Robinson Mystery solved...sort of.

Well I think I may have solved the mystery of the two John Robinsons, believe it or not there were TWO of them. That's right two John Robinsons who both happened to be born in 1819 (although one could possibly have been born in 1811). And two that just happened to marry women named Mary, except one has a maiden name, Shrimpton.

Unfortunately, Mary Shrimpton is NOT my John's wife. After a little more digging and some help from a cousin who has Ancestry (though not the World Deluxe) I found John, Mary (Shrimpton) Robinson and their children, INCLUDING William Hamilton. The key to determining which John was which lies in their occupations. I knew that my John was a 'Tinsmith' by trade and that is how I tracked him to New Mexico. But the other John Robinson was a FARMER and his wife Mary was still ALIVE in the 1881 census when my John's wife wasn't. John #2's occupation also makes sense given what Chuck (the guy who e-mailed me yesterday) had a picture of. He sent me photos of a water pitcher that had 'John Robinson' and '1811' on it. So never one to turn down a mystery, I did some digging on the writing that was on the pitcher. It had two banners one said 'The Farmers Arms' and the other said 'In God Is Our Trust' I found one similar with the same pictures on it but didn't find much else on it except that The Farmers Arms is a poem of some kind for you guess it, farmers.

So, I offered to track John, Mary and their children as far forward as I could, since I didn't know how much research he had done with the exception of William Hamilton who is his ancestor. I figured it was the least I could do since I claimed his William as the brother of my Edmund. It also means I'm going to have to wipe out his William's information from my family tree but I really don't mind. I still have to wait until Tuesday to view the Canadian census records at the library but now that I solved the mystery, I don't mind waiting. At least I don't have to start completely over, I just have to track a different William. I'm also glad that I found Edmund and my John Robinson.

I guess I learned a good lesson that I should've known but didn't take heed to. NEVER assume. In the end at least I get to do some digging whether its my John or Chuck's and that's the fun part of genealogy research.