Robert Crothers : Short Biography

The first of my family, of whom I know, lived a few miles out of Belfast, Ireland in the later years of the 18th century. I never knew his first name and knew nothing of him except that he had three sons. One of the sons was named George, but I have forgotten the name of the other two. George had two sons, James and Robert. Georges’ two brothers each had a son named Robert—Big Robert and Little Robert. I now nothing of any other children they might have had. Big Robert and Little Robert came to America about 1840 and settled in the province of Quebec near Lake Champlain….James came to America in 1841 and settled a little farther south at Pike River, Canada. My father (Robert) came over in 1842. After working six years near Hartford, Conn., he bought land across the road from his brother James. My father and his brother James sold their farms in Canada and moved to Adams County, Wis., in 1856.” 

“My grandmother’s maiden name was Margaret Graham. The only thing I know about her family is that her father was one of six brothers all over six feet tall and weighing over 14 stone. (a stone was about 14 pounds). They were all terrible fighters and in the days when every Irishman carried a shilleiagh fornint him, they were the terror of the country. I will say that shillelagh means “a stout stic” or “cudgel” and “forint” means “in front of.” Most papers in this country that use that word give it the meaning ‘against,’ but this is wrong.”

“Big Robert had a chance to get hold of a lot of leather at a great bargain and then learned the leather had been stolen. A family council was held and it was decided the leather must be turned over to the police. The question was, who would do it? Robert evidently knew too much to want to be questioned and his father was too old, so James was picked for the goat.” 

“James at that time was engaged to a very pretty dark eyed girl by the name of Ann Briggs. The leather was loaded onto the cart and James drove it through the streets of Belfast to the police station and was promptly arrested for possession of stolen property. All he could tell them was he had not stolen it but was returning it to them. Not being able to tell how he had come by it, he was put into jail and kept there some weeks until the authorities became satisfied that he was just an innocent errand boy and let him go. During the time he was in jail, Ann Briggs visited him everyday and took him food she had prepared for him. 

About that time there seems to have been sudden migration of the Crothers family to America, headed by Big Robert. A little later James and Ann were married and they sailed across. A year later my father and his mother also came to America. I never heard my father say, but I imagine those who came first helped the others to follow, for I am sure money was very hard to come by in Ireland. I do not know how much Big Robert was involved in that leather deal, but at any rate he seemed to have learned his lesson for he became a very respectable citizen in Canada and raised a fine family and gave some of them at least a college education.”

“It was in May, 1849 that James Crothers and Ann Briggs were married in Ireland. A year later they came to a French Canadian settlement in Quebec, Canada. James farmed in the summer and worked in the lumber camps in the winter. One reason they moved to Wisconsin was that the schools taught French only and they wanted their children to learn English. They knew some people who were living in Wisconsin by the names of Hamilton and Russell. Robert and his family traveled with James to Wisconsin.”