Born: 19 October 1858 — Melbourne, Richmond County, Quebec, Canada Died: 12 September 1920 — Peoria, Peoria County, Illinois, USA Buried: 15 September 1920 — East Peoria, Illinois Residence: Peoria, Illinois (multiple records: 1900, 1917, 1920) Occupation: Not listed
William Crombie (1816–1880) Died 8 October 1880 in Melbourne, Quebec
Mary Jane Montgomery (1826–1915) Died 15 February 1915 in Melbourne, Quebec
(As documented in the timeline on the page)
Mary Matilda Crombie (1854–1884)
Catherine Elizabeth Crombie (1856–1864)
William Crombie (1850–1886)
Robert Sargent Crombie (1861–1914)
Fanny Maria Crombie (1865–1866)
Olive Belle Dehority (1863–1953) Married 17 May 1893 in Tazewell County, Illinois.
Robert John Crombie (1895–1988) Born 5 March 1895 in Peoria, Illinois.
1886 Arrival: The tab shows an “Arrival” event in 1886 (likely immigration or relocation to the U.S.).
By 1900: Head of household in Peoria Ward 4, Illinois.
By 1917: Still residing in Peoria.
1920: Listed in Peoria Ward 5 shortly before his death.
John Crombie was born in the rural township of Melbourne in Quebec’s Eastern Townships, the son of Scottish‑descended settler William Crombie and Mary Jane Montgomery. His early life was marked by both growth and loss—several siblings died young, while others lived into adulthood and maintained the Crombie presence in Quebec.
Sometime around 1886, John left Quebec and established himself in Illinois, joining the broader Crombie migration pattern into the American Midwest. In 1893 he married Olive Belle Dehority in Tazewell County, forming a branch of the Crombie family firmly rooted in Peoria. Their son, Robert John Crombie, continued the line into the 20th century.
John appears consistently in Peoria city directories and census records as a married head of household, residing at 303 Hillyer Place in his later years. He died in Peoria in 1920 at age 61 and was buried in East Peoria, Illinois.