As far as I am aware, all the Nations today are descended from one immigrant ancestor, John Nation, who arrived in New Jersey sometime before March 1711 when he is mentioned as a servant boy in the will of William Beakes of Burlington County.
As the Nation descendants headed south to North Carolina, they became friends with the Robins clan. I have to wonder if John Nation and Anna Belle Robins were aware that their FAN club had already been in existence for a hundred years by the time they married.
John Wesley Nation was the fourth child and third son of Joseph Michael and Annie Nation, born 19 August 1866. Although census records report that John was born in Tennessee, which is certainly possible, given that his siblings reported being born in (Cumberland County) Kentucky, it seems more likely that he was also born in Cumberland County.
In any case, he married Anna Bella Robbins on 27 January 1887 in Overton County, Tennessee. (NOTE: Her surname is found both as Robins and Robbins.)
Anna, later called Ann, was born 17 October 1867, in Tennessee. Her mother was Mary and siblings at home in 1880 were Sylvester Columbus, born c1864 and H.S.G., born c1874. All are children of Mary, who is widowed. Next door is (Isaac) Newton Robbins with his own young family.
Now Sylvester has Sylvester Robbins named as his father on his death certificate. Mary Ann Reeder is said to have married him, although mo marriage record has been found.
Sylvester Robbins, aged 31, is found in Overton County, Tennessee in 1860 with (assumed) wife Mary Ann, aged 30, with children (Isaac) Newton, 9, Margarett, 6, and James, 4.
Further, the 1850 census of Overton County shows Sylvester, 21, and Mary, 19 at home as apparent newlyweds.
Online trees show Ann Belle Robins as a daughter of “William Sylvester” Robins and Mary Ann Reeder.
Sylvester Robbins enlisted in the Union Army in 1861 and this family is no where to be found in the 1870 census. Add to that that Sylvester supposedly died during the Civil War. There is a pension card for a widow Mary Robbins, whose husband died in June 1864. However, there is no proof to be found that Sylvester and William are the same person. I think Sylvester became William Sylvester because of that pension card.
Neither Sylvester (or William) nor Mary Robbins appears on the 1872 tax list or in the deed index. A search of probate records didn’t turn up and mention of their names either.
When Anna Nation died on 1 February 1950, the informant didn’t know the names of her parents. Therefore, while Mary Robbins, head of household in 1880 is Anna’s mother, the name of her father is a mystery. It may be Sylvester, who might have survived the war, but died before 1880 or it might be an unknown person.
After that little aside, it is time to return to the family of John and Ann Nation.
In 1900, the Nation family was living in Clay County, Tennessee. Ann reported having given birth to six children with five still living. She may have lost her first child.
In 1910, when the family lived in Overton County, I think someone misunderstood the question or answer when Ann was asked about her children. What was record was that she had given birth to nine children, but only one was living. In reality, only one had died. All eight were living and at home.
By 1920, the Nations had made their way to Polk County, Missouri, where they were enumerated in the census.
All children except Dolly and Shirley (a son)either filed delayed birth registrations or their date of birth is given on their marriage records..
Children:
1. Mary Webbie, born 4 June 1891, Overton County, Tennessee; died 1 October 1973; married Benjamin F. Reagan, 11 December 1910, Overton County, Tennessee. They ere the parents of seven children.
2. Ida Bell, born 20 February 1893, Overton County, Tennessee; died 1988; married Talton Buford Maynard, 28 March 1913, Overton County, Tennessee. He was born 14 March 1890, Clay County, Tennessee; died 1984. Both are buried in Putnam County, Tennessee, but in 1920, they ere in Pittsburg County, Oklahoma and in 1930 in Akron, Summit, Ohio, so they moved around. They were the parents of four children.
3. Joseph Ewing, born 6 June 1895, Overton County, Tennessee; died 15 August 1975, Putname County, Tennessee; married Donnie B. Smith, 19 May 1918, Overton County, Tennessee. She was born 18 July 1897, Tennessee; died 20 January 1988, Putnam County, Tennessee. They were the parents of two sons and two daughters.
4. William Hobart, born 30 January 1897, Overton County, Tennessee; died 10 March 1969, Butte County, California; married (1) Gladys Pursley, 20 February 1921, Polk County, Missouri. She died 23 October 1953 and he married (2) Gladys Ione Brown, widow of Louis Stanley Landes, reportedly in 1956. Gladys had three children with Louis, but none with William Hobart. William had one daughter, Juanita, born c1922, Missouri and one son, Hobart Deryl, born 6 May 1933, Santa Barbara, California; died 6 May 1958, Fresno, California. Whether either Juanita or Hobart has descendants is unknown.
5. Dolly L., born May 1899, Tennessee; died 1975; married Stanley Maynard, 13 August 1916, Overton County, Tennessee. He was born 1894; died 1987. They have no children at home in the 1930 or 1940 censuses.
6. Callie Zelma, born 14 February 1902, Overton County, Tennessee; died 5 March 1983; married (1) Herbert Evan Strange, 5 April 1918, Overton County, Tennessee. He was born c1903; died 1944. They had three children. (2) Mr. Bryant
7. Sherlie Lee, born 11 October 1904, Overton County, Tennessee; died after the 1940 census; married Dorothy Smith, 25 April 1925, Summit County, Ohio. They were the parents of at least five children.
8. Esther Thelma, born 22 August 1907, Overton County, Tennessee; died 15 May 2000, Smyrna, Rutherford, Tennessee; married (1) Jimmie Robert Gentry, 4 July 1925, Putnam County, Tennessee. (2) Mr. Culbertson. Esther and Jimmie had at least three children – two sons and one daughter.
9. Benny Herman, born 14 June 1911, Overton County, Tennessee; died 26 November 1941, Kent, Portage, Ohio; married Genevieve Vernon, 26 September 1938, Summit County, Ohio. They were the parents of at least one son before Herman died in 1941.
Looking at all the grandchildren born to John Wesley and Anna Belle(Robbins) Nation, there will be many descendants today.
