Susan Greenman Robinson

Mrs. Susan Robinson, the mother of Isaac G. Robinson, is buried in the Johnstown Cemetery adjacent to Isaac & Katherine. Her headstone is inscribed with the epitaph, "Mrs. Susan Robinson / Died February 28, 1864 / Aged 84 Years / Where with to is my mother's rest? She has gone to enjoy the blessed."

Since there is no evidence of her residence in Johnstown, where was she and where was her husband? Records indicate that both Isaac's father & mother were born in New York State, and we know that Susan's husband was named Daniel. That's about all we had.

There are genealogical writings and postings (i.e. The Stillman Family Genealogy Home Page ) that cite a Susannah Greenman who was born on August 12, 1780 in New York and lived in Stephentown (Rensselaer Co.), NY. She was apparently first married to a Mr. Robinson abt. 1799. Her second marriage was to Jesse Stillman on July 6, 1833 and they lived in DeRuyter (Madison Co.), NY. She reportedly died in 1864 while another source notes more specifically that she died on February 28, 1864 (the same day that Isacc's mother died).

When we followed the sources to the core, we found that while most were solid, the key pieces (concerning her marriage to a Robinson and her death date) were not cited well enough to verify Susannah Greenman as Isaac's mother. However, there are enough coincidences to believe that this really could be a match. For example, in The Greeman Family in America by Caroll W. Greenman (p. 41), William Greenman's will is cited as listing amongst his eight children:

"489. Susannah, b.____________ d.______________ in Gloversville, New York.

m. 1st Robinson, 2nd _________ Crandall."

We did get a copy of the will and, although it does cite Susannah's name, I do not know where the marriage and death information came from. I also have not found any information about a 2nd marriage to a Crandall. So it goes.

Isaac and Katherine started their lives together in Watervliet (West Troy), NY which is not far from where Susan Greenman lived. The Deed of March 2, 1836 is between Isaac & Katherine Robinson and Reynolds Greenman. Reynolds Greenman was the son of Susan Greenman's brother, William Gardner Greenman. What better way to help out your younger cousin and his new wife than to sell him a lot in West Troy? It only seems to help the hypothesis.

The clincher came recently in the insolvency papers of Daniel Robinson where we found that Crawford B. Sheldon (husband of Abigail Maxson) was appointed the assignee to Daniel's creditors. Abigail was Susan Greenman's niece, and we are fairly certain that she and her husband were living with Daniel Robinson & Family in Woodstock, NY (U.S. Federal Census 1820). Considering all of the information and the research of other genealogists, we are confident that Susan Robinson was in fact Susannah Greenman.

Now we must tackle the theory that Susan Greenman's second husband was Jesse Stillman. The couple was apparently married on July 6, 1833, but we need to confirm this. Jesse & Susan Stillman do appear in the census records living in DeRuyter, NY. Jesse died in 1862 in Otselic, NY, and since it was a late-in-life marriage, Susan (then 82 years old) probably would have moved back in with a child (undetected by census records). The pieces fit, but we're looking for some good old-fashioned documented proof, and that's what we're searching for now.

Back to Home