Robbins, Clemuel

ROBBINS, COUDER, ROYSTER, BUTLER, JOHNSON, LETTS

Posted By: Janelle Martin (email)
Date: 4/7/2011 at 15:30:46

History of Hamilton County, Iowa, Vol. II, 1912, J.W. Lee, pp. 207-210.

Clemuel Robbins now lives in retirement at No. 308 East Dubuque street, Webster City, Iowa, where he is well known as a man whose agricultural activities for many years have been a substantial asset in the upbuilding of county and state. His history extends back to the early days of settlement when most of the farms which are now the pride of Iowa were raw and undeveloped prairie lands. He was born January 5, 1830, in Franklin county, Ohio, his parents being Mathias and Sarah (Couder) Robbins, natives of Pennsylvania. They left that state for Ohio where the father was active in various capacities until his wife's death in 1848. He then moved to Illinois, where he resided until his demise which occurred at the age of eighty-six years and sixteen days.

Clemuel Robbins received his early education in the public schools of Pennsylvania and Ohio. In 1854 he came to Iowa and with three companions walked from Dubuque to Homer in that state in order to enter his claim for one hundred and twenty acres of land. His original intention had been to take up one hundred and sixty acres at the government price of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. When he reached Homer, however, he found that some of his money was in bad Kentucky bills and consequently his purchase was limited. When he proved his claim he went to Illinois and in the summer of 1856 again returned to Iowa. He remained in this state for one year but did not make it his permanent home until 1862. In that year he added to his one hundred and twenty acres by the purchase of forty acres adjoining and thus finally completed his original intention of having a one hundred and sixty acre farm. The rise of land values in Iowa made his second purchase of land more expensive than his original holdings. He paid eight dollars per acre in 1862 for land adjoining that which he bought in 1854 at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. His farm is all in Freedom township and is one of the prosperous and flourishing enterprises in that section.

When Mr. Robbins had completed his buying of land he immediately proceeded to put his one hundred and sixty acres under cultivation. He broke the prairie, built a house and barn and erected all the necessary outbuildings upon his property. He gave his personal attention and supervision to the tilling of his land and watched its evolution from an undeveloped state into one of the flourishing agricultural enterprises in the state of Iowa. His farming was practical and for that reason produced good results. Iowa land is fertile and rich and if a man is intelligent and industrious he can almost always gain from it a comfortable competency. Mr. Robbins' labors were always along progressive and scientific lines and in 1891 he was enabled to give up the arduous duties incident to the development of his holdings and to move to Webster City where he is now living a retired life among his friends. He still owns his original farm of one hundred and sixty acres and has rented it to his son, William M. Robbins, who is carrying on the operation of the enterprise along the developing and expanding principles which his father instituted.

In December, 1862, Clemuel Robbins was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Royster, a daughter of William and Adeline Royster, who came from Indiana in 1856 and settled in Webster township, Hamilton county. Mrs. Robbins died September 12, 1887. Mr. and Mrs. Clemuel Robbins became the parents of four children. Elmer, whose birth occurred in 1863, was in 1891 married to Miss Alice Butler, a daughter of John F. and Martha Butler, who came to Webster City in 1854 and are now among its oldest living pioneers. Elmer Robbins is a farmer in Freedom township where he now owns two hundred and forty acres of highly developed land. He is the father of three children: Leah M., whose birth occurred in 1893; Ella, born in 1899; and Bessie, born in 1904. The second son of Clemuel Robbins is William M. He was born in 1868 and in 1898 married Miss Estella B. Johnson, a daughter of Jacob W. and Barbara Johnson of Webster township. It is William M. Robbins who is now renting his father's home farm of one hundred and sixty acres and is operating this in addition to eighty acres which he owns in his own right. He is one of the representative and leading citizens of Freedom township and is prominent in fraternal and agricultural circles. He is at present noble grand of Elmo Lodge, No. 62, I. O. O. F., and has been through all the chairs of the Ridgeley Encampment, No. 9, of that organization. He is also a member of Eureka Canton. No. 23, and with his wife belongs to the superior Rebekahs Lodge, No. 378. Susan, the eldest daughter of Clemuel Robbins, in 1896 married Mr. B. C. Letts, a farmer in Freedom township, and she lives in that section with her husband and son, Harold D., born 1902. Nora was married in 1898 to James R. Silver, whose birth occurred in Scotland in 1871. He spent his youth in his native country and came to the United States in 1893, arriving in Iowa in March of the same year. To this union were born three children, Donald Cameron, Ada B. and Alta Catherine. James R. Silver is one of the representative men of Freedom township and is prominent in many lines of activity in that district. He holds membership in Elmo Lodge, No. 62, I. O. O. F., has passed through all the chairs of Ridgeley Encampment, No. 9, and is a member of Eureka Canton, No. 23, of the same organization.

The family of Clemuel Robbins is well known in many sections of Iowa and its name has been prominent for many years in agricultural activities in that state. Mr. Robbins is representative of a wide class of men who bring to farming a practical knowledge of the details of the occupation coupled with an intelligent and scientific and progressively developing method of work which are rapidly making the state of Iowa one of the most prosperous agricultural regions in the United States.