Ruth Gardiner and John I Robinson of RI
My cousin and I just returned from a genealogy research trip to CT and RI looking for the parents of Edwin Stearns Robinson who was born 1812 in Glastonbury, CT (according to his memoirs). Edwin attended both Wilbraham Academy (Wilbraham, MA) and Washington (Trinity) College in Hartford, CT and we have received records of his attendance. He married Julia Ann Clark of CT in 1836 at the home of her Uncle William Clark in Gales Ferry (Ledyard) CT.
Edwin has not left enough information to find his parents, but we are pursuing some leads, and have come to some feeling that Ruth Gardiner and John I Robinson were his parents.
John I Robinson was b. 1767 in RI around S. Kingston to John Robinson and Sarah Peckham.
He married his first cousin, Abigail Robinson who was the daughter of James Robinson and Mary Attmore.
Abigail had two children by John:
James who was born about 1797 (he is later seen in NY City where he was a broker)
Mary Ann (Marian) born about 1799 (nothing more known about her)
Abigail died Oct 26, 1805 and John died 1831 in New Brunswick, NJ according to what we have seen.
Abigail is buried in S. Kingston, RI at the Common Burial Ground, but John is not (he may be buried in NJ).
We have seen that John remarried Ruth Gardiner, daughter of Judge Gardiner of Middletown (Newport), RI. Judge Gardiner was Benjamin Gardiner and his wife was Elizabeth Wickes.
Ruth Gardiner was born in Middletown about 1784. We have been unable to find her actual birth record or her marriage to John, but we did find her probate records and obituary in Providence, RI. She died in May 2, 1858 where she had been living with her daughter, Cornelia and son-in-law Anthony Holden Greene.
There was no will and the obituary was short. The Probate records were administration. She died of pneumonia. We do not know where she was buried.
The question I have is, do you have any information about when John and Ruth married or when and where the children were born. They had the following children according to other databases we have found:
Emily
Elizabeth
Albert
Edwin
Cornelia
and possibly another son, John J. Robinson
** My theory is that after John's first wife, Abigail died in 1805 he married the possible widow Ruth Gardiner Congdon (speculation) whose husband John Reynolds Congdon of RI had died in 1800.
Given that the earliest they could have married was 1806, that puts the births of the children from 1807 - about 1815.
My ancestor, Edwin was born in 1812 and gave his residence while at school in Washington College (now Trinity) as Providence, RI, which fits with Ruth. He also had a brother named Albert. We have no information about the rest of his family except for his wife and descendants.
Please let me know if you have any information that would prove or disprove my theory.
I am willing to share whatever information I have on this and related lines.
We took lots of pictures of documents and headstones while in the area.
Rebecca A. Smith