John Allen
Mary Bacon
 
Rowland Robinson
Mary Allen
 
 
John
 
Joseph
 
Elizabeth
 
Margaret
 
Sarah
 
Rowland
 
Mercy
 
William
 
Mary
 
Rowland
 
Sarah
 
Ruth
 
Martha Potter
Gov. William Robinson (bolded above)
Abigail Gardiner Hazard
   
 
4 others
 
Rowland
Anstis Gardiner
 
7 others
 
Christopher Robinson
Rhuhanna Champlin
 
 
Abigail
 
Christopher
 
George
 
Elizabeth
 
William
 
Jesse
 
Robert
 
Hannah
 
Matthew
 
Mary (Seager) Potter
Matthew Robinson (bolded above)
Mary Seager Potter
   
 
John
Rowland
Samuel
Maria
Frances
William
Sarah
Edward
Hannah
S. Ayrault

Above diagram best viewed if monitor displays at least 1024x768 pixels with medium text size
Click on blue names to move through family trees above.
Personal Information and photo links below :
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Hannah's Poems

The above tree has branches extending backward in time through Scottish and English kings to the first century A.D. :

Robinson (starting 1700 AD) <-- Gardiner (starting 1450 AD) <-- Beaumont (1430 AD) <-- De Neville (starting 1180 AD)
    Children of Matthew Robinson with both his wives. (summary, using all sources) :
  1. John P. Robinson, born 1799 (of Matthew's first wife, birthdate from Hazard [1]), a twin, died 1801, aged 2 years
  2. Rowland Robinson, born 1799 (of Matthew's first wife, birthdate from Hazard [1]), a twin, married 1834; died 1859, aged 60 years; left children
  3. Samuel S., born 1801 (oldest child of Matthew's first wife, birthdate from Hazard [1]); married 1825; died 1874, aged 73 years; left children
  4. William C. Robinson. Hazard states that William was born 1806; died 1827, aged 21 years. This agrees with the Rhode Island Cemetery index which lists a William C. Robinson (1806-1827) buried in the Riverside Cemetery, High Street, Wakefield. If we believe these and the following dates, William is the first child by Matthew's 2nd wife. The "C" is probably "Champlin", and there were at least two other persons in the family with this name.
  5. Maria, was never married. Hazard [1] claims Maria was born 1803 and died 1831, age 27. An obituary from 6 May 1834 states she died in Baltimore "on the 23d [April?]....aged 27", implying she was born 1806-7. Also, if we believe the 1806 birthdate for Maria's brother William, then Maria must have been born in 1807, and soon before 23 April. Maria is likely buried in Maryland, where she died.
  6. Edward W. Robinson, born 1809; married 1835; had children (according to Hazard). An Edward W. Robinson is listed in the 1880 Rhode Island census as having been born in 1809, with wife Julia A. Robinson, who was born about 1821 in New York, living in Baltimore. He is also listed in the 1870 Baltimore census (born 1810c in R.I.) living with his wife, 14-year-old daughter Fannie and 2 unrelated people. A possible photo of Edward
  7. Frances Wanton Robinson ; married Benjamin Balch. Hazard [1] states Frrances was born 1804 and died 1845, aged 41 years. The Rhode Island Cemetery index lists a Frances W. Balch (born 1812c, died 16 Jun 1845) buried in Grace Episcopal Cemetery, Elmwood Avenue at Broad Street, Providence. Note that the obituary of sister Maria states that Maria (born 1806-7) was the oldest daughter of Matthew Robinson. Also note that the 1810 census lists only one daughter between ages 0 and 9 (Maria was the oldest daughter), so Frances must have been born after 1810.
  8. Sarah Ann Robinson. Hazard [1] states that Sarah was born 1807 and died at age 25. The Rhode Island cemetery index lists a Sarah Anne Robinson, born "1815c", died "19 June 1843", the exact date of a dedicated poem, buried in Grace Church Cemetery, Elmwood Avenue at Broad Street, Providence, Rhode Island, in Plot 244, which contains members of the Balch family (see sister Frances above). Of course, 1843 minus 25 is 1818, rather than 1807. Also note that the 1810 census lists only one daughter between ages 0 and 9 (Maria was the oldest daughter), so Sarah must have been born after 1810.
    1850 census for Edward W. Robinson (using Mormon website)
    City : Baltimore, Maryland

    Name age sex profession Value of Real Estate Birthplace
    Edw W. Robinson 41 M Carptr $5000 R.I.
    Julia A. 31 F     N.Y.
    Louisa E. 12 F     Md.
    Cath e 6 F     Md.
    Mary Maddin 30 F     Irel d

    Penny Krogstrand writes as follows (using Ancestry.Com ; email 28 May 2011) :

    I did find two different "trees" for Edward Robinson. One indicated that he had two wives, one, Susan Perkins Bowen, who died in 1841 leaving Edward with a young daughter named Louisa Emily (1837-1871) and also had a deceased son, John E.B. (1834-1837) He then married Julia Ann Bates in 1942 and had two daughters with her, Kate (Cathe in the census below) Littig (1843-1858) and Fannie (1856-1883). This shows up in the 1850 census where Edward is listed as Edward N. Robinson. Note that the Maryland Birth Place is a Transcription Error. The original image has Edward's birth place as Rhode Island.

    This is what got me thinking that Hannah may have lived with Edward at some point in time. If Edwards' first wife were having health problems, Edward may have asked for Hannah to come live with his family, thus allowing her to meet and marry Edmund Landis in Baltimore. Hannah may have lived with Christy Potter or one of her older half-brothers for awhile before coming to Baltimore.

  9. S. Ayrault Robinson, born 1814 (according to Hazard's book, [1] below, though this date may be off a bit); not married. The Rhode Island cemetery index lists a Stephen Ayrault Robinson, born 1799, died 8 April 1877 buried in the Riverside Cemetery, High Street, Wakefield, who is likely the son of Matthew's brother William C. Robinson. There is also a Stephen Ayrault Robinson, cousin of Rowland Hazard (Rowland married Mary Peace), and this Stephen Ayrault Robinson was already in business with his cousin in 1789. Hence , the name "Stephen Ayrault Robinson" had apparently gained enough favorable notoriety that it was copied.
  10. Hannah Potter Robinson, most likely born 16 June 1820 in Kingston, Rhode Island. Hazard ( [1] below) claims that Hannah was born 1811, which remains physically possible as of July 2011. However, though Hazard's account is interesting, Hazard's account of Hannah's sisters Maria, Frances, and Sarah is not consistent with the 1810 and 1820 censuses, cemetery records, or other family records, and therefore is not trusted in Hannah's case. See a wider discussion of birth dates in Hannah's family below. Hazard [1] also claims that Hannah married an Edward Larned in 1841, but neither this marriage nor this man can be located in other records. However, there is a civil record of the marriage of Hannah to Edmund Landis in Baltimore in 1845; using handwritten records prior to 1879, "Edmund Landis" may indeed have appeared to be "Edward Larned". Hannah died of pneumonia 4 January 1901, in Chicago; Hannah's Cook County death certificate was obtained, but it does not reveal information on her parents. Hannah created a high-quality photo album and was the object of a book of poems.

    1850 census for Edmund Landis (using Mormon website)
    City : Baltimore, Maryland ; date : 7 September 1950

    Name age sex profession Value of R. E. Birthplace
    Edmd Landis 33 M Physn   Pa
    Hannah " 29 F     R.I.
    Edmd R. " 4 M     Md
    Thos " 2 M     "
    Mary Black 22 F     Irel d
    Margt Flood 12 F     Irel d
    Saml Harman (race: black) 18 M     Md

Evidence in favor of Edmund Landis marrying Hannah, daughter of Matthew Robinson
  1. The strongest evidence that the wife of Edmund Landis Sr was indeed the daughter of Matthew Robinson (Matthew being the grandson of William Robinson, deputy colonial Governor of RI) comes from signed poems in Hannah's book of poems. The book : Recollections of Olden times; Rowland Robinson and his unfortunate daughter (by Hazard) as well as Genealogies of the Potter Families and Their Descendants in America... identify Joseph S. Potter and Lucy S. Potter (possibly also "C.T.P." or Charles Thomas Potter) as children of Christy Potter, Christy being the brother of Mary Seager Potter, who married Matthew Robinson. This proves that the Hannah Robinson of published genealogies is the same as the Hannah Potter Robinson who married Edmund Landis.
  2. Memorial to Sarah most likely refers to Hannah's sister. Rhode Island cemetery index lists a Sarah Anne Robinson, born "1815c", died 19 June 1843, the exact date of a dedicated poem, buried in Grace Church Cemetery, Elmwood Avenue at Broad Street, Providence, Rhode Island, in Plot 244, which contains members of the Balch family (see sister Frances above).
  3. Hazard's book (Recollections of Olden times, [1] below), and the censuses of 1810 and 1820 agree on the number and sex distribution of people in the family of Matthew Robinson, so it is very likely the families are the same. However, Hazard's birth and death dates for Hannah's 3 sisters are not consistent with these censuses. Thus, both censuses reveal that Matthew's 3 youngest daughters were born after 1810 (see transcriptions above), whereas Hazard claims only the one youngest daughter (Hannah) was born after 1810. Thus, we should also mistrust Hazard's 1811 birthdate for Hannah.
  4. Thus, Hazard [1] claims that Hannah's sister Sarah was born 1807, but the Rhode Island cemetery index records her birth as "1815c", and if we accept the age difference between Sarah and Hannah given by Hazard, namely (1811 minus 1807 equals 4 years), then adding 4 to 1815 gives 1819, within one year of the birth for Hannah claimed in two US censuses and a testimonial by Hannah's son John W. Landis .
  5. Similarly, Hazard [1] claims that Hannah's sister Frances (Balch) was born 1804, but the Rhode Island Cemetery index records her birth as "1812c", and if we accept the age difference between Frances and Hannah given by Hazard (namely 1811 minus 1804 equals 7 years), and add that difference to 1812 (when Frances was apparently born), we get a birth year for Hannah of 1819, the same as when using Sarah above.
  6. Similarly, Hazard [1] claims that Hannah's sister Maria was born 1803. However, Maria's obituary from 6 May 1834 states she died at age 27, hence born about 1807. If we accept the age difference between Maria and Hannah given by Hazard (namely 1811 minus 1803, or 8 years), and add that difference to 1807 (when Maria was apparently born). we get a birth year for Hannah of 1815, which is not the same birthdate obtained by similar arithmetic tricks used for Frances and Sarah above. However, 1815 is Sarah's apparent birth year, and thus cannot also be Hannah's.
  7. The Hannah Potter Robinson who married Edmund Landis named her oldest son "Edmund Matthew Landis", her 2nd son "Roland Robinson Landis" (Matthew's great-grandfather was "Rowland Robinson"), and her 3rd son "John William Landis" (Matthew's grandfather was "William"). Hannah's oldest son named his first child "Ida Mary Landis" : Matthew's wife was Mary Seager Potter.
  8. Hannah's middle name "Potter" is the maiden name of Matthew's wife.
  9. The Hannah Potter Robinson who married Edmund Landis had a brother named E.W. Robinson ; one of Matthew's sons was named "Edward W."
Evidence against Edmund Landis marrying Hannah, daughter of Matthew Robinson
  1. The book : Hazard's book, Recollections of Olden times.... ( [1] below) gives the birth year of Matthew's daughter Hannah as 1811, whereas the 1850 and 1870 US censuses imply 1820, and a family testimonial gives 16 June 1820 as the birth date of the Hannah Potter Robinson who married Edmund Landis. (See [1] above)
  2. The above book : Recollections of Olden times; Rowland Robinson and his unfortunate daughter gives "Edward Larned" as the name of the man who married Matthew's daughter Hannah

Comparing birth dates from Hazard, burial records, and the 1810 and 1820 censuses :

We cannot assume that the birth dates in Hazard's book are all wrong by exactly the same number of years, since no forward or backward translation of Hazard's birthdates yields the age distribution in the 1820 census. Thus, Hazard's book states that the two oldest daughters were born in 1803 (for Maria) and 1804 (for Frances). The 1820 census shows only one daughter age 10 or more, which must then be the oldest daughter Maria. The next youngest daughter (Francis, born the following year according to Hazard) had not reached aged 10 at census time. Thus, Maria must be exactly 10 years old at census time (1820), and thus was born in 1810, 7 years later than Hazard claims. Hazard also claims Hannah to be born in 1811, and adding 7 years to 1811 suggests Hannah would have been born in 1818, which is close to that recorded for Hannah Robinson who married Edmund Landis. However, if we translate the birthdates of all 9 children by +7 years, then S. Ayrault would be born in 1814+7 = 1821 (and should not be counted in the 1820 census, and both William and Edward would have been less than 10 years old (the census counts only one such male)

Another check on birth dates uses burial records. Hannah's sistar Sarah, who died 19 June 1843 and is listed in Rhode Island cemetery index as born "1815c", buried in Grace Church Cemetery, Elmwood Avenue at Broad Street, Providence, Rhode Island, in Plot 244, which contains members of the Balch family. Similarly, Hannah's sister Francis is listed in Rhode Island cemetery index as "Francis W. Balch , born 1812c", 8 years after Hazard's date of 1804. Hannah's brother William is listed in the Rhode Island Cemetery index as "William C. Robinson (1806-1827)", the same birthdate claimed by Hazard.

I propose the following birthdates for Matthew's children, using all 3 sources, which matches the 1810 and 1820 censuses:

Rowland 1799 (from Hazard)
Samuel 1801 (from Hazard)
William 1804-6 (from Hazard, or alternately 1806 from his burial record)
Maria 1807 (from 1820 census [one female over 10 years old] and her obituary
Edward 1810 (from 1870 census; Hazard gives 1809)
Francis 1812 (from burial record)
Sarah 1815 (from burial record)
S. Ayrault 1818 (1820 census: one male less than 10 years old
Hannah in June 1820 (1850 and 1870 censuses and personal record)

Sources of the above information include:

  1. (* references in above text) the book Recollections of Olden times; Rowland Robinson and his unfortunate daughter, by Thomas R. Hazard, 1879 reprinted 1998. The book is interesting, but there are some details are undependable.
  2. Mormon records
  3. Potter Genealogy via Penny Krogstrand: Full name of the published genealogy is, "Genealogies of the Potter Families and Their Descendants in America to the Present Generation, with Historical and Biographical Sketches" Edited by Charles Edward Potter and copyright 1888 . Penny is a granddaughter of Arthur Platt Potter.
  4. There is a Robinson Genealogical Society, through professional genealogist Paul Bunnell, email "BunnellLoyalist@aol.com". This man wrote a generalogy for his friend, William Champlin Robinson
    William Champlin Robinson writes (email 30 March 2009) as follows :

    I have donated to the Rhode Island Historical society some very old manuscripts and documents. The donation of approx. 62 items received by B.Lippencott was 29 Dec.1995. They were folded and tied with linen string and in good condition (so says the receipt) Other items were donated in 1962 to the Maryland Historical society. Two letters from Edward W.Robinson and his mother Frances 1815. The Rhode Island collection of letters might be interesting to you. I don't remember exactly what was there,but lots of sea captain and Newport information. I did request they be returned to me if the Society thought they were not suitable --.

    I do have a box or two of old interesting history most of which deals with Oil Company,but lots of other stuff. I'm not sure,but I think Rhuama summered in Chester Nova Scotia and I have old photos of that "somewhere"!

    (in email 17 June 2004) Paul Bunnel comments on the above collection,
    which he used to write House of Robinson :

    "William Champlin Robinson III who lives here in Massachusetts..... had original letters going back to the 1700-1800's. The Hannah Robinson info came from a letter that William Champlin Sr. dated 22 April 1930 to the Newport Historical Society on the family genealogy. This part of the letter was not clear so that is why I placed "?" by her husbands name (Edward Larned). "

    (However, in email 10 June 2011)
    Paul Bunnel states that the above letter is on Pg. 212 of House of Robinson, which reads :

    [on stationery with the letterhead of Newport Historical Society]

    Date: 22 April 1930

    To:
    Mr. William C. Robinson
    Commerce & Water Streets
    Baltimore, Maryland

    I have just received a letter from the registrar of the Society of the Colonial Wars, and he gives me the following data. William Robinson was born January 26, 1693, in South Kingstown (then Kingstown), and died in South Kingstown, September 19, 1761. His wife was Abigail Gardiner (second wife) born 1700, and died in South Kingstown, May 22, 1772. They were married in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, March 2, 1727.

    With this information, and what I gave you in my last letter, you have the data for the Society of Colonial Wars

    Signed, (Mrs.) Annie Minsenberger

    Thus, even though data on the family of Matthew Robinson must have some source, nevertheless, the above letter contains no such data, and Paul Bunnell's claim in his 2004 email cannot be relied upon.
  5. Vital Record of Rhode Island, 21 volumes, by James Arnold (1906), hence not available to Thomas Hazard. This work is a well-indexed compilation of brief but useful announcements of Rhode Island births, marriages, and deaths which appeared in vintage newspapers and church records.