| Notes |
- Robertson is unquestionably one of the oldest names in Scotland even though the name was not listed there until late in the 14th Century and is thought to be of Gaelic origin, meaning "son of Robert."
When this writer (Billie Lewis Redding) published her Franklin County Ancestory book, she had not discovered that "Robertson" family was actually the Robinson family who had settle on the James River in Henrico County in the early 1600's. Why the family used the name Robertson more consistentl while in Franklin County, but used Robinson before and after living in that county is puzzeling.
The name Robertson is definitely from a clan in Scotland, being part of a larger clan. There is the possibility, however that the name Robinson came from Scotland's borderlands where the family may have married into English families just over the boundary.
James River, along with sections of Virginia's eastern shore, was first settled by Englishmen who had sons and grandsons who would become the first great leaders of the new republic. Following the English were the Scots who came by the way of today's Northern Ireland.
King James, for whom the James River was named, wanted the Presbyterian Scots to move to Ireland to educate the natives; "to educate" meant to "convert" the Irish Catholics to Protestantism. Tempting offers were made to lure them to Ireland, but after arriving, the Scots were severely wronged by the English who levied excessive taxes on the products that Scottish manufacturers produced and imposed unresasonable rents with little chance of complete ownership.
Those Scots began to emigrate but while living in Ireland they maintained their Scottish culture by marrying other Scots and not into the Irish families. Those immigrants are usually referred to today as "Scot-Irish."
Thomas Robinson is the progenitor of the Robinson family but no parents have been documented. A number of family researchers have written undocmented ancestries for him, but this writer has documented the family only to Thomas.
When he landed in Virginia, Thomas was in a colony that had been declared a crown colony by the king in 1624, has been settled, in general, by what has been termed "useless men" of the English gentry who expected their indentured servants to do the labor. Thomas also found that the "planters" as the newcomers were called, were laying the foundation of self-government and were accumluating large plantations while recovering from an Indian massacre that, along with other later atrocities, took lives of many settlers.
The Robinson family lived along the James River near (with some land abutting) Colonel William Byrd, a tabacco merchant whose son, William Byrd II, is remembered as the "father of Richmond." Byrd projected a plan to establish a town at the falls of the James, and in 1733 the city of Richmond was founded.
A Thomas Robinson was brought to Virginia by Thomas Stegg of Charles City County in 1640. On 1 June 1636, James Place of Henrico County "rec'd 550 acres for brining Thomas Robinson and others..."NW toward the Falls of the Main River" which refers to the Mames, Virginia's oldest main waterway. There were Thoams Robinsons of other dates listed, but it seems evident that the Thomas Robinson brought by James Place of Colonel Stegg is the correct ancestor. Both Stegg and Place may have applied for and received their lands a few years after the ebarkation date so Thomas could have been in Henrico County even earlier that 1636-1640. The location referring to the "headright" lands appears to be near the location of the Field and Jones family who lived by Thomas Robinson.
Henrico County, an original parish in 1634, has lost the earliest records and the first extant records are in a mess, therefore the information on the first two ancestors of this Robinson family has been declared by educated supposition and experience in working with land records on the part of this researcher and in cooperation with helpful corresponding Robinson cousins.
It is believed that the Thomas Robinson who was in Henrico County in or about 1636-40 has a son Thomas Jr. who was born about 1650, or a bit later and the younger Thomas married Elizabeth whose maiden name was not found. Thomas Sr. also had a son named John who married Mavell East, daughter of Thomas East.
Thomas Robinson Jr. later became known as "the elder" had a least 3 sons, John, Thomas and George.
Born about 1688 John, son of Thomas the younger and wife Elizabeth lived near both his father, Thomas and his uncle John (who married Mavelle East); therefore the only way to differentiate between the two John Robinsons is to name each John with his wife. John the younger married Tabitha Jones.
Thomas Jr. Owned land on Gilly-Gilley's Creek. Thomas Robinson sold one hundred acres of his land on the 17th of April, in 1693/94 the next record found for him was in January, 1739 when he deeded land to his sons Thomas Robinson and George Robinson.
The deed shows that ancestor John is a brother to the above George and Thomas the younger, and son of Thomas the elder and that John had already moved from Henrico County to that part of Goochland County which is today's Cumberland County, Virginia. Evidently Thomas had given John land on Gilley's Creek when John married Tabitha in or about 1715.
Thomas witnessed the will of Charles Scruggs, stepfather of Tabitha. Charles Scruggs left his daughter, Judith all his worldly goods. Judith married William Bradshaw and was the receipient of all her father's estate, but for some reason, after the death of Scruggs, the estate was settled and Judth shared the whole estate with John Robinson and wife Tabitha and other siblings. There was a division of land among John Robinson, William Bradshaw, William Bradley (wife Hestor) granddaughter Mary Pirront.
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1658 - 1739 (81 years)
Land Purchase
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1666 - Aft 1739 (74 years)
