USA > New Hampshire > Genealogical and biographical records of American families, representative citizens: New Hampshire > Part 6
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"RESOLVED, that his memory will ever remain to the members of this Chapter, bright as the stars.
"RESOLVED, that a copy of these resolutions be presented to the bereaved wife and entered upon the records of ADAH CHAPTER.
JENNIE U. LANG CARRIE A. RICHARDSON WILLARD G. LANG Committee on Resolutions."
Dr. Pitman married, April 24, 1892, Ida M. Bunker, daughter of Milo W. and Mary E. (Pender- gast) Bunker, of Barnstead. (See Bunker Line).
Dr. and Mrs. Pitman were the parents of one child born in 1895 and died in infancy.
BUNKER
THE patronymic "Bunker" is derived from the French "bon coeur", meaning, "good heart". This name was given to the original bearer to denote his moral quality.
GEORGE BUNKER, son of Guillaume, or William Boncoeur, or Boncourt, is said to have been a native of Nancy, France, until the time of the persecution of the Huguenots, when he fled to England with his son George.
GEORGE BUNKER was made a freeman in Charles- town, Massachusetts, in 1634 and died in 1658. Ac- cording to "Wyman's Genealogies and Estates of Charlestown" he was the largest landholder in the town and one of its wealthiest citizens, his gift of $10,000 to Harvard College contributed materially to the foundation of that institution. He was owner of the famous "Bunker Hill" where there is a tablet erected to his memory.
REV. BENJAMIN BUNKER, son of George, was coadjutor to the Reverend Michael Wigglesworth, the foremost Boston minister of his time. He was one of the earliest graduates of Harvard.
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JAMES BUNKER, the progenitor of this line in New Hampshire, was probably the son of Benjamin Bunker and was of Dover, New Hampshire, in 1648. He is associated with the history of the Bunker Garrison House in 1694 at Oyster River in Dover, now Durham, New Hampshire.
DODAVAH BUNKER was born in 1744 and is a descendant of James Bunker. He was engaged in farming in Barnstead, New Hampshire, in 1774. He had eleven children.
ANDREW BUNKER, was born in 1783 in Barnstead, son of Dodavah Bunker. He married Rebecca Proctor in 1812 and they were the parents of three children: Hollis, Panthea and Andrew.
HOLLIS BUNKER, son of Andrew and Rebecca (Proctor) Bunker, was of Barnstead until 1865, when he with his wife and three children, and other Barnstead people with their families, removed to Illinois; where after the ravages of the Civil War they were lured to that new and vast farming country taking along with them most of their household
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possessions and their farming equipment. In 1874 he was in Nebraska and experienced the grasshopper scourge of that year. Some of his family had traveled there from Illinois in a prairie schooner. He returned to New Hampshire in 1884. He married in 1841, Mary Tuttle of Barnstead and had three children: Rebecca, Sarah and Milo, all born in Barnstead. Sarah married John Eyman of Illinois and died in Columbus, Nebraska, in 1879, leaving one son. Rebecca married Erastus Glines of Bow, New Hamp- shire, but continued to live in the West with her family of five children.
MILO BUNKER, son of Hollis and Mary (Tuttle) Bunker, was born in Barnstead, March 8, 1848, and died October 25, 1906. He went West with his parents in 1865 and returned to New Hampshire in 1884.
He married in Harristown, Illinois, February 12, 1871, Mary Ellen, daughter of John H. and Lucy A. (Henderson) Pendergast of Barnstead. She was born in Barnstead, August 6, 1851, and died in Columbus, Nebraska, May 21, 1879. Miss Nancy Pendergast, of
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Barnstead, the great-aunt of Mary Ellen Pendergast, was probably the oldest living army nurse of the Civil War. She died in 1910, at the age of ninety years and was never married.
Milo and Mary Ellen (Pendergast) Bunker were the parents of the following children:
(1) Ida May, of whom further.
(2) Florence, born in Austin, Illinois, February 23, 1873, died in Manchester, New Hampshire, December 31, 1923. Was never married.
IDA MAY BUNKER, daughter of Milo and Mary Ellen (Pendergast) Bunker, was born in Austin, Macon County, Illinois, January 10, 1872. When she was twelve years of age, her father and grand-parents returned to Barnstead. She had completed her edu- cation in these schools at the age of sixteen and began teaching in the district schools of Barnstead. She taught two years before she attended Plymouth Normal for one year, after which she again taught in Barnstead until she was married in 1892.
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She became a member of Adah Chapter, No. 9, Order of the Eastern Star of Candia, New Hamp- shire, in 1895 and was Worthy Matron of this Chapter in 1901-1902 and Grand Martha in 1902. She is an active member of the First Congregational Church of Manchester.
Ida May Bunker married, April 24, 1892, Arthur J. Pitman, M. D. (See Pitman Line).
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HE surname Robbins is of ancient origin and like Robinson, is derived from the medieval diminutive Robin, a nickname for Robert.
NICHOLAS ROBBINS, the immigrant ancestor of the family hereinafter under consideration, was one of the first proprietors of Bridgewater, Massachusetts, though no record of his residence there is found. He was a shoemaker and owned land in Cambridge, which he sold about 1638. In the same year he re- moved to Duxbury, Massachusetts, where he is on record as having bought a tract of land on October 4, 1638. His will, which is dated December 9, 1650, mentions his wife and children. Nicholas Robbins married Ann, surname unknown.
JOHN ROBBINS, son of Nicholas and Ann Robbins, was living in Duxbury in 1661 and later removed to Bridgewater. He married, December 14, 1665, Jehosobeth Jourdaine.
JEDUTHAN ROBBINS, son of John and Jehosobeth (Jourdaine) Robbins, was born January 11, 1667, in Bridgewater. He married in 1694, Hannah Pratt.
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LEMUEL ROBINS, son of Jeduthan and Hannah (Pratt) Robbins, was the first to change the spelling of the name. He was born April 20, 1715, in Plympton, Massachusetts, and died in 1786. He mar- ried, November 15, 1737, Esther Dunham, born in 1720, died in 1770, daughter of Michajah and Elizabeth (Lazell) Dunham.
EPHRAIM ROBINS, son of Lemuel and Esther (Dunham) Robins, was born in Sutton, Massa- chusetts, March 7, 1752, and died in Hartford, Connecticut, June 30, 1829. Record of him is found in Windham, Connecticut, in 1772, in Mansfield, Connecticut, in 1776, and in Suffield, Connecticut, in 1786. He was engaged in various business enterprises until 1798, when he retired and removed to Hartford, Connecticut, where he became an influential man. In the "History of Hartford County, Connecticut", by J. Hammond Trumbull, the fol- lowing record of him is found: "Deacon Ephraim Robins supplied the pulpit at the First Baptist Church of Hartford, after 1801."
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Ephraim Robins married Abigail Caulkins, daughter of Solomon and Abigail (Skiff) Caulkins.
GURDON CAULKINS ROBINS, son of Ephraim and Abigail (Caulkins) Robins, was born in Suffield, Connecticut, February 6, 1786, and died in Hartford, Connecticut, February 4, 1864. He was a resident of Hartford and later of East Windsor, Connecticut.
He married, October 7, 1809, Julia, daughter of Captain Timothy and Sarah (Collins) Savage of Middletown, Upper Houses, now Cromwell, Con- necticut.
REVEREND HENRY EPHRAIM ROBINS, son of Gurdon Caulkins and Julia (Savage) Robins, was born September 30, 1827, in Hartford and died April 23, 1917, at the home of his daughter in Greenfield, Massachusetts.
He was educated at the Connecticut Literary Institute in Suffield and at Fairmount Theological Seminary, Ohio, and was graduated from Newton Theological Seminary in 1861. After his ordination
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to the Baptist Ministry in Hartford, December 6, 1861, he became pastor of the Central Baptist Church, Newport, Rhode Island, where he remained until 1867. From 1867-1873 the Reverend Mr. Robins was pastor of the First Baptist Church of Rochester, New York.
In 1873, he was called to the presidency of Colby University, Waterville, Maine, and until 1882 suc- cessfully administered the affairs of the College. In that year he resigned and became professor of Christian Ethics at Rochester Theological Seminary, now The Colgate-Rochester Divinity School, but because of ill health was unable to engage in the active work of teaching. He continued to occupy the chair of Christian Ethics until 1903.
He received the honorary degree of D. D. from the University of Rochester in 1868 and in 1890, Colby University conferred upon him the degree of LL. D.
From 1903 to 1917, Dr. Robins was engaged in literary work, and wrote several excellent works on Christian Ethics and Theology. Among his more
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important compositions may be mentioned the fol- lowing: "Harmony of Ethics with Theology" (1891); "The Christian Idea of Education as Dis- tinguished from the Secular Idea of Education" (1895), and "Ethics of the Christian Life" (1904).
Dr. Robins was also a brilliant business man and in 1873, while in Rochester, organized an investment business for the investment of his private means and those of members of his family. This business was later taken over by his son, who conducted it suc- cessfully until his death in 1923. (See Kingman Nott Robins) .
From the address of President A. H. Strong of the Rochester Theological Seminary:
"Seldom has a church been better prepared to receive a new pastor, than this church was pre- pared to call and to welcome, as its eighth pastor, the Reverend Henry E. Robins, D. D., of Newport, Rhode Island. Mature in his convic- tions, of fervid nature, with business experience, great executive ability and unwavering strength of will, Doctor Robins seemed to have come to
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the kingdom for just such a time as this. He labored with us for five intense years, when he left us to become President of Colby University in the State of Maine. I cannot praise too highly the vigor of the spirituality of his ministry. Those five years left permanent impress upon Christian character. In 1869 there was a new stirring in the hearts of God's people, and 112 were added to the church. The chief external mark of progress was the building of the rear part of a new house of worship."
The following resolution was adopted upon Dr. Robins' resignation as president of Colby University:
"At a meeting of the Board of Trustees of Colby University held in Waterville, February 14, 1882, the following communication from President Robins was received:
"To the Honorable, the Board of Trustees of Colby University
"Gentlemen:
"The purpose of this communication has already been made known to you by the terms
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of the call in compliance with which you are here assembled.
"Accepting, at your request, a leave of absence from my post from the close of the first session of the last academical year, I returned to my College duties, as you are aware at the last Com- mencement. So much was I encouraged by the gain in strength which I had made, that I arranged my affairs for an indefinite continuance of my relation to the college. During the first two months of the opening session of the current academical year, my health seemed finer than for the period of a year before I was compelled to suspend work. But after that time vigor gradually declined under the exacting demands of my office, until I was forced, about one week after the beginning of the second (short) session to give up the daily recitations of the Seniors in
Political Economy to Dr. Smith who kindly con- sented to assume the burden, and to confine myself to the work of general administration. I had previously communicated to certain mem- bers of the Board my fear that I should be again forced to succumb, and my conviction that in
-
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such case the best course for me and the interests involved would be an immediate severance of my connection with the College. My subsequent experience has confirmed me in my fear and in my conviction. I am persuaded that even if my health should be measurably restored by a rest of still longer duration, it would not be prudent for me ever again to assume so weighty responsi- bilities which require for their proper discharge the best and constant efforts of a vigorous man, not to say of two men in one.
"I have to beg, therefore, and not without profound sensibility that you will appoint a Committee to arrange the detail of my release from the office with which you have so long honored me. How I have discharged its duties, it is not for me to judge, it is fitting that I should say only that I have done all that was in my power to advance the high interests committed to my trusts. Let me add that having put so many of the best years of my life into the work of the College, I cannot fail to be deeply con- cerned hereafter for its Welfare.
"Will the members of the Board accept my
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thanks for all the courtesies which I have received at their hands.
Very resp'y, Your obedient servant,
HENRY E. ROBINS.
Waterville, Maine, February 14, 1882."
"The Communication was referred to a Com- mittee consisting of Messrs. Butler, Ricker and Small - which Committee subsequently made the following report:
"The Board of Trustees of Colby University to Rev. Henry E. Robins, D. D.
"Honored and Dear Sir:
"Permit us to tender to you the subjoined expression of the sentiments and reflections which the event of the hour has awakened.
"With unfeigned regret the Trustees have voted to accept your resignation of the Presi- dency of Colby University. We deplore the recurrence of such a failure of health as con- strains you unconditionally to surrender this trust, and to retire from a sphere of usefulness
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so congenial to your tastes and to which you have proved yourself so well adapted. We regard it as a severe affliction, that our cherished Institution and the cause of sound learning and Christian culture should thus be deprived of the services of one whose achievements have placed him among our most successful educators.
"You assumed the Presidency of our Uni- versity at a critical epoch. The currents of opinion and the concurrence of events were demanding a progressive movement, a higher aim, more thorough work, and more compre- hensive discipline. You brought to this position a clear and lofty ideal of the legitimate purpose and mission of such an institution, and definite views respecting the means and methods by which they may be accomplished. To the pursuit of these ends you have devoted yourself with an enthusiasm and persistency which have excited the admiration of the friends of the University, lifted it in the estimation and confidence of the public and rendered the period of your Presi- dency one of unprecedented progress. Your efforts to raise the standard of scholarship and of moral training and to produce a sound sym- metrical character by the proper combination
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of intellectual and Christian culture have met with gratifying success. The fervid enunciation of your views has often stirred deeply the spirits of the friends of liberal learning, and your administration has demonstrated the feasi- bility of those views and the manner in which they may be carried out.
"It fills us with sorrow that you should be compelled to abandon this enterprise while the tide of success is still rising, and that our official intercourse which your spirit and bear- ing have always rendered delightful should be interrupted. We trust that rest may restore you completely to health, and that for you a life work may be consummated which, in quality and proportions may full match its beginning."
The following resolution was adopted by the Board of Trustees of Colby College on the death of Dr. Robins:
"At the spring meeting of the Board of Trustees of Colby College, 1917, announcement was made of the death of a former President of the University, Dr. Henry E. Robins.
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"Dr. Edwin C. Whittemore, Dr. Charles E. Owen and Mr. William C. Crawford were appointed a Committee to draft a resolution con- cerning the life and service of Dr. Robins.
"Subsequently the following minute was approved:
"The Trustees of Colby College desire to express their keen regret at the death of Dr. Henry E. Robins, who from the year 1873 to 1882 was the efficient President of this College. At his resignation the Trustees spread upon the record their high appreciation of the work which he did in the development of the College and of his high character and influence as an educator of lofty Christian ideals. At that time, however, it was only dimly seen that with the administra- tion of President Robins the College had taken a new departure and was facing a new future.
"Dr. Robins speedily won and always kept the entire confidence of Christian business men and in such confidence they made large material contributions to the College. This made possible the broadening of courses in education but the supreme desire of the President was that the
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moral life of the College should be kept on the highest plane. He regarded himself as charged with an almost parental responsibility for the students committed to his care.
"Of the work of President Robins, President Albion W. Small said, 'the progress, plans, and improvements of the later years are developments of the policy that was then proposed.' One of those projects was the endowment of three academies in different parts of the State which should be affiliated with Colby and in this Presi- dent Robins took a leading and indispensable part.
"After his withdrawal from Colby as a measure of health returned President Robins became a teacher in Rochester Theological Seminary and was the author of important books in Christian Ethics and Theology. His work in accord with the language of the Trustees in the resolution of 1882 was consummated in quality and proportion which matched its eminent beginning.
"The Trustees of Colby College would express their unanimous appreciation of the long and important service of this eminent educator,
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powerful preacher and great Christian and would express to his family their utmost sympathy."
Reverend Dr. J. W. A. Stewart of Rochester, for many years Dr. Robins' pastor and intimate friend writes the following:
"As Dr. Strong remarks, Dr. Robins was 'of fervid nature'. He could not be half-hearted about anything; he must give himself wholly or not at all. He lived the strenuous life. Con- sequently his strength was well spent when he was only about sixty years of age. Through great care he lived on thirty years more, reading, writing, receiving friends, going out to church and to mix with friends, eager in conversation, interested in politics and world movements, supremely interested in ethics and theology, and in the work of the church at home and abroad. One came away from an hour's talk with him in his study, stimulated, informed, elevated. Though not large in stature he was a man of marked dignity in appearance and deportment. No one would think of trifling with him. He was possessed of rich intelligence; a talk with him
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was always worth while. The outstanding thing about him was his moral character and his religious life. As pastor it was a great boon to have a man like him in the church. It might be said that he almost ruled the church by the in- fluence of his character and the weight of his wisdom and his testimony. He enriched the life of many by their fellowship with him. He com- manded respect from all who knew him. He was genuinely 'a man of God'. I am always thankful that I had him for a friend. Not many like him."
Reverend Dr. Henry Ephraim Robins married (first), August 11, 1864, Martha J. Bird, born September 9, 1828, and died July 26, 1867. They were the parents of Martha Robins, born July 12, 1867, and married, September 15, 1910, Augustine Washington Esleeck of Greenfield, Massachusetts. Martha J. Bird was the daughter of the Reverend Isaac and Ann (Parker) Bird.
Dr. Robins married (second), September 4, 1872, Margaret, daughter of Professor John F. and Catherine Elizabeth (Sayles) Richardson. She died July 11, 1873.
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Dr. Robins married (third), August 7, 1878, Cordelia Ewell, born in Bath, Maine, January 8, 1839, and died April 1, 1888. They were the parents of Kingman Nott Robins, of whom further. Cordelia Ewell was the daughter of Handel Gershom and Lydia C. (Kingman) Nott.
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دالية
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INGMAN NOTT ROBINS, son of Rever- end Dr. Henry Ephraim and Cordelia Ewell (Nott) Robins, was born in Water- ville, Maine, September 7, 1881, and died in Rochester, New York, February 5, 1923. He was educated at the Worcester Academy and was graduated from Harvard University with cum laude in 1904. He then entered the investment business established by his father and developed from it the Associated Mortgage Investors, of which he became president in 1908. This organization under his management became highly successful and established offices in many of the large cities in the United States and Canada, doing an annual business of several million dollars.
Mr. Robins was a leader in the business and civic life of Rochester and one of its most public-spirited citizens. His interests were many and varied, but his heavy responsibilities did not prevent him from taking a keen interest in education, religion and philanthropy.
He was a director of the Security Trust Company,
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second vice-president of the Rochester Chamber of Commerce, president of the Farm Mortgage Bankers' Association of America, vice-president and a director of the Great Lakes Boat Building Corpora- tion of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a director of the W. C. Moorehead Company of Milwaukee, a director of the Sibley, Lindsay & Curr Company, treasurer of the University of Rochester, member of the board of directors of Highland Hospital, treasurer of the Provident Loan Association, trustee and secretary of Reynolds Library, treasurer, director and part owner of the Round T Ranch and Highwood Land Com- pany of Alberta, Canada, director of the Minneapolis Dry Goods Company, director of the Security Trust Company, Rochester, director of the Alberta Flour Mills, Limited, chairman of the educational and pub- licity committees, member of the legislative commit- tee, sub-committee on Amending Federal Loan Act, in conference with Federal Farm Loan Board of the Farm Mortgage Bankers' Association of America (Chicago), director of the Western New York In- stitution for Deaf Mutes, and Member of Rochester Anti-Tuberculosis Committee. Mr. Robins was very
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active in the work of St. Paul's Church, which he served as vestryman, as chairman of the vestry's finance committee and at different times served on the official board of the diocese of western New York. He was a member and director of the University Club, vice-president of the Archeological Society, member of the American Economic Association, fel- low of the American Geographical Society, and mem- ber of the Canadian Alpine Club, National Club of Toronto, Harvard Club of New York, Genesee Val- ley Club of Rochester, and American Academy of Political and Social Science.
"Kingman Nott Robins was a man of high ideals and during the brief span of his life won the respect and love of all with whom he came in contact. His death was a distinct loss and the memory of his career serves as an example and a challenge."
The following are resolutions adopted at the time of Mr. Robins' death:
From the University of Rochester:
"As trustee and treasurer of the University since 1915, Mr. Robins had given to the institu-
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tion he loved 'unsparingly of his time and means', thus expressing the 'deep interest' and confident expectations with which he regarded our work and its possibilities."
From the Sibley, Lindsay & Curr Company:
"Mr. Robins was endowed with a particularly clear, analytical mind, carefully trained, marked- ly successful in building up the business which his father had founded, his ability and judgment being sought in many other enterprises. He was keenly appreciative of the 'individual responsibil- ity' to the community in which he lived and re- sponded cheerfully to the many demands for his services. Few young men have filled a broader sphere in Rochester, nor touched its life at so many different angles."
From the Rochester Chamber of Commerce:
"He has served the Rochester Chamber of Commerce in many capacities and always with serious thoughtfulness. Many important commit- tees have had the value of his leadership; in Jan- uary, 1920, he was elected to the board of trustees of the chamber, and in December, 1921,
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he was made vice-president. He believed pro- foundly that ignorance of economic laws is the greatest menace to American Institutions, and he never lost an opportunity to urge the need of education of all the people in the simple facts that lie at the bottom of national success."
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