For
Muscatine County Iowa
1879
| Biographies For Muscatine County Iowa 1879 | |
Here is what the abbreviations in the bios stand for: far: farm; Co.: company or county; dir: dealer; IVA: Iowa Volunteer Artillery; IVC: Iowa Volunteer Cavalry; IVI: Iowa Volunteer Infantry; P.O.: Post Office; S. or Sec.: section; and st.: street.
Source: History of Muscatine County Iowa, Biographical Section, 1879, page 615
REV. ALDEN B. ROBBINS, Pastor of the First Congregational Church, Muscatine; the subject of this sketch is a native of Salem, Essex Co., Mass., and was born Feb. 18, 1817; when 12 years of age, his parents removed to the city of New York, where he remained for several years; after attending school in various places, he returned to Salem to prepare for college under Col. Henry C. Oliver, a prominent man and distinguished as a teacher; he completed his preparatory studies and entered Amherst College and graduated in 1839 in the same class with Rev. R. S. Storrs and Bishop Huntington of the city of New York; after graduating, he was a tutor in Hopkins Academy, at Hadley, Mass., then entered the Theological Seminary at Andover, where he spent two years, and, afterward, spent one year in Union Theological Seminary, in the city of New York; he came to Iowa in 1843 with a band of twelve young men, arriving here in November of that year, and, since that time, he has served as Pastor of the First Congregational Church, and shortly afterward entered upon his duties as pastor of the church of Muscatine, Iowa, where he has now remained for over forty-five years. In 1843 he also received his degree of D. D. from Amherst College. Just a week after his ordination Dr. Robbins was united in marriage, in Canterbury, Conn., with Miss Eliza, a daughter of Samuel L Hough, of that city. She shared with her husband his labors in his new field until 1850, when she became a victim of the cholera, which was then raging so firecely through this country, hundreds dying every day. The following children were born of their union : Dana H., who was born July 2, 1844, was married, Nov. 17. 1874, to Alice E. Owens, daughter of John Owens, one of the early settlers of Cincinnati, Ohio, and on the 14th of July, 1881, his death occurred, leaving a widow and one daughter, who reside in Muscatine; Anna Margarette, born July 21, 1848, at Ashford, Conn., is the wife of Rev. S. De Forest, who was pastor of the Congregational Church at Des Moines, Council Bluffs and Waterloo, Iowa, was President of the Talladega College in Alabama, and still resides in Talladega. On the 20th of September, 1851, Dr. Robbins was again married, his second union being with Miss Mary S. Arnold, a daughter of Ebenezer Arnold, of Bath, Me. Several children were born unto them, but only two are now living : Esther B., a member of the ladies course in Iowa College, and John, at home.
Back to Biographical Index Page
