Peter McDowall Robb is a fourth cousin:
He was the son of Hugh Robb, a joiner and Mary McDowall, a dressmaker. They lived in Glenwell St, Stranraer. He was a carpenter in Detroit in 1873. He sold the property of his parents in Stranraer. I found the record of the sale.
I have now found some of his descendants by looking in the ROBB-L archives. You could also join the : ROBB-List, just put subscribe. It is a very quiet list at the moment.
I also put a query in the LDS site and found that a descendant of a sibling had submitted his research. Try: Familysearch . Do an ancestor search, put Peter McDowall Robb, father Hugh Robb, mother Elizabeth Morrison. You will find the details. The father of Peter, Hugh married a second time. I think that his second wife Elizabeth Morrison was a close relative, her mother was Jane McDouall and she also was a dressmaker like Mary McDowall. So Elizabeth adopted Peter when they emigrated. I could have been looking for ages, I had never thought of changing the mother's name.
Hugh Robb and Mary McDowall had a second child named Agnes Jane, possibly, after her two grand-mothers: Agnes Waterson and Jane McDouall. In this case, Mary and Elizabeth were sisters.
I think that some minor details need to be ironed out. They spell it McDowell over there. I doubt that Strathroy exists as a place name in Scotland where someone would have been born.
Hugh Robb and Elizabeth Morrison married on 22 Oct 1855. You may have heard of the 1855 Bonus in Scotland. It does not work when the children are from a first marriage. The names are not given in details, there is a mention in passing of 3 children of a previous marriage. Bad luck!
Hugh Robb (born 1831) and Elizabeth Morrison 1826-1903 his second wife settled in Harpurley Township near Seaforth, Huron Co., Ontario. They arrived in 1856 from Stranraer, Wig., Scotland. They had a pork packing and general grocery business which they put on sale in 1873. There is a new list: theCAN-ONT-HURON may be you could subscribe to it.
They had 9 children, including his 3 from his first wife:
They seem to have descendants! But where are they now?
- Peter McDowall Robb 1851 ( had 9 children, went to Detroit)
- Agnes Jane Robb 1852 ( had 5 children, went to Detroit)
- Hugh Robb 1854 (We are looking for his descendants.)
- William Robb 1857 (We are looking for his descendants.)
- Jane (Jennie) Robb 1858- 28 Jan 1948
- Elizabeth (Lizzie) Robb 1859- 28 Jan 1893
- James Robb 1861-28 Feb 1945
- John Robb 1864 ( had six children, some stayed in Seaforth, some went to Detroit. He died in Detroit.)
- Thomas Robb 1866- 14 Dec 1867
I noted the pallbearers for Jennie's funeral were Messrs James, Hugh, Wm. Robb and W. D. Smith, P. F. McConnell, B.F. Christie. In attendance were James G. Robb, Hugh A. Robb (son of John above), William Robb and Mrs. Oliver Robb from Detroit.
I just found the family of Oliver Robb from Michigan. Was he the same man? I searched for more details. I found out the name of his wife; they married on 20th January 1884 at Canandiga, Lenawee, Michigan. Was she attending Jennie's funeral?