William H. Robinson's Life
William H. Robinson was an African American man born in Berkely plantation, who lived from 1844 until 1908. His mother’s name was Jane Robinson and his father is unknown. This was shown within the marriage certificate. In common cases, when the father is not stated it is because they are one of the white masters of the plantation. Other familial connections that William H. Robinson had was that the neighbor to Sarah Robinson in the 1880 land deed in Mount Vernon was Lloyd Washington who is William H. Robinson’s father-in-law. William H. Robinson also had a grandson named Wilbert Brown. Wilbert’s other grandfather was Lovelace Brown who along with Robinson was known as the “district’s wealthier black landowners” (Casper 52).
Before William H. Robinson’s extensive land portfolio, he worked in 1870 as a farm hand in Mount Vernon, Fairfax County (42). He was also part of the Odd Fellows Lodge which was in Mclean, Virginia (55). The Oddfellows Order served as a fraternal organization for men of the congregation and as a supplement to the Christian work of the church. The lodge also served as a school for Black children attending grades one through seven (Fairfax County History Commission, 27). He got married to Sarah Johnson in 1888 who also joined in owning land together.
While we see that William Robinson first lived in Mount Vernon, he bought land from all parts of Virginia. He would eventually own a total of 29 acres of the Mason family land. Not only did Robinson have multiple pieces of land within his ownership, which was uncommon for an African-American man, but he also owned land in both Southern and Northern Virginia. Some of the properties that William H. Robinson bought within his lifetime include the land near Little Hunting Creek Road in Mount Vernon (1880), Randall Estate between him and Henry Randall (~1870), and land near Balls X Run Road in Alexandria.
William H. Robinson had frequent partners with he regularly sold or bought land. Two names that stick out are Henry Randall and Tasco Robinson.
With Henry Randall, William H. Robinson bought land, “halfway between Gum Springs and Alexandria (Casper 42). Gum Springs was adjacent to the Mount Vernon property where “only fourteen black people owned real estate there [Mount Vernon] in 1870” with Robinson being amongst them (42).
Tasco Robinson seems to have familial relations with William H. Robinson since they have sons named after each other. Tasco Robinson was born in 1830 while William H. Robinson was born in 1844, making Tasco Robinson 14 years older than Robinson who may be a brother. Tasco Robinson was a farmer.
William H. Robinson was preceded in death in 1908 by his wife, Sarah Robinson, two daughters Elizabeth and Vivian Robinson, sons-in-law Tasco T. Robinson and Burnett Robinson, and grandson Wilbert Brown. Sarah Robinson then died in 1920. They were both buried in the Snowden and Bethlehem Cemetery which is near Alexandria, Virginia
Casper, Scott E., Debra Reid, and Evan Bennett. “Out of Mount Vernon’s Shadow: Black Landowners in George Washington’s Neighborhood, 1870–1930.” Essay. In Beyond Forty Acres and a Mule: African American Landowning Families since Reconstruction, 39–62. University Press of Florida, 2012.
Fairfax County History Commission. “Fairfax County African American History Inventory Draft Report.” 27. October, 2020.
Year: 1910; Census Place: Centreville, Fairfax, Virginia; Roll: T624_1628; Page: 8a; Enumeration District: 0025; FHL microfilm: 1375641