Milton Robbins,  M.D.


          Milton  Robbins,  M.D., one of the oldest living pioneers of Shelby County, is a native of Ohio, born in the town of Hillsboro, November 16, 1810.  His paternal ancestors were natives of Wales, and among the early settlers of New Jersey, his grandfather,  John  Robbins, having been born in that State about the years 1760.  The Doctor's father  Philip  Robbins, was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, in 1785, emigrated to Shelby County, Ind., in 1821, and died here about fourteen years later.  His wife,  Nancy  (Boyd)  Robbins,  was born in Paris, Ky., in 1791, and departed this life in Shelby County, Ind., in the year 1856.  Philip and Nancy Robbins, were the parents of ten children, the subject of this sketch being the eldest.  Dr. Robbins was eleven years of age when hisparents came to Shelby County, and from that time until the present he has been justly classed among its most intelligent and trustworthy citizens.  He was reared on a farm, and having early decided upon the medical profession for a life work, began his preliminary study of the same in 1831, under the efficient instruction of  Dr.  Sylvan  B.  Morris.  Actuated by a laudable desire to increase his knowledge of the profession, he subsequently entered the Ohio Medical College, of Cincinnati, from which institution he graduated in 1844.  In 1835, he was elected to the office of County Recorder, the duties of which position he discharged in an eminently satisfactory manner until 1842.  At the expiration of this term as Recorder he resumed the practice of his profession, which he continued with success and financial profit for a period of about forty years, being at this time one of the oldest and best known medical men in southern Indiana.  Dr. Robbins ranks high professionally, and as an energetic citizen, fully alive to all that interests and benefits the general public; few in the county possess the esteem and confidence of the people in as marked a degree.  He is a Republican in politics, and in religion holds to the creed of the Methodist Church.  In March, 1836, he was united in marriage with   Miss  Frances  Powell,  daughter of Judge Powell, of Dearborn County, Ind., a union blessed with the birth of four children, viz.:  Alfred V.,  Dr.  James  P.,  Milton  B.,  and  Francis.  Mrs. Robbins was born in the year 1816, and departed this life in 1884.
From the History of Shelby County, Indiana, Chicago: Brant & Fuller, 1887, pages 531-532.
Copied by Phyllis Miller Fleming

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