This article was first published on my RootsWeb site and is republished here, lightly edited, on 15 September 2026. If you have information to add or correct, please get in touch.
Details about Joshua Robins are sparse. Known sources are cited in the footnotes.
Joshua Robins was likely born between 1698 and 1710 in New Jersey. Although the exact location of his birth is unknown, it is likely to be Monmouth County. Joshua died in New Jersey after 1766 and possibly around 1775.1
His parents were Daniel Robins (b. 1666, d. between 1733 and 1737) and his wife Mary [surname unknown].
His children
Joshua’s wife’s name is unknown. But he had at least two sons:
Daniel Robins was likely born between 1730 and 1740 in New Jersey. Although the exact location of his birth is unknown, it is likely to be either Morris County or Hunterdon County. Daniel died before 1793. Likely locations are Ontario, Canada, or New Jersey, or somewhere between them. He married Sarah Blatchley about 1757 in New Jersey. She was born on 23 November 1739 in New Jersey. She was the daughter of Ebenezer Blatchley and Hannah Miller. Sarah died sometime between 2 April 1814 and 6 January 1835, likely in Thorold, Lincoln County, Ontario.
Joshua Robins Jr. was likely born about 1740 in New Jersey. Although the exact location of his birth is unknown, it is likely to be either Morris County or Hunterdon County. Joshua died in Ontario after 1817. He married Mary Blatchley sometime between 1760 and 1773 in New Jersey. She was born on 29 October 1742 in New Jersey. She was the daughter of Ebenezer Blatchley and Hannah Miller. Mary died before 1804, in either New Jersey or Ontario.
Any other children are unknown at this time.
1714–1737: the Lebanon Township property
Joshua Robins’s father, Daniel Robins, died sometime between 1733 and 1737, and in March 1737 Joshua took out a mortgage on property in Lebanon Township, Hunterdon County, that was originally surveyed for his father. Details of the original survey follow, from Robins, Robbins of New Jersey, page 222:2
Book A, page 186, Hunterdon County south branch of Rarington (Raritan) River 1714, Survey 333 acres to Daniel Robins
By virtue of a Warrant from the Council of Proprietors bearing date ye 10th day of March 1714 surveyed this tract of land unto Daniel Robbins in _____________ ye head of ye South Branch of Rarington River in Hunterdon County. Beginning at a white oak tree Corner of Marcy Daurdwart’s (?) [ed. note: perhaps this should say Francis Davenport?] land thence Southeastwardly thirty degrees fifty six chains to a Corner marked DR (2) Thence Northeastwardly sixty degrees sixty three chains to a corner black oak tree marked DR (3) Thence N. Westwardly thirty degrees Sixty three chains ? to a corner maple tree marked K (4) Thence S. Westwardly by sixty degrees sixty chains to ye first highways. Surveyed by John Reading May 13 1717. Inspected and approved by ye Committee of Proprietors and ordered to be recorded John Wills Clerk
Transcribed 3/5/2006 by John Wm Taylor
The property was located near Middle Valley; in 1739 this area became Morris County. From Early Germans in New Jersey by Theodore F. Chambers (Dover, N.J., 1895), page 172: “David Zofrin (Sovereign) bought the Daniel Robins tract of 333 acres, which had belonged originally to Samuel Johnson. This land located in the area called Flocktown in Morris Co. near Schooley’s Mountain.” Daniel Robins settled in Amwell Township.
Note: early in my research, I confused the property described in this survey with 333 acres that Daniel Robins owned in Amwell Township. The Amwell property is a completely different 333 acres, and is well described and documented by Hunterdon County historian Marfy Goodspeed in her article The Two Taverns at Robins Hill.
Additional details about the Lebanon Township / Flocktown property that Joshua Robins mortgaged in 1737:
- It is located in present-day Washington Township, Morris County, New Jersey.
- It was adjacent to Joseph Pidgeon and Benjamin Wright when Pidgeon’s property was surveyed in 1718. Joseph Pidgeon’s land sold in 1721 to Isaac Miranda. Benjamin Wright’s property was sold to John Eaton before 1761 and then to Matthias Thomas (year unknown).
- Also adjacent is Samuel Furness’s property, which he bought in 1720 and which was later bought by Andreas Flock in 1773.
Many of Flock’s children went to Canada; a couple of his daughters were married to the Hansler brothers, Andrew and George Hansler, who had property dealings in Ontario with John (a son of Joshua Robins Jr.) and Daniel Robins (a son of “widow Sarah Robbins“).3
The property is roughly seven miles from Samuel Swayze’s burial location at Chester Congregational Cemetery. Samuel was the grandfather of several Swayzes who went to Ontario, including Mehitable (the second wife of Joshua Robbins Jr.), Mary and Israel (all children of Samuel’s son Israel), and Isaac (the son of Samuel’s son Caleb).
Chambers included a hand-drawn map of the area in his book: Chambers’s map (PDF).4 Here is a snippet. D. Robins’s property is under the “OWN” in FLOCKTOWN.
1737–1750: Joshua’s mortgage
Details of Joshua’s mortgage on this property are found in two sets of records.5, 6
1737. Family History Library film #1028302, Hunterdon County Loan Office, Account Books and Mortgages, No. 8:
Joshua Robins of the Township of Amwell Township in the County of Hunterdon Doth Convey by Deed of Mortgage for Consideration of Twenty Pounds to him in hand paid by the Commisioners of the Loan Office of the County of Hunterdon the following tract or parcel of Land Situate in the Township of Lebanon and County aforesaid and is butted and bounded as follows VIZ
Beginning at a White Oak tree Corner of Francis Davenport’s land and marked FD thence south Easterly thirty degrees and fifty six chains to a corner hickory tree marked DR thence North Easterly Sixty Degrees sixty three chains to a Corner black oak tree marked DR thence North Westerly thirty degrees fifty six chains to a corner maple tree marked IK thence South Westerly sixty degrees sixty three chains to the first mentioned corner containing three hundred and thirty three acres. In witness whereof I have hereunto Set my hand The Twenty fifth day of March Anno Domini 1737.
Joshua Robins
Signed in the presence of James Neilson, Job Robins
1737–1750. Family History Library film #946855, No. 8. (The first page of this record is a printed form repeating the specifics of the agreement and property description and providing the terms of the mortgage.) The annual interest payments run as follows:
Hunterdon April 27th 1738 — Joshua Robins paid the sum of Two pounds five shillings being part of Twenty pounds. Interest due thereon for one year.
Hunterdon March 27th 1739 — Two pounds three shillings and nine pence.
Hunterdon April the 29th 1740 — Two pounds two shillings and six pence.
April 30th 1741 — Two pounds one shilling and three pence.
Hunterdon April 6th 1742 — forty shillings.
April the 28th 1743 — thirty eight shillings and nine pence.
Hunterdon April 26th 1744 — thirty seven shillings and six pence.
Hunterdon April 24th 1745 — Thirty six shillings and three pence.
Hunterdon April 24th 1746 — Thirty five shillings.
Hunterdon April 30th 1747 — Thirty three shillings and nine pence.
Hunterdon April 26th 1748 — Joshua Robins by Job Robins paid the sum of Thirty two shillings and six pence.
Hunterdon April 27th 1749 — Joshua Robins by Job Robins paid the sum of Thirty shillings and three pence.
Hunterdon April 26th 1750 — Thirty shillings.
Each entry records interest due for one year on the principal of twenty pounds. See both sets of records in Joshua Robins’s mortgage (PDF).
1741: Maidenhead Township tax list
Joshua, Job, and John Robins appear on a tax list in Maidenhead Township. Job and John are believed to be two of Joshua’s brothers. Job was also a witness to Joshua’s mortgage in 1737, and it appears he might have paid Joshua’s mortgage in 1748 and 1749.7
Maidenhead Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey tax lists:
- Job Robins
- John Robins
- Joshua Robins
Today Maidenhead is Lawrenceville, New Jersey, in Mercer County, halfway between Princeton and Trenton. Lawrenceville was founded as Maidenhead in 1697, as part of Burlington County in the colony of West Jersey. In 1714 the village became part of Hunterdon County. It remained in Hunterdon until Mercer County was created in 1838. In 1798 the New Jersey Legislature legally incorporated the Township of Maidenhead. In the 1800s the name was changed to Lawrenceville.8
1747: arrested with a counterfeiting ring
The next record I found for Joshua was in 1747, when he was arrested as part of a large counterfeiting ring in Morris County. From Colonial and Revolutionary Morris County by Theodore Thayer (Morris County Heritage Commission, 1975), page 115:9
When counterfeiting was rampant in Morris County, it was difficult to convict the perpetrators. Many of the counterfeiters were popular young men with many influential relatives and friends. Furthermore, many of the inhabitants did not look upon the crime as inimical to their interests; rather, they viewed the actions of the counterfeiters as clever and smart. In fact, to perhaps the great majority, the counterfeiters were popular heroes. They did not perceive the great harm which this form of lawbreaking could cause to a community.
As early as 1744 there were several indictments against counterfeiters for altering paper money, but no arrests appear to have been made. Then in 1747, a whole ring of counterfeiters and passers of counterfeit bills were arrested and jailed. The number and good station in life of most of the men reveal the prevailing disposition toward counterfeiting. The names of the arrested were: Timothy Conner, Seth Hall, Jonathan Hathaway, John Pipes, Job Allen, Andrew Morrison, Abraham Southerd, Samuel Blackford, Sylvanus Totten, and David Brant, all of Morristown. In addition there were Abraham Hathaway, Jacobus Vanetta, John McNeal, Joshua Robins, Abraham Anderson, Robert Livingston, Court Timery, and Isaac Woortman. Through the laxity of Sheriff Caleb Fairchild, all the prisoners broke jail and escaped to the homes of friends and relatives. Governor Jonathan Belcher and his Council agreed that counterfeiters could not be convicted in Morris County and proposed that henceforth they be removed from the county for trial. The Assembly, however, disagreed, and the proposal was dropped. Chief Justice Robert Hunter Morris wanted Sheriff Fairchild prosecuted for allowing the prisoners to escape but no action was taken.
It was not until the Court of Oyer and Terminer was established in Morris County in 1750, with Chief Justice Nevill presiding, that some of the counterfeiters were again arrested and brought to trial. David Brant was found guilty, fined L25, jailed for three months, and put on good behavior for seven years. Ebenezer David was fined L5, ordered to stand in the pillory one hour, jailed for six months, and put on good behavior for nine years. Jeremiah Wright received a fine of L10 for assisting the counterfeiters and was put on good behavior for seven years. Finally, Peter Salter was fined twenty shillings and put on good behavior for two years for counterfeiting pieces of eight. These sentences were light; after all, the law prescribed the death penalty for counterfeiters.
It was not until 1752 that the county had another session of the Oyer and Terminer Court. This time nine persons were charged with assisting counterfeiters. The culprits, almost all of whom had been indicted in 1747, were Abraham Hathaway, Jonathan Hathaway, Job Allen, Andrew Morrison, John Pipes, Timothy Comer, Sylvanus Totten, Seth Hall, and Samuel Blackford. The Court, perhaps for lack of evidence, decided not to try the men at the time. They were all released in their own recognizance and ordered to appear at the next court. When it met again in September 1753, the men simply were given small fines on charges of misdemeanor and dismissed.
Although the punishments handed down by the Court in 1750 and 1753 were light, the actions of the Court were such that counterfeiting did not again appear in Morris County for nearly twenty years.
1754: The King vs. Charles McConnell
In April 1754, Joshua Robins, his son Joshua Robins Jr., the wife of Elisha Robins (Mary), the daughter of Elisha Robins (Jane), and others were witnesses to the attack on a horse by Charles McConnell in Newtown, Sussex County, New Jersey:10
Sussex May Session 1754
The King vs Charles McConnell
The Defendt Being Charged with this Indictment pleads Not Guilty
? Harrell — file May 30th 1754 — Russell Clerk(?) — ? Billa Vora ? — William Scholey? Foreman
Evidence for the King: Elisha Robins’s wife; Joshua Robins; Elis. Robins’s daughter; Joshua Robins Jun.; Perkins (?) Lovell; Richd. Slough; Elisha Coller; Eliz. Hadly (?); Hazen
Province of New Jersey, County of Sussex
The Grand Inquest for our Sovereign Lord King for the Body of the County of Sussex Being (then and then) Duly Charged Sworn and Affirmed upon the Respective Oath and Affirmation of at least twelve honorable and Lawfull men of the said County, Do present That Charles McConnell late of New Town in the County of Sussex aforesaid yeoman Being a person of a Turbulant, Malitious, and Malevolent Principal and Disposition and Designing Contriving and <?> and Jonathan Smalley to prejudice and Injure the fifth day of April in the Twenty Seventh year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Second by the Grace of God of Great Britain France and Ireland King Defender of the faith. At New Town aforesaid in the County of Sussex aforesaid and within the jurisdiction of this Court a Certain Roan Coloured Mare the property of the aforesaid Jonathan Smalley (then and there) <missing> with a certain knife or some other sharp weapon, did <missing> unlawfully wickedly and maliciously (in the Belly of the said Mare) Stab, Cutt and wound, By which said <missing> to the great damage of the said Jonathan Smalley <missing> and most purnatious [pernicious?] Example of all others in such case Delinquent and against the peace of our said Sovereign Lord the King that nowis his Crown and Dignity.
Harrell, AS Genl.
This record places both Joshua Robins [Sr.] and Joshua Robins Jr. in Newtown, Sussex County, in 1754, although it is unclear whether they were visiting or whether they lived there. Elisha Robins was another brother of Joshua.
Additional details about this incident were mentioned on a web page written by a descendant of Samuel Hazen:
The name of Samuel Hazen is the first of the family to have been found in New Jersey records. In an old volume at Newton appears this record: “At a court of General Sessions of the Peace held at Hardwick, County of Sussex, on the Third Tuesday in February in the year of our Lord one Thousand seven hundred and fifty five and in the Twenty eighth year of his Majesty’s Reign — The King vs. Charles McConnell — Indictment for misdemeanor. The attorney general opened the cause — and the following Evidences pro Rege — Mary Robins, Jane Robins, Joshua Robins, Saml. Hazen, Thomas Wolverton.”
Soon after this date, the names of Thomas and Daniel Hazen appear in the same book of court records, and in 1778 the name of Nathaniel Hazen [son of John]. This corroborates the general tradition among their descendants that three or four brothers came from Connecticut to New Jersey at about the same time. The only known child of Samuel is his son Samuel.
I haven’t been able to find the specific record described here that names Mary Robins and Jane Robins. The copy I have only says “Elisha Robins’ wife” and “Elisha Robins’ daughter.”
See King vs. Charles McConnell (PDF).
1759: the Belcher petition
A few years later, on 15 May 1759, Joshua Robins and Elisha Robins of Sussex County were among names on a petition to Governor Jonathan Belcher and Council “from the inhabitants of Sussex County, on a frontier of the province next to Pennsylvania, asking that greater efforts be made to defend the province against the French and Indians.”11
To me these signatures look like they were made by the same person. Perhaps one of them signed both names?
To see the entire petition with all signatures, see the Belcher petition, 1759 (PDF).
In any case, from this record I believe we can conclude that Joshua Robins Sr. and his family, which included sons Daniel and Joshua Jr., likely lived in Sussex County by 1759, if not earlier.
1759–1760: Robins and Roberts
Also in May 1759, Joshua Robins was in a Sussex County court case, Daniel Roberts vs. Joshua Robbins,12 and in another in July or August 1760, Joshua Robins vs. Daniel Roberts.13 These cases were for money each said the other owed him.
1766: “late of Hunterdon”
Hunterdon miscellaneous court records, #29958:14
1766 Joshua Robbins late of Hunterdon, appear at court in Trenton 1st Feb next (1767?)
Answer to assignees of Henry Snyder an insolvent debtor (Daniel Casse? and Thomas Lowry) a plea of trespass of the case to their damage of 18 pounds proclamation money. Witness William Morris, Esq judge of said court at Trenton, 23rd Oct fifth year of our reign.
The fact that Joshua is referred to as “late of Hunterdon” but is still living — as is apparent from the judge’s request that the sheriff find and bring Joshua to the court — seems to indicate that Joshua had once lived in Hunterdon but no longer did. This makes sense given that other records have him as an inhabitant of Sussex County starting in 1759.
1775: a will that may or may not exist
One of the most frustrating mentions of Joshua Robins in a record is a statement on page 90 of The Shackletons, a book about the genealogy of Richard Shackleton written by Bernice Close Shackelton and published in 1972. It states that Richard witnessed the will of Joshua Robbins:15
Unfortunately, there is no source for this statement.
I contacted a Shackleton researcher, Mary Shackleton, and she was also at a loss to find a source for it. I also contacted the New Jersey State Archives, and the archivist looked in all the places she could think of but could not find a will for Joshua Robbins. The places looked were:
- New Jersey, Published Archives Series, First Series
- Index of wills, inventories, etc. in the Office of the Secretary of State prior to 1901 (1912)
- Unindexed wills of Sussex County, 1784–1820
So did Ms. Shackleton make a mistake? Or did a Joshua Robins will exist that is now missing?
The volunteer at the New Jersey State Archives did say that there are a few collections of wills that cannot be searched — Colonial Non-New Jersey, Closed, and Conserved:
- Some of the original files, now at the New Jersey State Archives, have been “closed” to public access due to their poor condition.
- Some of the original files have received “conservation treatment” due to their prior poor condition.
- There are a few “Colonial non-New Jersey” wills that were recorded with the New Jersey Secretary of State’s Office, which are listed in volume 3 of this published set. [See volume 3, “Addenda,” pp. 1449–1452. Volume 3 also contains the listing for Sussex County Wills & Inventories, pp. 1294–1343.]
So for now, if a will of Joshua Robbins exists, I haven’t found it. If someone out there finds it, I hope they’ll contact me.
Source citations
- Joshua Robins, last record found in 1766. Hunterdon New Jersey, Misc. court records, loans, etc., no. 29780–30090, 1713–1860. Family History Library microfilm 819087. ↩
- Robins, Robbins of New Jersey. Taylor and Hoffman, 2006. ↩
- 1810 April 9, #3050: John Robbins and Tabitha his wife to George Hainsler, 100 acres, south end Wainfleet lot 31, 5th concession. Source: Land Records of Welland Co., Wainfleet Township, v. A–B, Old Series (31-13088, 41-9463), 1797–1847. Family History Library microfilm 170985. — 1814 Dec 2, #5408: Daniel Robins of Thorold and Mary his wife sell to George Hansel of Pelham, N 1/2 lot 32, 5th concession in Wainfleet, 100 acres. Source: images.ourontario.ca — an indenture of land sold from Daniel Robins of Thorold to George Hansil of Pelham for Lot 32 (100 acres) in the 5th Concession of the Township of Wainfleet. ↩
- Chambers, Theodore Frelinghuysen (1849–1916). The early Germans of New Jersey: their history, churches, and genealogies. Published 1895. ↩
- Account books and mortgages, 1733–1748. Hunterdon County (New Jersey) Loan Office. Family History Library microfilm 1028302, items 1–4. ↩
- Mortgages, 1733–1748. Hunterdon County (New Jersey). Family History Library microfilm 946855. ↩
- Ancestry.com. New Jersey, Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1643–1890 [database on-line]. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations Inc., 1999. Original data: Jackson, Ronald V., Accelerated Indexing Systems, comp., New Jersey Census, 1643–1890. ↩
- Maidenhead history, in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. ↩
- Thayer, Theodore. Colonial and Revolutionary Morris County. Morris County Heritage Commission, 1975. ↩
- Joshua Robins [Sr.] and Joshua Robins Jr., witnesses in “The King vs. Charles McConnell.” New Jersey State Archives, Sussex County Court of Common Pleas, Indictments series 1754–1936, 1754–1778, Box 1. ↩
- Joshua Robins and Elisha Robins among names on petition to New Jersey Governor Belcher from the inhabitants of Sussex County, dated 1759. Manuscript Collection–SAH: Oversized (New Jersey State Archives), Box 1-41, folder 5. ↩
- Daniel Roberts vs. Joshua Robbins. Sussex County Court of Common Pleas, Case Files, Box 3. ↩
- Joshua Robbins vs. Daniel Roberts. Sussex County Court of Common Pleas, Case Files, Box 3. ↩
- Joshua Robins, last record found in 1766. Hunterdon New Jersey, Misc. court records, loans, etc., no. 29780–30090, 1713–1860. Family History Library microfilm 819087. ↩
- Shackelton, Bernice Close. The Shackletons, a book about the genealogy of Richard Shackleton. 1972, pages 88 and 90. ↩
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