John Robert Tobin

John Robert Tobin was the third son of John and Ellen Tobin and Thomas Tobin’s elder brother. Like the eldest son, Patrick, John Robert stayed in Ireland and made his living by selling insurance.

Oral History – As a young man, John Robert left home to sell sewing machines, probably from door to door. It was in Kerry that he met his wife Mary Chapman. They had 3 daughters, Agnes, Eveline and Mary. After only four years of marriage, John Robert was widowed when his wife died after giving birth to baby Mary. He took his two older girls back to his parents, who it is believed reared them with the help of Patrick, while the baby, Mary, stayed with the Chapmans, her maternal grandparents. On growing up, the three girls all emigrated to the U.S.A.

John Robert then began his career of selling Insurance and settled in Tullamore. The Irish Censuses of 1901 and 1911 show him as a boarder (aged 44 and 50) with the Daly family at 24 High Street Tullamore Urban, King’s Co.

When Thomas Tobin wrote home to Ireland from Canning River, Western Australia in 1896, it was the last time that his Irish family had heard from him before Winnie, his daughter of his first marriage, advertised in some Irish papers (C.1920) for information related to the Christies, her mother’s family. John Robert Tobin saw her advertisement in the Irish Independent and wrote to her on paper headed Prudential Assurance Company, Limited.

From family accounts, he prospered and it is believed that he discussed leaving the bulk of his wealth to Patrick, his brother and John Brendan, his nephew. When Patrick mentioned that he should leave his money to his daughters in America, he claimed ‘they do not bother with me.’ [However, it is believed that Agnes visited Ireland with her husband and first son, John – C.1910]

Whatever discussions took place with his brother and nephew, the result was John Robert Tobin left his sizeable fortune to the Daly family and the Church. One of the Daly family members was a priest and being the executor of John Tobin’s Will, may have had a strong influence on the final outcome.

For a full account of John Robert’s Beneficiaries, see John Brendan Tobin’s Letters from Ireland.

In December of 2014, Bob Tobin, John Robert’s great grandson in U.S.A., found The Undertakers’ Mother’s website by searching for his grandmother’s name, Agnes Tobin and contacted the author. Read about the new information learnt from him about the cousins in U.S.A.