Update on Descendants of Reuben Robblee and Phebe Austin

Once again, our fellow researcher Cindy Walcott has updated her family history on the descendants of Reuben Robblee and his wife Phebe Austin. In sharing the results of her most recent compilation, Cindy shared the following:

In the early days of the collaboration among Robblee/Roblee/Rublee cousins, it felt like each bit of information was so hard won. A breakthrough was finding George W. Carpenter’s manuscript on the Robblee family. This I obtained when I asked a cousin, Marianne Conlee, who lived near Salt Lake City, to see if she could obtain it from the Family History Library. Marianne’s husband was a Rublee descendant. What a thrill it was to receive it though the US Mail! Over the years that followed, several versions of this manuscript surfaced; I think I have three versions. George Wayland Carpenter (1901-1976) was a descendant of Reuben Robblee, his grandmother being Cynthia Amelia (Roblee) Carr. He was missionary to the (then) Belgian Congo. He did not marry. After he retired to Brant Lake, NY, he apparently became interested in genealogy, to our benefit. His work contains a few mistakes, but by and large is remarkably accurate. We have also benefitted from other family-generated manuscripts, notably one by Lenore Roblee (1869-1955). A few Bible records have emerged too!

For many years, we had a very active Rootsweb mailing list. We eagerly shared each little bit of information we found. We shared our theories, our speculations. We even gathered in person one year, in Bennington, VT. From there, some of us made a pilgrimage over to Granville, NY. A couple of years before that, I met cousin Jim Roblee – whom I had never met in person – in Granville. We visited graveyards, the Washington Co. Archives, the Granville Historian, and the Truthville Baptist church. We used the US mail to share copies of documents we found. Yes, I still have hard copies in folders.

Fast forward many years — I began the update on the descendants of Reuben Robblee a little over a month ago, thinking I would just breeze through, feeling that my last update, in 2018, was pretty comprehensive.

But Reuben left so many descendants! And the internet keeps burgeoning! A few things that have happened in the last several years that have been helpful in adding to the store of knowledge about Reuben’s descendants.

• New York Vital Records from about 1880 have become publicly available;

• New York Probate Records are more available on-line;

• Several free and paid newspapers sites have added many, many New York newspapers, and newspapers from other states of interest.

So yes, this is a significant update. Many, many obituaries and other details have been added. I hope that cousins – known and unknown – will find some benefit. Please be in touch if you find errors or have something to add. I look forward to hearing from you.

And don’t forget, all of those direct line male descendants out there, consider participating in our YDNA study. We have a definite brick wall in Huntington, Long Island in the 1730s. I’d love to break through that in my lifetime. Time marches on. . . .

The Descendants of Reuben Robblee and his wife Phebe Austin of Dutchess Co., NY, Lanesborough, MA and Granville, NY
(September 2021 revision, Adobe PDF – 3.62 MB)

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2 Responses to Update on Descendants of Reuben Robblee and Phebe Austin

  1. Doug Roblee says:

    Very informative.I will forever appreciate the patience and investigation skills of people like yourself and Cindy Walcott.

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