William Robinson
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. William Robinson worked in 1870 as a farm hand in Mount Vernon, Fairfax County (Casper 42). He married Sarah Johnson in 1888. After death, he was preceded 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.
Throughout my research on William H. Robinson, he was a very influential black landowner throughout the Mount Vernon District. There were plenty of records available for his land deeds and taxes. However, the less documented parts of Robinson’s life come mostly from his personal life such as the nature of Robinson’s family tree. I’ve come to realize that the gray areas in William H. Robinson’s life play as much of an important part than the clear areas do.
Finding primary evidence of any blood relatives of Robinson before his children was very frustrating and almost impossible to find. But the silences in history are just as important as the spoken parts. “Mentions and silences are thus active, dialectical counterparts of which history is the synthesis”(Trouillot, 48).
I discovered on the same marriage certificate that William H. Robinson was born in Berkely, a known plantation. Then these details made more sense on their intentions on being missing. Perhaps the father of William H. Robinson was white, perhaps William H. Robinson didn’t get to know his siblings. Throughout our journey to learning more about William H. Robinson, the details after his success as a black landowner become more descriptive, clearer to us that he had made a long way from being born on Berkely plantation. But it’s important to also acknowledge where the grey parts of his life arise: is Tasco Robinson his brother or son? Did the Robinson family work for the Sallie Mason family? Where did William H. Robinson’s middle name come from?
So, our journey begins with William H. Robinson’s first deed in 1880 where he purchases a total of 10 acres along Little Hunting Creek in Mount Vernon. Throughout his life, he will amass a total of 29 acres from Mason Family land.
By Jessica Nguyen
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.
Sarah Johnson and William Robinson Marriage License, Marriage License GROOM Book, index ML0047 pg. 5, 1888, Fairfax County Courthouse, Fairfax, Virginia.
Trouillot, Michel-Rolph, and Hazel V. Carby. Silencing the past: Power and the production of history. Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 2015.
1880 Land Deed, Fairfax County Circuit Court Historic Records Center, Fairfax, Virginia. Z-4, 107-108.