey and Lydia Robey, and was a descendant of an English Nobleman whose family traces back to the 1400's. He married Jemima Lewis, who was born in 1758/9 in Maryland to John Lewis and his first wife, Sarah Scarce/Searce/Scearce. To this union was born one son, William Robey Jr., on 30 November, 1777 in Hagerstown, Washington, Maryland.

William Robey was born about 1755 and fought in the Revolutionary War. According to researcher S. Robey Burns he "joined General George Rogers Clark's army to assist in the capture of the Northwest Territory". According to family tradition he and several other men went to Kentucky in 1780 and built cabins, intending to return to Maryland for the winter and bring their families to Kentucky the following Spring. Shortly before they finished their work they were attacked by Indians, and all but one of them, including William Robey, were killed.

Philip Moore, Jr.
William Robey III was 5 years old when his widowed mother, Jemima Lewis Robey, married Philip Moore in Hagerstown, Maryland on 10 December, 1782. Philip Moore Jr. was born in New Jersey between 1753 and 1761, the son of Philip Moore Sr. and Eleanor "Nelly" Evans. At the outbreak of the Revolution the Moore family moved from New Jersey to Maryland to keep the family safe. Philip Moore Senior, Philip Junior, and several other sons in the family, served in the Revolutionary War in the effort to free our nation from British control and to establish a new free nation.

Shortly after their marriage the Moore family, including Philip and Eleanor Moore, Philip Jr. and Jemima Moore, William Robey Jr., and other family members moved to Fayette County, Pennsylvania, where they remained about 15 years.

The Move to Ohio
Then in 1797 the extended family journeyed over the Allegheny Mountains and via the Ohio River to the Northwest Territories, now Scioto County, Ohio. Settling near what is now Portsmouth,in Washington Township, the Moores and William Robey were among the earliest settlers in the lower Ohio Valley. At that time William Robey was 19 years of age.

The Moores built a stone house near what is now Portsmouth, Ohio. Philip and Jemima Moore raised their four children and lived the remainder of their lives in that home. The Moore stone house is still standing and is now a museum owned by people with family connections to Philip Moore and William Robey. The Moore home became a center for early Methodism in the area. The first Methodist services documented in the area were held in the home of Philip and Jemima Moore. They hosted many circuit riders and gave them lodging and meals and a place to preach in the early days before a Methodist church was built. It is thought that Francis Asbury himself may have stayed in their home and preached in their parlor. This exposure to the Christian Gospel and Methodist faith had a life-long influence on William Robey and continues to this day in many of his descendants.

Jemima Moore died 26 December, 1821, and Philip followed her in death on September 23, 1823. Both are buried in the cemetery near their home.

Life In Portsmouth, Ohio
William Robey, like his parents and grandparents, had the true spirit of a pioneer. Four times during his long life he left the settled, secure areas of the country to help tame and settle the wilderness, the last two when he was past the age when one would normally want to leave the comforts of settled regions to start anew the clearing of trees, building of cabin, and breaking of the sod. As mentioned above, he first accompanied his family to Fayette County, Pennsylvania, as a child of five. After the move to the Scioto County area, undertaken when he was nearly 20, he lived there for 37 years. According to the Biographical and Genealogical Portrait of Stephenson County, Illinois, in a write-up about his son Levi,

As soon as old enough he engaged in boating on the Scioto and Ohio Rivers, and upon reaching manhood became the owner of several boats by which means he transported produce from Portsmouth to other points. During one of his expeditions he purchased a pony, and riding across the country visited his old friend, Daniel Boone, in Kentucky."

William Robey served in the military in Ohio. According to S. Robey Burns,

"he served under Benjamin Kendall in Ohio during the War of 1812 as ensign of the 1st Regt. of Militia of the County of Adams (from which Scioto Cou. was formed in 1801), according to his original commission, signed by Gen. Arthur St. Clair, governor of the Territory of the U.S., Northwest of the Ohio. His 1809 commission states that he was elected 2nd Lieut. of a troop of horse attached to 1st Regt., 2nd Brig., 2nd Div., of the Militia in Ohio.

William Robey was married to Mary Collins, daughter of John and Elizabeth Doherty Collins, about 1806. She was born January 16, 1791 in Washington City, West Virginia. She was a small child when her family moved to Scioto County, Ohio in 1796 from her birthplace of Washington City, West Virginia. To this union were born 12 children. Their children, Elizabeth, Jemima, William and Mary, died in early childhood, and were buried near the graves of their grandparents, Philip and Jemima Moore.

On To Illinois
William Robey and his family remained residents of Scioto County for 37 years until he and his family began their journey west to Illinois in 1834. At the time he began this third pioneering move he was about 57 years old. Under his leadership all of his children left home and familiar surroundings, and those who had married in Scioto County brought the families of their spouses. They made the trip via the Ohio, Mississippi and Illinois rivers, then moved overland using wagons drawn by oxen to complete the journey to what is now Stephenson County, Illinois. The Robey family was among the first white settlers in the area. After arriving in what is now Stephenson County, Illinois, according to the Biographical and Genealogical album, he:

"first stopped at Brewster Ferry, which now lies in Winslow Township, and renting the Brewster farm carried on agriculture and operated the ferry across the Pecatonica River until 1836. Afterward Mr. Robey made a claim in Buckeye Township, on the present site of the village of Cedarville. He secured his title as soon as the land came into the market and lived there several years, then crossing the Mississippi went down into Texas and located twelve or fourteen miles north of Austin and not far from Round Rock. There he improved the farm which he occupied until his death."

Down To Texas
Three of the Robey children remained in Illinois: Levi, William Waddell, and Cynthia, married to Hubbard Graves. William Robey was nearly 70 years old when he made this final pioneer move to new lands; his wife Mary was about 57. They were accompanied by their sons John, Thomas, and Francis, and daughters Elizabeth and Mary Jane. Within a few months of their arrival in Texas, tragedy struck. Their son Thomas and daughter Mary Jane succumbed to a fever which was epidemic in the region at the time. In 1870, in a letter to his nephew, William Moore of Portsmouth, Ohio, William Robey, then aged 92, wrote of the tragedy in these words:

I left Ohio in 34 and Illinois in April 47. My daughter Mary Jane Died Sept. 1st of the same year in her 17th year' Thomas died the following month the 2nd of bilious fevor in 27th year of his age. Asberry & Elizabeth narrowly escaped the same complaint."

Out of 12 children only their sons Levi, John Collins, William Waddell, and Francis Asbury Robey, and daughters Cynthia Graves and Elizabeth Harrell survived their parents. Beside the losses of six of their own children they also saw Mariah, wife of their son John and Annie, wife of Francis Asbury, die within a few weeks of each other in 1864.

Other privations faced the pioneer family in their new home in Texas as well. In the same letter as above, William Robey described his experience of the area in these words:

This county is infested with thieves & robbers more particularly since the late war. Nearly all the good horses are stolen & men are killed for two and halp in some instances. We have had an open dry winter & the prospects are unfavorable for a good crop year. Fruit already killed.

Their granddaughter, Louisa Robey Young, daughter of Levi and Almira Robey, who lived in Illinois, in a letter written in 1868, in sharing a memory of her grandparents, gives this interesting glimpse of the Robeys:

"Grandma looked old and feeble but was the same good old grandma she used to be when she used to answer so good naturedly the foolish prattling of a certain inquisitive granddaughter who I imagine used to be very inquisitive. Grand-pa was there too, looking old but not feeble like Grandma, and displaying much of the vivacity which used to prompt him to play many a little joke on Fannie and I."

The Last Journey
After 63 years of marriage, Mary Collins Robey died 29 October 1869 at the age of 78, after a long and painful illness. According to her obituary notice, "She was beloved and respected by a large circle of acquaintances and friends, and died in the hope of immortality and eternal life."

By the time of the 1870 census William Robey was living with his widowed son Francis and his four children. He outlived his wife Mary by nearly six years, dying 13 July 1875, at the age of 97 after falling outside and hitting his head on a stone. According to some family researchers, it was said of William Robey at his funeral, "There lies the last of the great frontiersmen." William and Mary Robey were lifelong Methodists, following in the Christian faith of their parents. They are buried in the Bratton Family Cemetery, Williamson County, Texas, near Round Rock, with many other members of their family.