Fritz
02-27-2003, 12:34 PM
It's Black History month, which normaly means a stream of "Black People are Great Too!" cheerleading type emails.
This one is fairly interesting. I hope you folks enjoy.
DLA employee descendant of one of oldest traceable African-American, families in Virginia
By Phyllis Rhodes
During a time when it was unheard of for a man of color to own land, one man did just that. He not only owned land, he started a legacy that would be passed down from generation to generation. James "Gentleman Jim" Robinson of Manassas Va., created that legacy of doing the impossible at a time when such luxuries were not allowed for black Americans.
Lawrence P Robinson, logistic management specialist in the Defense Energy Support Center of the Defense Logistics Agency, headquartered here, is a direct descendant of 'Gentleman Jim." Robinson said the farnily's history can be traced back to 1779, the year "Gentleman Jim" was born. He died on Oct. 15, 1875. Therecords verifying his birth can be found at the Fairfax County Courthouse.
According to well-documented county records, “Gentleman Jim" was born on Oct. 6, 1799, in Prince William County, Va. He was the son of wealthy plantation owner, Landon Carter, and a slave. Twenty-six years after his birth, Feb. 12, 1825; he was registered in the Registration Book of Free Negroes at the Fairfax County Courthouse by William Moss.
Even though Robinson was a free man, his wife and children were slaves, still owned by his father, Carter. However, in later years he was able to buy one of his sons, Tasco Robinson, out of slavery. One of his other sons, Alfred was sold and taken aboard a ship bound for New Orleans, La. Miraculously, in 1888 Alfred made his way back to his family in Virginia. In later years, Robinson was finally able to "purchase" his wife and remaining three children, Jamini Robinson-Harris, Etta Robinson-Smith and Bladen Robinson.
When Robinson was freed by Carter, he had no last name because slaves were not given surnames, according to Lawrence Robinson. He chose Robinson, the name of the British-born tutor that Carter employed to teach his legitimate children. “You may not believe this but Jim learned how to read by sneaking back to the plantation and sitting outside the window of the Carter children's classroom while the teacher Robinson was giving them lessons," Lawrence Robinson said. The former slave “Gentleman Jim" admired the Englishman so much that he took the name Robinson as his own.
“Gentleman Jim" was quite a remarkable man, according to his descendant. He became a businessman and he opened a tavern for weary travelers right on U.S. Route 29, which was then known as the Warrenton Turnpike, Robinson said, adding that “as unusual as it may sound - a black man owning a tavern during the Civil War - it was true and well documented.”
Jim Robinson became rich and well respected among both blacks and whites, ergo the name “Gentleman Jim” "The white landowners had much respect for him but they refused to call a black man “sir,” so they resigned themselves to referring to him as “Gentleman Jim,” therefore not lowering themselves to show respect to a black man, a custom observed in the 19th century, according to Lawrence.
Robinson was given four acres by his father, Carter, and he purchased a large amount of property from Alfred Ball, in what is now called the Bull Run National Park The original log cabin that he built on the property served as a landmark during the first Battle of Manassas, a Confederate rallying point and hospital. It also served as Confederate General Siegel's headquarters in 1862.
“The kitchen table that doubled as a surgical table is still owned by the family,” Robinson -said. "That same table was used as an operating table for Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy's great-grandfather, who had his leg operated on that very table."
In the 1920s the old log cabin was renovated and a white two-story farm house stood in its place. Unfortunately, in July 1993 the old “Robinson House," as it was known, was burned to the ground by suspected arsonists. The mysterious fire has never been solved, and the family is still searching for answers about why someone would destroy a historical landmark. The house was not restored by the National Park Service; instead the remains were torn down and a plaque put where the house had stood.
"When they tore the old house down, they found 60 artifacts buried in between the walls to include the handwritten letter from “Gentleman Jim” trying to buy his wife,” Robinson said. “They did not have safes back in those days to keep their valuables in, so they put them in the walls of the house. They are now kept in the Manassas Museum.”
The bi-annual Robinson Family Reunion not only lets family members meet, but also pass on the family’s rich history to the younger generations.
“There were 719 family members at the last family reunion held at the Fair Oaks Holiday Inn, and we reserved the entire hotel for just family,” he said. “The Honorable Louis B. Stokes, congressman from Ohio who was a member of the select committee investigating the Iran-Contra affair, is also a member of my family, and he wrote about our family's history in Volume 133 of the Congressional Record on Tuesday, Sept. 15,1987.”
Robinson's mother, Lillian Robinson, now deceased, became the family historian. She researched and found that real estate records showed that the Robinsons, along with another branch of the family, the Harris family, owned large tracts of land prior to the Civil War.
According to Robinson, in 1974 his mother began the task of tracking her ancestors and finding distant cousins. Thirteen years of research and contacting family members resulted in the first annual family Robinson-Naylor-Harris reunion in 1987 at the historical Robinson House that brought together more than 700 family members from 20 states, Great Britain and Germany.
The mother and sister of Grammy-nominated rhythm and blues artist Rick James, who is also a distant cousin, attended, according to Robinson. He said, "My mother tried to get the younger family members involved because they did not know who their kin were. They showed a lot of interest.”
After his mother's death in 1999, Robinson stepped up to fill in where his mother left off, recording and preserving the family’s history.
His mother left more than a legacy as family historian. She was the resident mid-wife, although she had no formal training other than some Red Cross training and natural instinct. In the Manassas Battlefield Park area where she herself was born and raised, she single-handedly assisted in the birth of some 80 percent of African American babies in that rural area,. he said. She often walked through thick wooded areas to get to the mother in need of her service, and because of tough economic times she was often not paid the $25 fee for assisting with child births. But that made no difference to her because she loved what she did, according to her son.
“If you are ever driving. down Lee Highway near Manassas Battlefield Park, stop by and take a look at the site where the Old Robinson Family home once stood, and you can also visit the grave site of James "Gentleman Jim" Robinson” Robinson said.
There are members of the Robinson family who still live on parts of the original land "Gentleman Jim” purchased, which has been handed down from generation to generation. Oswald Robinson and his wife, Adria, have life-long tenancy on eight acres of land purchased by the National Park Services.
Robinson himself says that he has never lived more than 35 miles from the family's original land.
Editor's note. Rhodes
works in the Defense Logistics
Agency Public Affairs Office.
This one is fairly interesting. I hope you folks enjoy.
DLA employee descendant of one of oldest traceable African-American, families in Virginia
By Phyllis Rhodes
During a time when it was unheard of for a man of color to own land, one man did just that. He not only owned land, he started a legacy that would be passed down from generation to generation. James "Gentleman Jim" Robinson of Manassas Va., created that legacy of doing the impossible at a time when such luxuries were not allowed for black Americans.
Lawrence P Robinson, logistic management specialist in the Defense Energy Support Center of the Defense Logistics Agency, headquartered here, is a direct descendant of 'Gentleman Jim." Robinson said the farnily's history can be traced back to 1779, the year "Gentleman Jim" was born. He died on Oct. 15, 1875. Therecords verifying his birth can be found at the Fairfax County Courthouse.
According to well-documented county records, “Gentleman Jim" was born on Oct. 6, 1799, in Prince William County, Va. He was the son of wealthy plantation owner, Landon Carter, and a slave. Twenty-six years after his birth, Feb. 12, 1825; he was registered in the Registration Book of Free Negroes at the Fairfax County Courthouse by William Moss.
Even though Robinson was a free man, his wife and children were slaves, still owned by his father, Carter. However, in later years he was able to buy one of his sons, Tasco Robinson, out of slavery. One of his other sons, Alfred was sold and taken aboard a ship bound for New Orleans, La. Miraculously, in 1888 Alfred made his way back to his family in Virginia. In later years, Robinson was finally able to "purchase" his wife and remaining three children, Jamini Robinson-Harris, Etta Robinson-Smith and Bladen Robinson.
When Robinson was freed by Carter, he had no last name because slaves were not given surnames, according to Lawrence Robinson. He chose Robinson, the name of the British-born tutor that Carter employed to teach his legitimate children. “You may not believe this but Jim learned how to read by sneaking back to the plantation and sitting outside the window of the Carter children's classroom while the teacher Robinson was giving them lessons," Lawrence Robinson said. The former slave “Gentleman Jim" admired the Englishman so much that he took the name Robinson as his own.
“Gentleman Jim" was quite a remarkable man, according to his descendant. He became a businessman and he opened a tavern for weary travelers right on U.S. Route 29, which was then known as the Warrenton Turnpike, Robinson said, adding that “as unusual as it may sound - a black man owning a tavern during the Civil War - it was true and well documented.”
Jim Robinson became rich and well respected among both blacks and whites, ergo the name “Gentleman Jim” "The white landowners had much respect for him but they refused to call a black man “sir,” so they resigned themselves to referring to him as “Gentleman Jim,” therefore not lowering themselves to show respect to a black man, a custom observed in the 19th century, according to Lawrence.
Robinson was given four acres by his father, Carter, and he purchased a large amount of property from Alfred Ball, in what is now called the Bull Run National Park The original log cabin that he built on the property served as a landmark during the first Battle of Manassas, a Confederate rallying point and hospital. It also served as Confederate General Siegel's headquarters in 1862.
“The kitchen table that doubled as a surgical table is still owned by the family,” Robinson -said. "That same table was used as an operating table for Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy's great-grandfather, who had his leg operated on that very table."
In the 1920s the old log cabin was renovated and a white two-story farm house stood in its place. Unfortunately, in July 1993 the old “Robinson House," as it was known, was burned to the ground by suspected arsonists. The mysterious fire has never been solved, and the family is still searching for answers about why someone would destroy a historical landmark. The house was not restored by the National Park Service; instead the remains were torn down and a plaque put where the house had stood.
"When they tore the old house down, they found 60 artifacts buried in between the walls to include the handwritten letter from “Gentleman Jim” trying to buy his wife,” Robinson said. “They did not have safes back in those days to keep their valuables in, so they put them in the walls of the house. They are now kept in the Manassas Museum.”
The bi-annual Robinson Family Reunion not only lets family members meet, but also pass on the family’s rich history to the younger generations.
“There were 719 family members at the last family reunion held at the Fair Oaks Holiday Inn, and we reserved the entire hotel for just family,” he said. “The Honorable Louis B. Stokes, congressman from Ohio who was a member of the select committee investigating the Iran-Contra affair, is also a member of my family, and he wrote about our family's history in Volume 133 of the Congressional Record on Tuesday, Sept. 15,1987.”
Robinson's mother, Lillian Robinson, now deceased, became the family historian. She researched and found that real estate records showed that the Robinsons, along with another branch of the family, the Harris family, owned large tracts of land prior to the Civil War.
According to Robinson, in 1974 his mother began the task of tracking her ancestors and finding distant cousins. Thirteen years of research and contacting family members resulted in the first annual family Robinson-Naylor-Harris reunion in 1987 at the historical Robinson House that brought together more than 700 family members from 20 states, Great Britain and Germany.
The mother and sister of Grammy-nominated rhythm and blues artist Rick James, who is also a distant cousin, attended, according to Robinson. He said, "My mother tried to get the younger family members involved because they did not know who their kin were. They showed a lot of interest.”
After his mother's death in 1999, Robinson stepped up to fill in where his mother left off, recording and preserving the family’s history.
His mother left more than a legacy as family historian. She was the resident mid-wife, although she had no formal training other than some Red Cross training and natural instinct. In the Manassas Battlefield Park area where she herself was born and raised, she single-handedly assisted in the birth of some 80 percent of African American babies in that rural area,. he said. She often walked through thick wooded areas to get to the mother in need of her service, and because of tough economic times she was often not paid the $25 fee for assisting with child births. But that made no difference to her because she loved what she did, according to her son.
“If you are ever driving. down Lee Highway near Manassas Battlefield Park, stop by and take a look at the site where the Old Robinson Family home once stood, and you can also visit the grave site of James "Gentleman Jim" Robinson” Robinson said.
There are members of the Robinson family who still live on parts of the original land "Gentleman Jim” purchased, which has been handed down from generation to generation. Oswald Robinson and his wife, Adria, have life-long tenancy on eight acres of land purchased by the National Park Services.
Robinson himself says that he has never lived more than 35 miles from the family's original land.
Editor's note. Rhodes
works in the Defense Logistics
Agency Public Affairs Office.