COLUMBIA AND MONTOUR COUNTIES ricd Sarah Shcatlcr, who died Ja n . 2 1, 1893. and he has since married Cora A utm an; B ar bara Ellen, bom Oct. 24. 18O9, married Frank Boone, o f Bloom sburg; Nola, bom Jan . 20, 1872, married Frank l^ sh n e r, a blacksmith, o f Bloomsburg. J A M E S K L S W O K T H R O B B IN S, M . D.. has been in practice for twenty years, most of the time at Danville, Montour Co., I’ a., where he is lirst assistant at the State Hospital for the Insane. H e is one of the most inffuenlial men in the profession in his county. Dr. Kobbins was bum Feb. 22, 18C4, at .Asbury, Columbia Co., I’a.. son o f Cyrus and Lovina (Stoker) Robbins. Ilis father was also a native o f Columbia county, and by trade a carpenter; he look an active interest in poli tics and held a number of local and county offices. The Doctor's ancestors were among the lirst settlers in the Fishingereek valley of Columbia county, about Orangeville and Ben ton. H is great-grandfather, Alexander Col ly, at the age o f seveti came with his brother. Jonatlian Colly, from Chester county, i ’ a.. and settled in Jackson township, above Ben ton, in 1792. He was educated in Philadel phia, and became a civil engineer and K'hool teacher. .Most of the original surveys of the northern part of Columbia county were made by him. H e wrote deeds and other legal paIjcrs and represented Columbia county in the i.cgislature a couple of terms, before the Civil war. He was a man o f firm convictions, but w as genial and witty and had a fund o f funny stories to fit almost any occasion. H is chil<lren w ere: Stott. Alexander. Jr .. Benjamin. Robert, Elsie (w ife o f Samuel H ess), R e becca (w ife o f Cotncr A u tcn ), and E liu beth (w ife o f Daniel Sto k er), maternal grand mother of the subject o f our sketch. Dr. Robbins’s paternal great-grcat-grandfather. William Koljbins, lived in New J e r sey and served in Washington’s am ty in the Revolutionary war. Thom as R^ibins. bom in 1757. son o f W il liam. came from New Jersey and settled near Orangeville aliout the time of the .-merican Revolution. He nuirricd Eliralw lh Kline, whose father, .bram Kline. S r., also came from New Jersey. H er brothers, .bram, |r.. Mathias. George. Isaac and Hamion K line, nude their home with her. These Klines were sturdy and c.apablc people, and have left numerous descendants living in Co lumbia county, along the west branch of the Susquehanna and in other places. T he chil
547
dren o f Thomas Robbins w ere: Charity, M as sy, William, Abraham, Thomas, J r ., Daniel, Mathias. John and Isaac. Dr. Rt^bins's maternal grandfather's par ents rame up from H arrisburg and were of (icrnian descent. His grandlathcr, Daniel Stoker, was noted fo r liis piety and charity to (he poor. He was superintendent o f a C e r nun K cfom icd Sunday school fo r thirty years and was largely instrumental in build ing the Zion's Reform ed Church near I’ealcrtown. L o v iiu (Stoker) Robbins, the mother o f Dr. Robbins, combined the moral and re ligious qualities o f her father with the intel lectual capacity of her grandfather Colly. She was an intelligent wonun, of good judgment, sincerely religious, and t a u ^ t a women’s Bible class most o f her life. O f an unselfish, kindly and generous disposition, she literally "went about doing good. ’ She cared fo r and relieved the sick and comforted the sorrow ing. She led a most useful and helpful life and exerted a licautiful influence for miles about her home. Jam es Elsworth Robbins recei%’cd his early education from his mother, in the public schools, and al Orangeville Academ y, m his native county, attending until 1882. Mean time he had taught country school for two years, and after completing his course at the academv was engaged there as teacher for one year, tie then entered I.afayette College, at i^aston, Pa., where he took a four years' clas sical course, graduating in 1887, following which he taught one year in the H arry H ill man Academ y, at Wilfees-Barrc, Pa,, one year in the Irving Institute, at Tarrytow n, N. Y ., and also one year at the Mohegan I.akc School, at Mohegan. N. Y . In 1890 he took up the study o f medicine at the U niversity of Pennsylvania, grailuating in 1893, after wnich he did general hospital work in the city hos pital at W ilkcs-Harre. and the Johns Hop kins hospital at Kaltimure, M d. In 1893 he came to Danville. Pa., as assistant at the l^tate I lospital fo r the In.sanc, and for the last eight years has been first as.sistant at that institu tion. l i e has taken an active interest in the w elfare of the medical fraternities since com ing to the county, was honored with the jiosition o f president of the Montour County Med ical Society, in 1806 and .and is at pres ent a menilwr of the .American Academy of Meilicine. H e is a mcmlicr of the Pennsyl vania State -Medical Society. Dr. Rohbins w as long interested in the I o i m I Y . Af. C. .A., o f which he served as director for fifteen years. He is a leading member and elder of
