USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial and revolutionary families of Pennsylvania; genealogical and personal memoirs, Volume II > Part 49
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65
DR. JOSEPH CARSON, eldest son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Lawrence) Carson, was born in the city of Philadelphia, April 19, 1808. He became one of the most distinguished physicians and teachers of medical science in Philadelphia, the home of eminent physicians from Colonial times to the present. He grad- uated from the college department of the University of Pennsylvania, in 1826, and from the medical department of the same institution in 1830. He was res- ident physician of the Pennsylvania Hospital during the years 1830 and 1831, and in the latter year accepted the position of surgeon on the ship "Georgiana", for a year's voyage to the East Indies. Returning to Philadelphia in 1832 he began the active practice of his profession, and soon rose to prominence as a successful practitioner. From 1836 to 1850 he filled the position of professor of materia medica, in the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, and during the great- er part of this period (1841-48) lectured on the same subject at the Medical In- stitute of Philadelphia. He was also physician to the Pennsylvania Hospital from 1849 to 1854. In 1850 he was appointed Professor of Materia Medica, and filled that position with eminent ability until his death, December 20, 1876. He was a fellow of the College of Physician and one of its officers; a member of the American Philosophical Society, serving as its curator from 1859 to his death; was recording secretary of the Academy of Natural Sciences, 1836-37, and its vice-president, 1869-73 ; a member of the American Medical Association, and its representative to the International Medical Congress of 1876. He was also a member of most of the medical and scientific societies of his native city and state, and was president of the Philadelphia County Medical Society in 1862. He was one of the delegates to the national convention to revise the pharmacopoeia in 1860 and 1870, and was president of the convention in the lat- ter year.
Dr. Carson was an extensive writer on medical and scientific subjects. Dur- ing his professorship in the College of Pharmacy, 1836-50, he edited the Journal of Pharmacy, and was the author of extensive notes and additions to Pereira's "Materia Medica". In 1847 he published his "Illustrations of Medical Botany" in two quarto volumes. He contributed many valuable papers to the scientific journals of his day. His most notable work was possibly his "History of the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania".
Dr. Joseph Carson was twice married, first to Mary Goddard, who died with-
1038
CARSON
out issue, and second to Mary, daughter of Henry and Sarah (Humphreys) Hol- lingsworth, and granddaughter of Levi Hollingsworth, one of the most dis- tinguished Patriots of Philadelphia, in the trying days of the Revolution.
VALENTINE HOLLINGSWORTH, great-great-grandfather of Levi Hollingsworthı, was a son of Henry and Catharine Hollingsworth, of Belleniskcrannell, parish of Segoe, county Armagh, Ireland, and was born "about the Sixth Month in the yeare 1632". He was a member of the Society of Friends, and suffered severe persecutions for his faith during his residence in county Armagh in the years 1671 and 1672. He married (first) June 7, 1655, Ann, daughter of Ni- cholas Ree, of Tanderagee, county Armagh, who was born in that parish in 1628, died at Belleniskcrannell, April 1, 1671. Valentine Hollingsworth married (second) at a meeting of the people of God called Quakers, at the house of Marke Wright in the parish of Shankell, county Armagh, June 12, 1672, Ann, daughter of Thomas Calvert, of Dromgora, parish of Segoe, county Armagh.
In 1682, Valentine Hollingsworth, with his wife Ann, the three eldest chil- dren of his second wife, his eldest daughter by his first wife and her second hus- band, Thomas Conway, and their children, and a man-servant, John Musgrave, sailed from Belfast, Ireland, for the Delaware, and on his arrival settled on a plantation of nearly one thousand acres on Shelpot Creek in Brandywine Hun- dred, New Castle county, now Delaware, about five miles northeast of what is now the city of Wilmington. He was one of the first settlers in that section and a meeting of Friends later known as Newark, and subsequently Kennett Month- ly Meeting, was long held at his house, until a meeting house was erected on a half-acre tract of land given to Friends by him for a burying place and other purposes of the meeting.
He was one of the most prominent men of the Three Lower Counties in pub- lic affairs ; was a representative in the first Assembly of Pennsylvania, 1682-83, and in the subsequent assemblies of 1685-87-88-89-95-1700, and was also a justice of New Castle county, from February 3, 1685. He died prior to 1710, and his wife Ann died October 17, 1697. Of the four children of his first wife, the eldest, Mary, with her second husband as before shown, accompanied him to America in 1682, and has left numerous descendants ; Henry, the second child, followed his father to the Delaware in 1683; Thomas, the third, in 1686; and Catharine, the youngest, came with her husband, George Robinson, about 1688. By his second wife he had seven children, three of whom were born in New Castle county.
Henry Hollingsworth, eldest son of Valentine and Ann (Ree) Hollings- worth, was born at Belleniskcrannell, parish of Segoe, county Armagh, Ireland, November 7, 1658. He came to Pennsylvania in the ship "Lion" of Liverpool, which arrived in Philadelphia, October 14, 1683, as an indentured servant of Robert Turner, of Dublin, merchant, whom he was to serve for two years, then to receive fifty acres of land. After his freedom in 1685, he lived with his father in New Castle county until 1688, when he returned to Ireland and mar- ried there in his native parish of Segoe, county Amagh, August 22, 1688, Lydia Armitage, and soon after returned with her to Pennsylvania, and located near his father in New Castle county, which he represented in Provincial Assembly in 1695. Soon after this date he located in Chester county, of which he was sheriff, coroner and deputy surveyor, prior to 1700, and for a time clerk of the
1039
CARSON
county courts. The exact dates of his service in these several capacities is un- known. He was directed by William Penn, as deputy surveyor of Chester county in 1699, to survey what was later known as Letitia's Manor, a tract of thirty thousand acres of land in Chester and New Castle counties for his chil- dren, William and Letitia. He removed to Elkton, Cecil county, Maryland, prior to May 9, 1712, on which date he was appointed by Lord Baltimore surveyor of Cecil county. He died at Elkton, in April or May, 1721. He was a man of scholastic attainments, both classical and scientific, as shown by his manuscript book, now in possession of Hon. Samuel W. Pennypacker, which is a medley of receipts, poetry, astrology, alchemy, chemistry and surveying, some of which are written in Latin.
Henry and Lydia Hollingsworth had five children, two sons, Stephen, a mag- istrate of Cecil county, later removing to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, and Zebulon, of whom presently ; and four daughters, Ruth, Catharine, Abigail and Mary.
Zebulon Hollingsworth, second son of Henry and Lydia (Armitage) Hol- lingsworth, born 1696, died in Cecil county, Maryland, August 8, 1763. He married (first) June 18, 1727, Ann, daughter of Colonel Francis Mauldin, of Cecil county. He was a miller, and a large landowner, and filled the offices of local magistrate as well as president of the County Court. He was a member of St. Mary's Protestant Episcopal Church, of which he was a vestryman in 1743. His wife died in 1740, and he married (second) Mary Jacobs. He had eleven children, five by the first wife and six by the second.
Levi Hollingsworth, youngest son of Zebulon and Ann ( Mauldin) Hollings- worth, was born at Elkton, Maryland, November 29, 1739. He became associ- ated with his father as a manufacturer of and dealer in flour, and at the age of eighteen was captain of a sloop plying on Chesapeake Bay to Philadelphia and other ports laden with their products, a large part of which was sold in Phila- delphia, where he later located, and carried on an extensive and successful mer- cantile business, first as a partner of his father and later on his own account. He became a member of the City Troop, now known as First Troop, Philadel- phia City Cavalry, and served as quartermaster-sergeant in that organization dur- ing December, 1776, and January, 1777, while the Troop was in active service. He was a special commissioner to carry the pay from the Continental Congress to the army of Arnold and Montgomery in the Expedition against Quebec, and while successful in his mission, endured many hardships while crossing the wild- erness of Maine.
Levi Hollingsworth died March 24, 1824. He married, March 10, 1768, Han- nah Paschall, and their son, Henry Hollingsworth, born February 6, 1781, died January 18, 1854, and his wife, Sarah Humphreys, daughter of Captain Joshua Humphreys, were the parents of Mary Hollingsworth, who married Dr. Joseph Carson.
HAMPTON LAWRENCE CARSON, son of Dr. Joseph and Mary (Hollingsworth) Carson, was born in Philadelphia, February 21, 1852. He graduated from the college department of the University of Pennsylvania, with the degree of Bach- elor of Arts in 1871, and after a three years' course in the law department of the same institution, received in 1874 the degrees of Master of Arts and Bache- lor of Laws, and was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar, April 4, 1874, where
1040
CARSON
he soon took a prominent place. He has argued important cases in every branch of the United States Courts, and in the Supreme Courts of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and a number of other states. He was prominently connected with the trial of various bank cases in the Federal Courts, one of which was the first of its kind to reach the Supreme Court of the United States, and has become a leading case. He was leading counsel before the Su- preme Court of the United States in the Lone Wolf case, which involved the rights of Indian tribes in Oklahoma. He was special representative of the American Bar Association at the meeting of the English and French Bars, at Montreal in 1901, and was invited to speak before the Bench and Bar of Eng- land in London at the banquet to Labori, the French advocate who defended Dreyfus and Zola. He was appointed attorney-general of Pennsylvania by Gov- ernor Samuel W. Pennypacker, January 20, 1903, and served until January, 1907. Lafayette College conferred upon Mr. Carson the honorary degree of LL.D. in 1899, the Western University in 1904, and his Alma Mater, the University of Pennsylvania, in 1906, conferred upon him the same degree.
Mr. Carson is the author of a number of works on law and other subjects. His "Law of Criminal Conspiracies, as Found in American Cases" has been ac- cepted as an authority in almost every state in the Union. Among his other pub- lications are, "A History of the Celebration of the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Promulgation of the Constitution of the United States" (2 vols.), and a "History of the Supreme Court of the United States" (2 vols.), and many pa- pers and addresses published in the law journals. He is now at work on a his- tory of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and a life of Lord Mansfield.
Mr. Carson was secretary of the Constitutional Centennial Commission in 1887, and was from 1895 to 1900 Professor of Law at the University of Penn- sylvania, teaching the law of contracts and sales, retiring on account of the pressure of professional engagements. He has delivered many historical and legal addresses before the State Bar Associations of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, New Jersey, Illinois and Oregon. He is a member of the Philadelphia Law Association, the Pennsylvania State Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the American Philosophical Association, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Society, Sons of the Revolution, and of a num- ber of social, patriotic and semi-political organizations. He has always taken an active part and interest in political issues, local, state and national. He was active in the reform movement in Philadelphia in 1880. As a member of the Anti-Third-Term League, he went to Chicago in 1880 and made a strong speech opposing the nomination of Grant for the third term.
Mr. Carson married, April 14, 1880, Anna Lea, daughter of John R. and Anna (Lea) Baker, and they have children: Joseph, married Edith Bower ; Hope, wife of Evan Randolph, of Chestnut Hill; John B., a medical student ; Anna Hampton.
EDWARD E. ROBBINS
The Revolutionary ancestor from whom Hon. Edward Everette Robbins de- scended and through whose military service he gained a membership in the Sons of the Revolution was Brintnel Robbins, a soldier and officer in the War for Independence, and is a descendant in the eighth generation from Rich- ard Robbins, the immigrant ancestor, whose history we will trace from the earliest Colonial days.
RICHARD ROBBINS came from Hedingworth, England, in 1630, under an as- sumed name and in the guise of a servant, caused by his activity in opposition to King Charles I. He settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and later moved to Boston. He had children, John, Nathaniel, Samuel and daughter, Rebecca, who married John Woodward.
SAMUEL ROBBINS, son of Richard Robbins, born at Cambridge, Massachu- setts, in 1643, died in Watertown, Connecticut, 1708. He served in the Nar- ragansett War, 1674-75, and for this service was granted a tract of land at Vol- untown, Connecticut, by the General Court.
RICHARD (2) ROBBINS, son of Samuel Robbins, married Anne Bathrick and settled on the land that had been granted to his father at Voluntown, 1700.
MOSES ROBBINS, son of Richard (2) Robbins, born 1719, married Keziah Minor, who subsequently removed to Wethersfield, Connecticut.
BRINTNEL ROBBINS, son of Moses Robbins, born 1756, died in 1836; mar- ried Mary Boardman, 1777, and after her death married Mary Goodlin, in 1820. He enlisted in the War of the Revolution at New London, Connecticut, April, 1775, as a private in the company of his brother, Captain Samuel Robbins, and reënlisted in 1776-78-80. In the spring of 1780 he was commissioned ensign in said company, in which capacity he served until the close of the war. He par- ticipated in the battles of Concord, White Plains, Rhode Island and New Lon- don. He was a faithful, patriotic soldier, and it is gratifying to know that his services were recognized by the granting to him, in his later years, a pension.
With his wife and two children, he removed to Pennsylvania, spending the winter in Connellsville, where he worked at the Turnbull Iron Furnace. He subsequently purchased a farm at Port Royal and thence went to Long Run, where he built a flour mill. In 1790 he purchased from the government of Pennsylvania a large tract of land lying along the Youghiogheny river and known as "Croffords Sleeping Place"; here he built a flouring mill, distillery and established a dairy. He built the mill, so well known in early days as "Robbins Mill", and to secure water power for this mill he was obliged to build a dam across part of the Youghiogheny river, and to get the necessary authority, he ap- plied to the state assembly who passed the following entitled law: "An Act Au- thorizing Brintnel Robbins to erect a mill dam over part of the Youghiogheny River in the County of Westmoreland".
Sec. I. "Brintnel Robbins is empowered to erect a dam on the Youghiogheny River not to impede the navigation or passage of fish.
1042
ROBBINS
Sec. II. Complaints shall be made and redressed by indictment on the re- port of viewers to be appointed by the Sessions.
"Passed. Feb. 26, 1796-Private Act-Recorded in Law Book No. VI, page 60". (See Smith's Laws of 1796, page 267.)
In 1812 he removed to Pittsburgh, where he became an extensive ship builder and coal operator, as well as farmer. He established the first milk route in Pittsburgh, serving his customers from a large tin can conveyed about the town on a wheel-barrow by a colored servant. During the War of 1812 he built boats at his ship-yard for the use of General Brown on Lake Erie, also in connection with Perry's Expedition, for which he received no compensation, until 1824, when congress passed an act appropriating the money to be paid him for this service and outlay. He built boats for the river trade and in 1813 built two schooners, which he loaded with flour and cheese for trade with the East Indies. At New Orleans these boats were rigged with sails and placed under Spanish protection. In this case everything was lost. The vessels were never heard of after leav- ing New Orleans. During the "Whiskey Insurrection" in Western Pennsylvania, Mr. Robbins used all his influence and power to uphold the government. In 1830 he removed to Greensburg, where he died. He is buried in the Harold Church cemetery. He had children: Archibald, Hezekiah, Moses, David, Wil- liam, Mary, Keziah, Rachel, Elizabeth and Joseph.
WILLIAM ROBBINS, son of Brintnel and Mary (Boardman) Robbins, was born on the homestead farm at Robbins Station, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, June, 1795, died there, October, 1843. He cultivated the farm, and although his life was a short one, he was influential and respected. He married Agnes Sloan in 1822. Their children were: Joseph, see forward; Mary, married Perry Ful- ton; William, married Martha Christy and died in Missouri; Gilmore, a resi- dent of Gilman, Iowa; Keziah, married John Gaut and resides near Irwin, Pennsylvania; Elizabeth, died in 1895, married Charles Dravo; Morrison, died in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1887, married Mary R. Ranger.
JOSEPH ROBBINS, son of William and Agnes (Sloan) Robbins, was born on the home farm in 1824. He was a pioneer coal operator, opening up an exten- sive mine at Osceola on the Youghiogheny river, 1848. The coal was floated down the river in boats, when there was sufficient water, to Cincinnati, New Orleans and other southern ports. Mr. Robbins was deeply interested in the plan to provide a slack water system of navigation on the Youghiogheny river and gave freely of his time and money for the furtherance of this unsuccessful project, and was a stockholder in the Youghiogheny Navigation Company that improved this river from Mckeesport to West Newton by three locks and dams in 1848, and one of a committee of three who rebuilt these dams in 1855. This improvement was destroyed by floods in 1865 and is now being rebuilt by the government, largely through the influence of Hon. Edward E. Robbins. He resides on his farm at Robbins Station, it being a part of the original purchase of his grandfather, Brintnel Robbins. In addition to farming, he has been ac- tively engaged on other enterprises of importance. For a number of years he managed the distillery and mining interests of Thomas Moore, of Pittsburgh. He was one of the organizers and stockholders in the Metropolitan National Bank of Pittsburgh. He is a staunch Republican and for many years was school direc- tor and delegate to numerous conventions. Mr. Robbins was for many years a
ERobbins
Edwar
1043
ROBBINS
trustee in Long Run Presbyterian Church. He married (first) in 1859, Rachel Gordon Robbins. Children: Edward Everette and Gertrude. In 1868 he mar- ried (second) Margaret J. Christy. Children: Elizabeth, Rachel, Agnes May, Morrison and Joseph (2).
EDWARD EVERETTE ROBBINS, son of Joseph and Rachel Gordon (Robbins) Robbins, was born on the home farm at Robbins Station in 1862. His educa- tion was obtained in the public schools at Elder's Ridge Academy, and in 1881 he graduated from Washington and Jefferson College. Having chosen law as his profession, Mr. Robbins entered the Law School of Columbia University, New York, and graduated from there in 1884, and the same year was admitted to practice law before the Westmoreland county bar. He is a Republican, a brilliant and accomplished speaker, and has always borne an active part in sup- porting the principles and candidates of his party. In 1885 he was elected dis- trict attorney. In 1888 he was elected to the state senate and served efficiently in that body for six years. Mr. Robbins was chairman of the judiciary committee of the senate. He introduced and secured the passage of the bill appropriating five thousand ($5,000.00) dollars for the Children's Aid Society of Western Pennsylvania at Greensburg, thus securing the present home for this deserving institution. This was the first state aid secured for any purpose by the people of Westmoreland county. He introduced the bill to provide free text books in the public schools. Mr. Robbins was especially active in the movement for and the enactment of a law for the equalization of taxes. In 1897 Mr. Robbins was elected a member of the Fifty-fifth Congress from the twenty-first district of Pennsylvania. During the discussion of the Dingley Tariff Bill, he took an active part in the debate and did able and efficient work for the cause of pro- tection to American industries.
Mr. Robbins had visited Cuba and from his intimate knowledge of affairs there, he strongly favored Cuban Independence from Spain. His speeches for that cause were widely read and commanded favorable attention. At the out- break of the Spanish-American War, Mr. Robbins was one of the three con- gressmen, who at once volunteered their services to the government. He was assigned to duty as quartermaster with the rank of captain on the staff of Gen- eral John A. Wiley, commander of the First Brigade, Third Division of the First Army Corps, at Camp Thomas, Georgia, by special order No. 143, is- sued from the adjutant's office at Washington, D. C. Captain Robbins had for a number of years been connected with the National Guards of Pennsylvania, as private, lieutenant, major, brigade-quartermaster and commissary-general on the staff of Governor Stone. This experience was of great value to him and he was detailed to the special duty of equipping and shipping troops to the front. In August, 1898, he was made chief quartermaster with rank of major and placed in charge of the transport, "Seneca", that conveyed the Commissioners Admirals Schley and Gordon to Porto Rico. He served at Ponce, San Juan, Santiago and was in charge of the transports, "Mobile", "Chester" and "Grant". At the close of the Spanish-American War he was offered the commission of major in the regular army, which he declined. Tending his resignation, Major Robbins was honorably discharged by special order No. 243 of the adjutant- general issued from Washington. Further honor was conferred on him by the
1044
ROBBINS
special consideration of the secretary of war, Elihu Root, who under date of November 1, 1898, in a special order, commended his services to the country.
Returning to Greensburg, he resumed the practice of law and the care of his extensive private and corporate interests. He is solicitor for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company and the Ligonier Valley Railroad Company ; president of the Garrett Coal Company; director of the Safe Deposit & Trust Company of Greensburg, The Wilmerding National Bank, The Pittsburg-Westmoreland Coal Company, and is a stockholder and adviser for the various corporations with which he is identified. Mr. Robbins is a member of the board of trustees of the Presbyterian Church of Greensburg, and also of Washington and Jeffer- son College ; also a member of the Greensburg Country Club, Duquesne, Univer- sity and Americus clubs of Pittsburgh.
In 1897 he married Louise Stauffer Moore, daughter of John W. and Eliza- beth S. Moore. They have two children, Edward Everette (2) and John Wil- liam.
ROBERT POTTER MOLTEN
ROBERT POTTER MOLTEN, of Philadelphia, a member of the Pennsylvania So- ciety Sons of the Revolution, is a descendant of both paternal and maternal lines from ancestors who rendered valiant service to the Patriot cause during the trying days of the Revolutionary War.
MICHAEL MOULTON, of Newport, Rhode Island, the earliest American ances- tor of the subject of this sketch of whom we have any record, came to New- port, Rhode Island, about the middle of the eighteenth century, from parts un- known, but presumably from England. He was a sea captain, and continued to follow the sea until his death at Jamaica, West Indies, January 30, 1763. He married, at Newport, October 4, 1747, Hannah Pierce, born July 16, 1722, daughter of Clothier and Hannah (Sherman) Pierce, of Newport, Rhode Isl- and, the latter a native of Swanzey, Massachusetts. They had at least four children, viz: John, born April 28, 1749, died October 23, 1762; Elizabeth, born at St. Martin's, November 29, 1752, married Jeremiah F. Green; Michael, born March 17, 1757, of whom presently; William, of whom we have no further rec- ord.
MICHAEL MOULTON, second son of Captain Michael and Hannah ( Pierce) Moulton, born at Newport, Rhode Island, March 17, 1757, died there, December 18, 1820. In May, 1775, he enlisted in the Rhode Island Militia, and was made sergeant of his company, and subsequently commissioned ensign, being con- stantly in the service, participating in the siege of Boston, and other actions in the early part of the struggle. In October, 1776, he was commissioned by the General Assembly of Rhode Island, first lieutenant in the Second Battalion of the Rhode Island Troops, as one of those recommended for commission and pro- motion by General Washington, in a letter to the Assembly dated at Haarlem Heights, October 12, 1776, which says in part, "I have made inquiry and the enclosed list which I have the honor to transmit to you comprehends the names of those who, in the public estimation, and that of the Generals under whom they have more particularly acted, have behaved themselves well and to good acceptance, and whose past conduct gives reasonable hope that their future will render material service to their country."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.