The 2022 Bicentennial Robbins reunion in Westport, Indiana, was a great success!  We had 50 to 60 people attend.  There was meeting of new cousins, reunions of long separated cousins, and friends discovering they were cousins of one another.  During our program William (“Bill”) Hunter Robbins welcomed family to Decatur County, Greg Robbins discussed the importance of DNA to solving Robbins genealogical brickwalls, and I (Kevin) read a very brief family history.  (I had an expanded seven-page history – still quite brief – as a handout; if you weren’t at the reunion and would like a copy, feel free to email me at “mittge @ yahoo.com” – it’s too long to post on here).

The attendees were extremely generous and we collected donations well in excess of the cost of the room rental and photographer, so I will be passing along a donation of $251 to the Decatur County Historical Society in the name of the 2022 Robbins Reunion!

Once it is available I will be sending out the link to the group photo taken by Christina Newby, our photographer.  The photo will be available to have prints ordered or to be downloaded if folks would like to save it or print it elsewhere.

Below are some photos from the reunion.

Tomorrow is the day!  Hope to see some of you there.  The Westport Community Building has a very nice, large room – and we’ve set some tables and chairs up but we can add more depending on how many folks attend. 

A couple of things to mention:

Museum:

Don’t forget that the Decatur County Historical Society Museum will be open from 9am to 11am tomorrow. It is located at 222 N. Franklin St. in Greensburg.

Getting to Westport:

There is a detour sign as you drive south on Highway 3 from Greensburg to Westport.  I’m not sure what the official detour route is but if you drive down Highway 3 past Letts to almost the road closed sign you can take a right on CR (County Road) 800 South.  Drive west to CR 700 West (you could turn on CR 600 West but it looks smaller and narrower), turn left and take CR 700 West south to CR 1100 South – then turn left and you drive past the Westport Cemetery and into the small community of Westport.  Go straight across Highway 3 and continue into town – the Westport Community Center is on the right.  Here is a map from the Indiana atlas.  (You’re basically driving a rectangle around the closure through beautiful lush corn fields).  It probably adds less than 10 minutes to your drive.

In Westport:

There is parking in the front and along the sides (especially the west side) of the Community Building.

The entrance into the back large room of the community center is on the east side of the building along a short driveway. Unless it is too windy there will be a poster outside.

Having seen several drivers pulled over by police it appears that Westport P.D. takes it’s 20 MPH speed limit seriously!  Drive safely through this tiny town.

Places to visit:

If you are visiting Greensburg and haven’t been to the Decatur County Historical Society’s museum before, you can visit the morning of the reunion.  The museum will be open on Saturday, July 30^th, from 9am to 11am, for any one wanting to stop by before going on the reunion site!  The museum is located at 222 N. Franklin St. in Greensburg.  This is one block north of the courthouse square on the east side.

The Greensburg Public Library has a genealogy room with a lot of information.  The hours over the reunion weekend are Friday, 9am to 5pm, and on Saturday, 9am to 1pm.  The library is closed on Sunday but open again on Monday at 9am.  The library is located at 1110 E. Main Street.  Main Street is on the south side of courthouse square and you can just follow that east to the library.

Family History and Photographs:

One of the fun things about family reunions is sharing family history and family photographs.  I would encourage all of you to bring things to share. I am bringing three Robbins photograph albums, three large working notebooks of genealogy, four stand-up trifold historical displays, and more.

I will also have a laptop, portable scanner, and some extra thumb drives for those who want to share or save material to take home (or we can email them from the reunion).  All of the photos in my albums are on my laptop for easy access and sharing.

I am also bringing a twenty-foot abridged four-generation family chart starting with our common ancestors Jacob and Mary Robbins.  Note that I said abridged!  It’s twenty-feet long and it still doesn’t include everyone down to the fourth generation.  Which by the way, is about our great-great-grandparents’ level.  It will give you a feel for our family’s immense size.  The chart is very simple, see example above, called a working chart, and will probably be outdated with only a little more research.  But it’s fun to ponder!