Last year, prior to the 2023 Robbins Reunion in Oregon, I posted about the Adams Cemetery which is very near the reunion location. This year I thought I would post about the Robert Bird Cemetery, also important to Robbins family history, which is not far away – and, in fact, is easily accessed off of Interstate 5. While the Molalla Cemetery held Jacob and Sarah Robbins and their descendants, the Robert Bird Cemetery held Nathaniel and Nancy Robbins and many of their family.
The cemetery was located on the very eastern edge of a part of Robert and Rachel Bird’s large landholding in Clackamas County. Bird was surrounded to the north, west, and south by members of the Robbins family on their respective Donation Land Claims.
The burial of a Robbins in the cemetery that can be confirmed is that of William Franklin Robbins who died in May of 1856 after a hunting accident. I’ve quoted this reminiscence from his daughter Melissa before but it’s worth sharing again:
“But how soon happiness can be turned to sorrow for when I was but four years old Father was taken from us by death in the accidental discharge of his gun while trailing a Bear in company with his Brothers, tho so young I could always remember seeing his body carried from the forest and of being lifted up to view him for the last time as he lay in his casket. There being no horse teams in our community except Grandfathers [Nathaniel Robbins] which hitched to a wagon in which was placed the casket and in which Mother [Melvina], baby sister [Artemissa] and I also rode with the rest of the crowd walking we proceeded to the Cemetery one half mile distant and there without a Minister of God to offer a last prayer or to speak one word of comfort to the grief stricken ones his body was laid to rest and while I was too young to realize my loss yet Mother’s heart broken sobbings at that time has followed me through life.”
The next earliest burial is that of William’s youngest sister Angeline Robbins, who died in 1862 at twenty-one; then came a young son of Nathaniel Norval Robbins, Absalom Allen Robbins, in 1863. The patriarch himself, Nathaniel Robbins, drowned in December of 1863, and his grave is marked with a large gravestone. His daughter Nancy (Robbins) Barstow followed in 1872 as did bachelor son John Dow Robbins in 1873. A young son of Nathaniel Norval Robbins, Absaloma Allen Robbins, died and is buried there in 1863.
We also have a few mysteries. There are three gravestones which just say “Robbins.” These are most likely Nathaniel Spencer (“Nat”) Robbins, William Franklin’s oldest son, who died in 1895, and his first wife Sarah Evans Robbins, who died in 1880. These two graves, and the other one marked “Robbins”, are next to the gravesites (according to the cemetery map) of Evans family members, such as Sarah’s parents John and Elizabeth Evans. It’s possible that the third “Robbins” gravestone is either for Nat’s second wife Martha Rodgers (death date unknown) or for William Berry Robbins, Nat’s youngest son, who died in 1924 at the Oregon State Hospital in Salem. His death certificate simply says his body was removed to “Oregon City” which is near the Robert Bird Cemetery. Note that the website FindAGrave mistakenly gives two of these “Robbins” gravestones erroneous names. Someone simply copied a name from the cemetery map which was not that of a Robbins family member.
There are also a couple of gravestones simply marked “Barstow” but it is believed there should be about five Barstow burials there. Nancy Robbins, daughter of Nathaniel and Nancy, was married to Joseph Barstow in 1856, just a month after her brother William’s death. Nancy died in 1872 while Joseph lived until 1915. Three children died in infancy or in their teenage years: Grace Lillian (1863), Harriet Permelia (1872), and Eugene Leroy (1876). It is likely all three are buried in the Robert Bird Cemetery.
Another mystery: Melvina Myers, wife of William Franklin Robbins, was married to Robert Lavery after William’s death. Yet, she is buried as “Melvina Robbins” in the cemetery. There is no evidence of divorce. Was it an unhappy marriage? or was there bad feeling between Melvina and step-children after Robert died in 1867.
So, Nathaniel and Nancy Robbins were buried in the cemetery, as were their children William Franklin Robbins, John Dow Robbins, Nathaniel Norval Robbins, Zobeda (Robbins) Sharp, Nancy (Robbins) Barstow, and Angeline Robbins. Of the grandchildren buried in the Robert Bird Cemetery we have: Nathaniel Spencer Robbins (likely), Artemissa Ellen (Robbins) Thompson (my great-grandmother), Nathaniel Norval Barnes, William Barnes, Absalom Allen Robbins, Alfred Cotton Sharp, Oliver Perry Sharp, Samuel Franklin Sharp, Minerva (Sharp) Mayes, Nancy Melinda Sharp, Edward L. Sharp, Walter Scott Sharp, Dora Sharp (likely), Annaretta (Sharp) Priester, and Kate (Sharp) Jones, and their respective spouses and some of their children and grandchildren.
In 2019 a plaque was installed by the Daughters of the American Revolution, Tualatin Chapter, honoring Nathaniel Robbins, a member of Oregon’s Constitutional Convention, and Robert and Rachel Bird, the original owners of the land on which the cemetery is situated. You can read my blog post about that here.
And finally, here are some additional photos from the Robert Bird Cemetery:
Robbins Roots 