Energetic and progressive, keen and alert in business matters, Albert E. Robbins, of Iron Mountain, has met with undoubted success as a merchant and as an agriculturist, and is now rendering excellent service to his constituents as sheriff of Dickinson county. A son of Nahum B. Robbins, he was born, December 14, 1860, at East_ Constable, Franklin county. New York, coming from New England ancestry, his grandfather, Captain Eleazer Robbins, and his greatgrandfather, Samuel Robbins, having been natives of New Hampshire.

He is a lineal descendant of George Robbins, who was born in England and emigrated to the United States in colonial times, bringing with him a small hand trunk, which is now in the possession of Mr. Robbins. This trunk is lined with a newspaper which was printed at the "Black Swan," Pater Noster Row, London, in 1756. He has also many other valuable relies of colonial days.

Moving to New York state when a young man, Eleazer Robbins was soon after made a captain in the One Hundred and Twenty-third New York Militia, his commission, signed by Governor Joseph C. Yates, bearing the date of October 23, 1824. He subsequently settled at Cherry Valley, Otsego county, where he spent his remaining years. He married Rosamond Burbank.

Born and reared at Cherry Valley, New York, Nahum B. Robbins learned the trade of a harness maker, but after his removal to Franklin county devoted his time and energies to general farming. Patriotic and public-spiried. he enlisted during the Civil War in the One Hundred and Forty-second New York Volunteer Infantry, and was with its regiments in its various marches and engagements until taken ill, when he entered the hospital at Beaufort, South Carolina, where his death occurred in December, 1863, at the early age of twenty-nine years. The maiden name of the wife of Nahum B. Robbins was Delia M. Child. She was born at East Constable, Franklin county, New York, of New England ancestry, her father, Jacob Child, Jr., and her grandfather, Jacob Child, Sr., having both been born in Pomfret, Vermont, the birth of the former occurring February 13, 1804, and that of the latter February 11, 1775. The Child family furnished twenty-two soldiers for the Revolutionary war. Her great-grandfather, Abijah Child, who was born in Woodstock, Connecticut, September 3, 1749, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, taking an active part in its first battle, which was fought at Lexington, Massachusetts, on April 19, 1775. A complete history of the Child family in America has been published by Elias Child, and from it we learn that Delia M. Child, the mother of Mr. Robbins, was a descendant of Ephraim Child, who emigrated to America in 1630 and settled in Roxbury, Massachusetts. Jacob Child, Sr., was a pioneer settler of Franklin county, New York, and there spent his last years, dying at the remarkable age of ninety-eight years, while his brother John lived to the age of ninety-six years. Jacob Child, Jr., migrated from Vermont to New York, and having bought a tract of wild land in East Constable cleared and improved a farm, and was there employed in agricultural pursuits until his death, at the age of seventy-one years. His wife, whose maiden name was Samantha Sumner, was, also the descendant of an old and honored New England family.

Left a widow with three young children, Mrs. Nahum B. Robbins immediately put to good use the knowledge of carding, spinning and weaving which she had learned from her mother, with her wheel and loom earning a sufficient sum of money to enable her to provide her children with all the necessaries of life and give them good educations. Living to see them all well settled in homes of their own, this brave woman felt amply repaid for her years of labor. She spent her last days in peace and plenty, at the home of her youngest son in Malone, New York, passing away in March, 1906, aged seventy-four years.

Attending the public schools of Malone, New York, Albert E. Robbins acquired a practical education while young. Coming westward in 1877 he located in Calumet, Michigan, and for seven years was employed at the Calumet Mine, after which he spent a year at his old home in Malone, New York. Returning to the Upper Peninsula in 1886, Mr. Robbins took up his residence at Iron Mountain, and for a few months worked as a carpenter at the Chapin Mine. He was subsequently engaged in the furniture and undertaking business until 1903, when he sold out. In the meantime, however, Mr. Robbins had purchased a tract of wild land across the river, in Florence county, Wisconsin, and had superintended its clearing and improvement. He has erected a fine set of buildings, having ample barns for his stock and a good house for his employees, his estate being one of the model farms of the county. Going to California in the fall of 1903, he spent the winter on the Pacific coast, and on his return in the spring sold his farm at an advantage. He owns several buildings in Iron Mountain, including the Robbins Block which he built in 1891 on Hughitt street and which is a large, two-story business block, constructed of native brown sand stone. It is one of the finest structures in the city.

Mr. Robbins married, in January, 1881, Mary Blacney, who was born in Calumet, Michigan, a daughter of John Blacney, a native of England. She died in 1886, at Iron Mountain, leaving one daughter, Stella Robbins, who was graduated from the Marquette Normal School and is now a teacher in the public schools of Spokane, Washington. Mr. Robbins married for his second wife, in 1888, Jennie Van Auken, who was born in Menominee. Michigan, a daughter of Joseph and Ambrosia (Lyon) Van Auken, natives, respectively of Pennsylvania and New York. Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Robbins, namely: Ruth, Sumner, Hazel, Anna, Emma and Putnam. Fraternally Mr. Robbins is a member of Iron Mountain Lodge, No. 388, F. & A. M.; of Iron Mountain Lodge, No. 700, B. P. 0. E.; of Lodge No. 129, K. of P.; and of Oak Leaf Lodge, No. 2885, K. 0. T. M.