From trip to Hatfield and Swanzey in 2012:
Something killed Matthew and Mary - possibly a plague, fever, illness of some sort. Mathew died prior to August 1798. Mary died shortly after, before October 1799, leaving 8 children orphaned. Fortunately, they had family living in Swanzey. Mary's mother, Mary Graves died, but Mary's father Elisha was still alive. Elisha remarried a woman named Mitty Bigelow in June of 1797. Elisha Scott made a will on August 24, 1798. He described himself as "weak and sick in body". Looking at his signature, I wonder if perhaps he had a stroke? In his will, Elisha gave an equal share of his estate to his children. He listed sons directly and listed his daughters with their husband's names. He listed Mary Robley without Matthew. Elisha had his will probated on October 16, 1799. But before he died, he saw fit to make a codicil to the will. The codicil was identical to the main body, except it listed "the heirs of Matthew and Mary Robley". This is how I estimated the dates of decease for Matthew and Mary.
Cheshire County issued letters of guardianship to Samuel Hills, who was the husband of Asenath Scott, Mary's sister. Now the mystery begins. The guardianship was not issued until October of 1804. Why did they wait so long to have the court issue the guardianship so late? Mathew Jr. and his brothers and sisters would still be quite young, however, none of his siblings were mentioned in the court papers. I get the feeling that Jr. was ready to take off on his own. The court papers somehow allowed Samuel Hills to take care of his siblings.
The New Hampshire Sentinel of Keene, NH, on Saturday, May 30, 1807, page 3 had an ad which stated: "Absconded on the 13th inst. Mathew Robley, a minor. This is therefore to forbid all persons harboring or trusting him on my account, as I will pay no debts of his contracting after this date. Samuel Hill, Guardian, Swanzey, May 28, 1807."
Land records. They must be accessed through Concord, New Hampshire. I do not think Matt and Mary owned land or there would be probate records in their names. We had no success in finding any graves. We hunted through the old cemetery across from the Swanzey town hall. We believe the Robleys could be buried there, since Samuel and Asenath Hills and Eunice Ramsdell are buried in that cemetery.
Mary Robley was reported to seek a widow's pension for Matthew's war service. I suspect she did not live long enough to complete the process.
