Robert Elder was born in 1785 in Pennsylvania to Abraham Elder and Susanna Ardery.
Robert grew to be one of the best-known and most popular citizens of Centre County. When he came to Half-Moon valley, in 1785, he was but three weeks old, and rode in his mother's arms upon the back of a packhorse. The cradle in which he was rocked during his babyhood was a hollowed gum log furnished with rude rockers. That ancient but valued relic is now preserved among the treasures of John A. Hunter's family, as is the cradle in which all of Robert Elder's children were rocked. Robert was conspicuously distinuished as a man of generous implulses and kindly disposition. He was always ready to succor the needy, and a strong friend and support to such as deserved the assistance for which they asked.
Robert died in 1871, at the ripe age of eighty-six, upon the spot that had for that number of years been his home. At his death he owned upwards of eight hundred acres of land. His wife was one of George Wilson's daughters.
- History of Centre County, Pennsylvania, Page 308-9, Chapter LXXI. Half-Moon Township.
- 1860 Census, Half Moon, Pennsylvania
- 1870 Census, Half Moon, Pennsylvania