Posted by:  crisrobbins@ymail.com crisrobbins@ymail.com
    Date: Mon Jan 29, 2018 10:00 am ((PST))

I found this on http://www.ingenweb.org/injefferson/jeffbiographies.html

 William Robbins (deceased), the subject of this sketch, was born in Kentucky in 1794. He was brought up in perilous time from the wild beast of the country and the
still wilder and more cruel men, the Indian. His first visit to Indiana Territory was in 1804, when he came to visit his mother's brother, John Rykere, who had a claim
in Eagle Creek Valley, about three miles east of where Madison now is

    He bought flour, sugar and coffee to his uncle, luxuries which were not to be had at that time in the little settlement of Indiana. During this journey he saw deer,
bears, panthers and various kinds of smaller game. He crossed the Ohio in a pirogue, his horse swimming by the side of the boat.

    In 1809 Mr. Robbins settled permanently in Jefferson County, or what was afterward so named, making his home with his uncle, Mason Watts, who had built a log cabin
two miles north of the present site of Canaan. The indians were troublesome about this time, and he enlisted as a ranger, and was several months in that service,
headquarters at Buchanan's Station. The company in which he served was along Indian Kentucky creek, and was commanded by James McCoy as captain; this was in 1811-1812.

    He was with Gen. W. H. Harrison when Detroit was taken, and at the battle of the River Thames were Tecumseh was killed; but just who fired that fatal shot he could
never twll. After the war he settled on a tract of land, two and one-half miles north of Canaan, which he bought of the Government.

    He was married on the 21st of January, 1816, to Elizabeth Wildman, who was the daughter of James Wildman, an early settler. He was married by Elder Jesse Vawter.

    Mr. Robbins was a great hunter, and kept his family well supplied with meat by the use of his gun. Game of all kinds was plenty in the forest at that time -beasts
and birds. He was in Madison at the first sale of lots by John Paul and Jonathan Lyons; the lots were about where the court-house now stands; they sold for about
fifteen dollars apiece.

    The result of his marriage was eight children, who lived to the age of maturity, vis: Eliza, Mary A., James, Aaron, Elizabeth, Martha, Ryker and John W.; of these,
two girls and four boys are now living (in 1888).

    Mr. Wm. Robbins died in 1884, at his son Aaron's; he had been blind for some years. He was a centenarian, and the last of his compeers to pass away to the Spirit
Land. His wife died in 1856. He was a member of the Baptist Church for many years before his death.

    His youngest daughter, Martha, was married to James Christie, February 24, 1846, and to them were born two children: John W. and Mary Elizabeth. Her husband died
July 11, 1850, and she re-married in October, 1855, to William B. East, and to them were born five children, viz: George O., Ryker A., Minerva A., Fannie D. and Bailey
S. Her second husband died January 26, 1865, and she married a third time, in 1884, to Enos Miles, who died in 1887. SHe still lives in the village of Bryantsburg. Her
eldest son enlisted in the Tenth Reg. Ind. Vols., and served through the war.

    Mrs. Miles has raised her family almost unaided, and has been successful in giving all of them a good common-school education. She has lived to see all of her
children grown and married.

    She has been an earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal Church for some twenty years.

 Jared D. Ryker, a representative of one of the earliest and first families of Jefferson county, and also one of the most prominent and successful farmers of the
county, was born January 8, 1821, at the old Ryker homestead, Jefferson county, Ind. His parents were John G. and Sarah Ryker (nee Jones), who were respectively born in
Shelby and Boone counties, Ky. John G. Ryker was born August 9, 1793, and remvoed with his father, before he became of age, to Jefferson county. His father was Geradus
Ryker, a native of the State of New Jersey, born in 1769, who emigrated in the latter part of the last century to Shelby county, Ky., and subsequently to Jefferson
county, Ind., in about 1811.

    John G. Ryker was a soldier in the War of 1812, and was known as one of the "Rangers," and for his meritorious services drew a pension from the Government until the
day of his death, in 1875. Jared D.'s maternal grandfather, David Jones, a Revolutionary soldier, emigrated from Kentucky and settled in an early day within two miles
of what is now the village of Canaan.

    His mother Sarah Jones Ryker, was born in Kentucky, in 1798.

    He has three times been married; first in 1841, to Miss Eliza, grandaughter of Col. John Ryker, and of this union three children survive - Sarah, Jane and Mary Ann.
His second wife was Miss Mary Howard, a native of Jefferson county, and two children of this union are also living - John and Permelius. His present wife, a very
estimable and clever lady, was Miss Anna Harris, who is still living, and a native of England; this marriage occured in 1857. The children by this marriage are Benjamin
H., Walter H., Thaddeus H.., Herbert H., Jared H. and Edgar H.

    Mr. Ryker has a farm of 361 scres of well-improved land, and is nearly the sole owner of the Madison, Ryker;s Ridge and Wolf Run Turnpike. He has long been one of
the leading members of the Ryker;s Ridge Baptist Church, and is one of its deacons. While Mr. Ryker did not receive any of the advantages of a collegiate