Stephen Robbins

From the Record

A Methodist Minister. Left Monroe County, Ohio, first serving as minister of the First Methodist Church of Marietta, Ohio (source: Washington County History 1980), and entered Jackson County, West Virginia in 1882. With William Thomas, Valentine Cooper, and W. H. Beymer he formed the Lockhart Methodist Episcopal Church, then known as Gross Chapel, in 1887 and was its first preacher. The allied-family file contradicts itself on his death year (see source_conflicts).

From the Family Manuscript

• Levi Robbins was born in 1806 in North Carolina. Levi had a son, Stephen Robbins, born 28 January 1832 in Monroe, County, Ohio.

  Maddox Family History, transcript line 1994.

• Stephen Robbins entered Jackson County, West Virginia in 1882. He bought property on Parson Run from Albert Lockhart (1840-1905). Stephens son, William Alexander Robbins entered Jackson County, West Virginia in 1887.

  Maddox Family History, transcript line 2032.

• Stephen Robbins along with the help of William Thomas, Valentine Cooper and W. H. Beymer formed the Lockhart United Methodist Church in 1887. Stephen Robbins was a Methodist Minister. It appears that he left Monroe County, Ohio and first went to Marietta, Washington County, Ohio were he was minister of the First Methodist Church of Marietta, Ohio (source: Washington County History 1980) and later to Jackson County, West Virginia. Stephen Robbins was the first preacher at the Lockhart Methodist Church. This church, still standing and being used today was photographed. On the front is a sign with states “1887” and re-built “1921”

  Maddox Family History, transcript line 2034.

• The account describes small Methodist Episcopal and Baptist congregations as centers of the scattered communities. It says the Lockhart church began in 1886, lists Stephen Robbins among its first trustees, and identifies Laura Estella Robbins Maddox as the author's grandmother who attended the church. It then traces three Drift Run church buildings from an 1880 log structure through buildings erected in 1896 and 1943. Maddox's school sketch recalls one-room buildings heated by fireplaces or cast-iron stoves, mixed-age pupils, and uneven access to trained teachers. Dates, construction details, and claims about founders are retained here as attributed local history rather than independently verified institutional facts.

  How They Lived in the Mid-1800s to Early 1900s, transcript lines 88–100.

Sources for this Record

• birth · Allied Family Robbins, Levi Robbins family-group sheet.
• death · Allied Family Robbins, contradictory 1899 and 1890 readings retained in source_conflicts.
• burial · Allied Family Robbins, Red Bush Cemetery inspection found no marker; burial is reported from History of Jackson County West Virginia.
• biography · Allied Family Robbins, opening history; move, ministry, and church trusteeship.

Where the Sources Disagree

• death date — 10 February 1899 (Allied Family Robbins, opening history) · 10 February 1890 (Allied Family Robbins, Levi Robbins family-group sheet) — the chronicle uses 10 February 1899.

  The allied-family file contradicts itself. Its opening history and the principal family histories support 1899, which remains in use pending an original death or cemetery record.