Biography - RICHARD T. ROBLEY

Richard T. Robley, a prominent farmer of Macoupin County, who resides upon his well improved farm of 120 acres, situated in section 8, Shaw's Point township, was born March 28, 1847, in Greene County, Illinois. He is a son of Henry G. and Caroline (Griswold) Robley.

Henry G. Robley was born May 2, 1817, at Vergennes, Addison County, Vermont, and was a son of Richard Robley, who was born near Keene, New Hampshire. His grandfather was Richard Robley, who was born in England and settled in New Hampshire prior to the Revolutionary War, in which he took part. His family consisted of four children, namely: Mrs. Mary Tucker; Mrs. Angeline Fessenden; Richard and Henry. The grandfather of our subject, the second Richard Robley, was thrice married, but his children were all born to his first marriage and were the following: Eliza (Brown), Henry, George, Charles, Villeroy, Mrs. Emily Twitchell and Mrs. Mary Brace. Grandfather Richard Robley was left an orphan at the age of 18 years, and with a brother removed from Keene, New Hampshire, to Addison County, Vermont. In 1820 he went to Missouri, which was then very far West, but remained there only one year, then joined his relatives who had settled in Greene County, Illinois, where he lived to be almost 90 years of age.

The father of our subject was only three years old when his parents came to Illinois. He came to this place in 1855, where his death occurred March 26, 1900. He was a man of much industry and accumulated, in agricultural pursuits, an ample fortune, leaving at death a fine farm of 200 acres. In political sentiment he was a Republican. Although he had enjoyed only the advantages of the district schools, he was a man of great intelligence, fond of reading and considered of much consequence in his locality. In 1840 he married Caroline Griswold, who was also born at Vergennes, Vermont, May 8, 1817, and is a daughter of John and Anna (Peck) Griswold, natives of Vermont, of English extraction. She still survives, at the age of 86, in the possession of all her faculties, a beloved member of our subject's household. She became the mother of three children, namely: William V., deceased; Richard T., of this sketch; and Mrs. Helen Z. Welton of Macoupin County.

Richard T. Robley has been a resident of Illinois all his life, with the exception of eight years spent in Grundy County, Missouri. He has always been engaged in farming and came to his present place in 1856. Here, for almost a half century, he has been successfully engaged in farming, stock raising and dairying, the products of the latter industry being shipped to Granite City, Illinois. His land is a great corn producer, averaging 2,500 bushels, and he has made the growing of this cereal and the raising of hogs his leading features. His cattle are high bred Jerseys and are satisfactory in every way. Mr. Robley is one of the progressive and public spirited citizens of his township and served most efficiently from 1896 to 1899 as highway commissioner. Politically, he affiliates with the Republican party.

On June 1, 1874, Mr. Robley was married to Olive Beebe, who was born in Calhoun County, Illinois, and is a daughter of Aurora and Betty Beebe. Two sons, Lee and Ward, have been born to this marriage. Lee is a promising young man of 19 years, who is his father's valuable assistant on the farm. Ward is deceased.

Extracted 2018 May 04 by Norma Hass from Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Macoupin County, Illinois, published in 1904, pages 44-46.