Moses Hamlin Robbins

    Moses Hamlin Robbins, of the firm of Knight & Robbins, tile manufacturers, at Hartford City, was born in Abingdon, Wayne County, Indiana, October 5, 1846, a son of J. C. and Sarah (Fender) Robbins. The father was born and reared in North Carolina, and when a young man came to Wayne County, Indiana, with his father. In 1876 he removed to Kendallville, Noble County, where he died in 1884. The mother of our subject died in Union County in 1874.

    Moses H., when ten years of age, went to Hollansburgh, Ohio, where he began working in a mill, and also attended school. He afterward engaged in farming, which he followed until the war of the Rebellion, when on the second call for three months volunteers, in 1861, he enlisted in an Ohio regiment, and remained at Columbus, Ohio, until the expiration of his term of enlistment. The remainder of the regiment were taken prisoners at Harper's ferry. In the summer of 1862 he enlisted in Company H, One Hundred and Tenth Ohio Infantry, serving on guard duty in that regiment until the Eighth Ohio Cavalry was organized, to which he was transferred. his brother, William H., was also a member of the Eighth Cavalry, and they served together in the Army of the Cumberland until the close of the war. He was with Hunter on the raid to Lynchburg, participating in all the fighting there, and on their return was in the engagement at Liberty, West Virginia. After this the regiment divided, and his part went to the neighborhood of Beverly, where they were in two fights with the rebel cavalry and infantry, and Mr. Robbins rode thirty-five miles from Beverly to Buchanan for re-enforcements. No quarter was given here, and it was all hand to hand fighting west from that place to Phillipi. After his regiment was recruited it was sent to Clarksburg, West Virginia, remaining on duty there until after Lee's surrender and some six months after the war had closed, receiving supplies which were sold there.

    He received his discharge late in the fall of 1865, and after his return from the war he spent about one year at school. He was then employed as a brakeman on the Bellefontaine Railroad from Union City to Crestline part of one year, after which he bought an interest in a saw-mill, which was delivered at Winchester, and removed from there to Holland, two miles northwest of Ridgeville on Day's Creek, Silver Settlement, where he was engaged in manufacturing lumber for the railroad company a little over a year, and when the railroad was completed to near Hartford, the saw-mill was removed to Millgrove, and from there Mr. Robbins went to Indianapolis, where he was engaged on the west end of the Bellefontaine railroad, from Union city to Indianapolis. After remaining there four months he bought the grocer in Craynor Block at Union City, and there followed mercantile pursuits between two and three years. He then went to Kendallville, where he dealt in boots and shoes, and gents furnishing goods until March, 1882, when he came to Hartford City, and has since been engaged in the manufacture of tile.

    Mr. Robbins was united marriage October 13, 1867, to Miss Sarah Melissa Stewart, a native of Darke County, Ohio, and a daughter of Marsh Stewart, of Hollansburgh. They are the parents of six children -Clara Leota, Charles Elmer, Mabel, Gracie Viola, Archie Stewart and Nettie.

    Mr. Robbins is a member of the Masonic lodge at Kendallville, and belongs to the Good Templar Lodge at Hartford City. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he is one of the official board. In politics he affiliates with the Republican Party.

Source: Biographical and Historical Record of Jay and Blackford Counties, Indiana by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1887.