Obituary Eli Bradley Robbins Contributed by Ed. R. Robbins, Jr., grandson   The Dallas Morning News - Monday, Feb. 5, 1951 Mr. Robbins, 95, died Saturday in a Dallas hospital. Services will be at 3 p.m. Monday conducted by Rev. John Knox Bowling at Northridge Presbyterian Church with burial in Oak Grove Cemetery. Robbins was a former contractor and builder who built the first suspension bridge over the Trinity River. He was born in Belleville, Ala. in 1856 and came to Texas when aged 18, settling in the Ferris area. He was responsible for the county's first artesian well which supplied Ferris as well as the surrounding neighborhood, with water. Robbins vividly recalled an incident during the Civil War when Union troops surrounded his father's plantation. The father, a wounded Confederate soldier, was home on furlough, and introduced himself to the Union commander by using a Masonic hand grip. The Union officer, apparently also a Mason, ordered confiscation of only livestock and chickens, leaving the plantation unharmed. Survivors include his wife, Mrs. Minnie E. Robbins of Waxahachie, to whom he had been married over 64 years; daughter Mary Robbins Shields, sons, W. B. Robbins, E. B. Robbins, Jr., Ed R. Robbins, all of Dallas, and T. C. Robbins, Larchmont, N. Y., a sister Miss Minnie Robbins of Ala., eight grandchildren and five great- grandchildren.   Copyright © 1999-2017, Ellis County TXGenWeb. All Rights Reserved. This page was last modified: Thursday, 01-Jul-2021 13:21:03 MDT