Robbins, William M. (William McKendree), 1828-1905

William McKendree Robbins was professor at Normal (later Trinity) College, Randolph County, N.C., 1851-1853; lawyer in Alabama, and Salisbury and Statesville, N.C.; and North Carolina congressman, 1873-1878.

William McKendree Robbins (1828-1905) was professor, lawyer, state legislator, and North Carolina congressman. Robbins was born in Randolph County, N.C., and was educated at Randolph-Macon College. He was a professor of mathematics at Normal (later Trinity) College, 1851-1853, and opened a female college in Glennville, Ala., 1855, a project he soon abandoned in favor of practicing law. During the Civil War he served with Company G, 4th Alabama Regiment, in Virginia and Tennessee. After the war he began a law practice in Salisbury, N.C., and later became a state senator, 1869-1873, and United States congressman representing the 7th North Carolina District, 1873-1878. After his last congressional term he returned to practicing law in Statesville, N.C., with his son-in-law B. F. Long. He later served as Gettysburg Battle Field commissioner, 1894-1905.

William McKendree Robbins was married to Mary Montgomery of Montville, S.C., in 1854. They had two children, William and Mary Alice. After his wife's death in 1858, Robbins married her sister Martha Montgomery. They had four children, Montgomery (1866-1893), Gertrude, Maude, and Frank C. Robbins. William McKendree and Martha Robbins also raised Gaston Ahi Robbins and Mamie Lafayette Robbins, after the death of Julius Robbins, William McKendree's brother.