Daniel Robins (aka Robinson) was born in Scotland, the son of Richard and Mary Robertson. The Robertsons were part of the family known in Gaelic as Clan Donnachaid (Children of Duncan). The Robertsons are descendants of King Duncan I through his son, Robert.
Richard and Mary Robertson appear to have resided in the Atholl district of what was then Perthshire. Atholl is a mountainous district at the southern base of the Grampian Mountains. The area is generally uncultivable and is more appropriate for livestock and hunting. The Robinsons were members of the Clan Donnachaidh. Highland clans such as the Clan Donnachaidh were a pastoral warrior race that based their prestige on cattle. A great source of pride to these herdsmen were their combative skills that they often honed by raiding one another’s cattle as a sport or test of prowess.
In 1651, the Scottish people, tired of the tyranny of Oliver Cromwell, had turned their allegiance to Charles II. Daniel Robinson was part of the Scottish Army raised by King Charles II during the English Civil War.
On 3 September 1651, Oliver Cromwell’s Parliamentarian Army met, and routed, the Royalist Army at Worcester, Worcestershire (present day Hereford and Worcester County), located 25 miles south southwest of Birmingham. Daniel Robinson along with several other Scots was taken prisoner, marched to London, and confined to Tothill Field near Parliament House to await his fate. Daniel was selected as one of the prisoners to be exiled to America. We can surmise, by his being selected, that he was in good physical condition and not wounded.
Approximately 274 Scotch prisoners from the Battle of Worcester were consigned to Thomas Kemble of New England, a lumber merchant with an interest in New Hampshire sawmills. Mr. John Becx was interested in obtaining Scottish prisoners that were neither sick nor wounded for his ironworks. The ship, the John and Sara, was engaged to transport these Highlanders to Boston.
Those who survived the voyage arrived at Boston Harbor sometime in February 1652 and were sold on the auction block to New England planters and mill owners as indentured servants for six to eight years.
Daniel Robinson is listed among the Scotsmen listed as passengers aboard the John and Sara. Six other men with the same surname were aboard, probably Daniel’s kinsmen. Daniel was bought by Nathaniel Foote, of Connecticut, and taken to this man’s family plantation to tend the livestock. It is thought that Daniel continued with the Foote family beyond his eight-year indentureship.
In 1663 Daniel Robinson and Hope Potter registered their intention to marry on 3 February 1663 at New Haven, New Haven County, Connecticut. They married one week later. The specifics as to how Daniel met his wife, Hope Potter, are not known. Hope Potter’s sister, Sarah, was married to Robert Foote, brother of Nathaniel Foote, Jr. It was not an uncommon occurrence for these young Scottish soldiers to marry into the families of their masters upon receiving their freedom.
The name Robinson was not used by Daniel after he and his family moved from Connecticut to New Jersey in 1668. Daniel’s will indicates he was unable to write. It is possible that a minor alteration in the spelling may not have been of any great importance to Daniel, so the Robinson name became Robins.
Daniel Robins has been described by his descendants as being about five feet in height, with bright blue eyes and dark, thick, curly hair in his younger days. Family tradition has it that he played a harp, a talent that was continued by his grandson, Richard Robins, of Morris River. Richard’s harp was listed among his possessions at the time of his death. In New Jersey (and Possibly in Connecticut) he was known as “the Scot” or “Scotch Robins.”
Although Daniel was not able to read, it is said that his wife, Hope, could read the bible. Supposedly, Daniel enjoyed the Old Testament scriptures that spoke of the patriarch Joseph and the Hebrews in Egypt. This piece of family folklore seems to be substantiated in the naming of four of his seven sons: Joseph, Moses, Aaron, and Benjamin.
On 12 March 1664, King Charles II granted the territory of New Jersey to James, Duke of York. On February 10, 1665, Philip Carteret was appointed governor and chartered what would become Woodbridge and granted 150 acres to every “Freeman” settler.
Daniel was one of the settlers of Woodbridge, New Jersey, moving there in 1668. He and his wife, Hope, had eleven children–the eldest daughter and son were born in New Haven, CT prior to the move to Woodbridge while all the remaining children were born in Woodbridge.
In 1669/70, Daniel acquired a “houselot” of 173 acres, 120 acres of “upland” and 5 acres of meadow on the Rahawack River. In 1670, Daniel is listed as a Freeholder with 173 acres in Woodbridge.
On 15 July 1676, John Dilley sold 5+ acres to Daniel in Papiack, a half house lot, the east side. Jason Sertell sold Daniel 5+ acres in Woodbridge on 4 March 1678. Later that year, on 21 November, Abraham Jappen sold 12+ acres to Daniel in Woodbridge.
Hope died in 1687.
In 1688 Daniel was a Constable and Tax Collector, in 1690 the Overseer of Highways, and Marshal in 1692. On the third Tuesday of December 1692, the Grand Jury presented Daniel Robins for breach of the Sabbath. (On the third Tuesday of September 1693, Daniel Jr. and Nathaniel were presented for carting wood on the Sabbath)
In 1695 and 1696, Daniel transferred his properties to Peter Lacont, Adam Hude, Elisha Parker, and his son Daniel Jr. in preparation for moving to Crosswicks.
In 1695, eight years after Hope’s death, Daniel moved across the state from Woodbridge to Crosswicks, Burlington County, New Jersey, where he purchased some large tracts of land in central New Jersey. One of these he conveyed to his son Moses. This transaction is found in an old deed dated 1701 and this land included the one-acre family cemetery known as Ye Old Robbins Burial Place. When Daniel acquired the land, he supposedly selected this specific site for the purpose of a cemetery. Family members record Daniel’s sons Joseph and Nathaniel as being buried there in unmarked graves.
In Hope, Daniel had married a daughter of a Puritan. After moving to Crosswicks, an area dominated by Quakers, Daniel and two of his sons, Daniel Jr., and Moses, joined the Society of Friends.
It would seem logical to find Daniel buried at his Old Robins Burial Place; however, Bible records and other family documents indicate that he was buried at Woodbridge beside his wife Hope – thereby honoring a last request.
It was not a common practice in colonial days to transport the dead to a distant burial place, particularly during the hot summer months. On 18 August 1714, Daniel’s body, accompanied by Daniel Jr., Moses, and Aaron and possibly others undertook the over 30-mile journey from the Crosswicks farm to Woodbridge. Due to the assistance they received along the way from fellow Quakers, the trip was accomplished in record time. The body of Daniel rests beside his wife Hope in an unmarked grave at Woodbridge.
Moser Family History 