Life History

Notes

• In this family's records and graves, the name varies as Robertson, Robeson, Roberson, Robinson, and maybe other forms.
  
  ----------------------------------
  John Robinson is of interest to us primarily as the oldest recorded ancestor of the Robinsons of Toe River Valley [...and as the one man to whom all the Robinson's of his area and many from far beyond trace back to....
  
  What brought him thither, or by what route he came, no one today knows, but we do know that he was the founder and first head of the Robinson family as we know it, and that as a widower and sojourner he came early; with his two young sons, Edward and George, he reached South Toe River in 1791 or earlier, and took up residence near the present-day community of Celo. John Robinson is thus one of our earliest-known settlers....
  
  On February 9 1795, we find him buying from that landord, one Waightstill Avery, two hundred acres on the banks of South Toe River 'in consideration of one black gelding estimated to be of the value of thirty pounds'. This was one of the first deeds ever made to a homesteader for property in Toe River Valley, and together with other priceless old records, it is in the possission of John's great-great-grandson Welzie Robinson, of Newdale, who is himself an old man and a great-grandfather.
  
  --  Excerpt from Heritage of the Toe River Valley, by Lloyd Bailey. Pub. 1994 by Walsworth Publishing, Marceline, Mo. Page 392. in article 596 titled "The Story of the Robinsons (Robertson, Roberson)," courtesy of Ean Whitson, Ancestry.com, 31 Dec 2011
  --  http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/26417449/person/12495118004/media/2?pgnum=1&pg=0&pgpl=pid%7cpgNum
  ----------------------------------
  
  According to the 1850 census, George Robertson who married Susannah Woody was born in about 1776.  The gravestone gives the exact date as 7 July 1776.
  
  Virginia, Marriages, 1740-1850
  George Robertson
  Spouse Susannah Woody
  Marriage 6 Nov 1798 Franklin County, Virginia
  
  1850 Federal Census, Yancey County, North Carolina, 19 August, page 813 (scan 407), Hse/Fam #360
  George Robeson [sic] 74 M Farmer $700 Real Estate value b Virgina
  Susannah Robeson 65 F b Virgina
  Mary Robeson 48 F b North Carolina
  Elizabeth Robeson 35 F b North Carolina
  Judith Robeson 12 F b North Carolina
  
  This Judith Robe(rt)son appears to be George and Susannah's granddaughter, the Judith (Juda) Robertson who married James Matthew Hall.  They aslo had a daughter named Judith (Juda) but she was born in about 1809.
  
  It may be that this Elizabeth Robertson is the daughter-in-law of one of George and Susannah's sons who has died, and Judith is her daughter.  George and Susannah also ahd a daughter named Elizabeth, also born about 1815 according to genealogies, but none of them have her huwsband.  I have not been able to resolve these identities.
  
  According to the gravestone, George died on his birthday.
  
  George Robertson
  Birth Jul. 7, 1776 Franklin County, Virginia
  Death Jul. 7, 1856 Yancey County, North Carolina
  Husband of Susannah B. Woody (1780 - 1867), married 1 NOV 1798 in Jamestown, Franklin Co., VA
  Children William M. Robertson (1824 - 1891)
  Burial Double Island Baptist Church Cemetery, Double Island, Yancey County, North Carolina
  Created by Bill Grimm Jul 24, 2006
  --  Find a Grave Memorial #15030956, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=15030982
  

Sources

• 1. 1850 Federal Census, Yancey County, North Carolina
  • 19 August, page 813 (scan 407), Hse/Fam #360
• 2. Find a Grave Memorial Registry
  • Memorial #15030956, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=15030982
• 3. Virginia, Marriages, 1740-1850
• 4. Find a Grave Memorial Registry
  • Memorial #45794292, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=45794292
• 5. Find a Grave Memorial Registry