1 NOTE Elizabeth Robinson (Custis), oldest child of William (1) andElizabeth of
Shadwell. B. about 1633 in St. Helens Parish. London. At about14 fled with
family to Rotterdam. Married John Custis (2) in Rotterdam in1649. Emigrated
to Northampton County Virginia with husband about 1650. Gavebirth to John
Custis (3) in 1653. Died about 1654 and believed to have beenburied at Custis
family plantation, Northampton County, Virginia.
Biography of Capt. William (2) Robinson
§ Father of Col. Tully (3) Robinson, Elizabeth (3) Robinson Smith, and Mary (3) Robinson Thoroughgood
§ Husband to Elizabeth Tully (2) Robinson
§ Brother to Benjamin (1), John (1), and Anna (1) Robinson, and Elizabeth (1) Robinson Eyre CustisWorld View of the Period
We believe Captain William (2) and his older sister Elizabeth (2) Robinson Custis, lived their early years were in England and Rotterdam. Like their parents they were greatly concerned with the English Civil War, which made them refugees far from home as they grew up.
But the world was rapidly changing. Products from the New World became popular in Europe. Chocolate from Mexico, Tobacco from Virginia, and coffee from Brazil and Central America. By the time Pocahontas the Native American princess died in England in 1620, Virginia tobacco had become a cash crop. The first coffee shop to open in England came in 1632. The first college in an American English colony came in 1639 at Harvard. It would be another 50 years, about 1689, before Virginia got its first college at William and Mary. In 1677 something called ice cream was served in Paris, even back then Paris was a place where fashions were set.
In 1654 a young prince was crowned King Louis XIV in the ancient cathedral of Rheims in France. He would rule France for 72 years, become the envy of every king in Europe, build such monuments to himself as the Palace of Versailles, which many of you have visited. Under Louis XIV and his successor Louis XV, France launched a series of world wars, sometimes with allies, sometimes without, but always opposed by England and whatever allies the London could enlist.
Meanwhile, in England itself, a dramatic event occurred in 1685. King Charles II, who had been ruling for 25 years, died. His brother, King James II, came to the throne. Unlike his brother, James held strong Roman Catholic views. Many Englishmen feared him. There was an uprising called “the Glorious Revolution” by history books. Remembering how his ancestor Charles I had lost his head, King James II decided it would be healthier to go live in France. There Louis XIV extended the welcome mat. The English Parliament asked William III of Orange and his wife, Mary, to come be their King and Queen. As the 17th Century closed, Virginia had a new capitol called Williamsburg. Jamestown was kaput.
Robinson View of the Period
Capt. William (2) Robinson, is one of the least known, yet prominent members of the Lower Norfolk County society in the last half of the 1600s. He appears to have wielded significant influence in political and social circles and was a contemporary of many of the most prominent families of the area. In addition, by his death in 1695 he amassed more than 1,400 acres of land in then Princess Anne and Norfolk Counties (the counties were subdivided out of Lower Norfolk County about 1691).
Captain William (2) Robinson, believed to be the second child and oldest son of William (1) and Elizabeth (of Shadwell), was born about 1634 in St. Helen's Parish, London. We assume he was educated in London schools and possibly immigrated with the family first to Rotterdam, and then about 1651 to Virginia. In April 1652 George Kemp who patented 400 acres in Lynnhaven Parish, Lower Norfolk County, VA, named him as a headwright. William (2)’s father was granted 500 acres on the Southern Branch or the Elizabeth River on March 10, 1652 that is believed to have served as a legacy to William (2) upon his father’s death. About 1657, William (2) married Elizabeth Tully, a member of an Eastern Shore family located in Summerset County, Maryland and was commissioned as a colonial militia Captain in 1672 and recognized as a member of the local cavalry.
As early as 1660 William (2) served as a court Commissioner and later became a magistrate in Lower Norfolk County. No doubt he was involved in the development of the first Courthouse in Princess Anne County located on the Eastern Shore of the Lynnhaven River and also the Norfolk Courthouse built at about the same time in 1691 on the Elizabeth River. The Princess Anne County project had in fact been proposed by Argall Thoroughgood, Capt. William (2)’s son-in-law, who wanted to develop a town near the courthouse. Capt. William (2) served as one of the first members of the new court in Norfolk. Some of the court cases Capt. William (2) adjudicated (usually as a panel judge) included:
· June 15, 1675: Captain William (2) Robinson served as the presiding judge with four other justices sitting. The court heard a case involving Captain William Carver who had 10 years previously held such offices as sheriff, surveyor, and member of the House of Burgesses but Governor William Berkley had suspended his commissions. In a deposition to the court Carver pleaded the equivalent of not guilty by reason of insanity. He said that while “laboring under an aberration of the mind,” he killed Thomas Gilbert, who was sitting next to him at dinner, by stabbing him with a knife. When examined Carver deposed “that as for his part he kneweth nothing more than the child that is unborn, nor of any other action that day nor several days before or after.” Carver had sided with Nathaniel Bacon during Bacon’s Rebellion. The rebellion was defeated and as Governor Berkley reminded the Court during Carver’s trial, Bacon “My honored friends by this time I presume (you) have heard of the death of that monstrous rebel Bacon.” The Governor went on to say he hoped Norfolk County would return to its former quiet but that it would take six or seven years by god’s blessing that those whose property had been destroyed would recover. The Governor recommended to the
Court that Carver’s lands (which were considerable) be confiscated to pay for the damages to those who supported Berkley during the rebellion. The court granted petitions of members of the militia who had sustained losses.§ January 15, 1678: Captain William (2) Robinson served as a chief judge in a matter concerning the petition and complaint of John Samon against Mrs. Thomas Cartwrite concerning the alleged death of Samon’s child by cause of witchcraft. A jury of women was ordered to consider the allegations and facts involved. The jurors declared by oath that they had searched the body of the defendant and found no suspicious marks whereby they could judge her to be a witch. Rather, the jurors found, she had on her body that which is usual to other women. Therefore, Captain William Robinson and the other judges found for the defendant and acquitted her of all allegations.
§ September 15, 1675: Captain William (2) Robinson presided at a court hearing in which a man named Edmonds “who pretends himself to be a papist priest and goeth by the name of Father Edmonds” was accused of recently marrying a couple in the county. The accused was ordered held until the next meeting of the court. Later in the same matter on November 16, 1687, the court decided to send the case to an ecclesiastical court. Further evidence of Roman Catholic activity in the county came when “one Raymond, a papist priest” said in court that he intended to celebrate mass and other rites of “their church.” Father Raymond named several homes in which he would celebrate mass.
Continuing his family’s interest and role in religious education, Capt. William (2) Robinson was prominent in church affairs. He served as a vestryman for the Parish of Lynnhaven in 1691 and was probably a founding member of the Second Lynnhaven Parish Church known as Old Donation in 1694. “Old Donation began in 1640 as the mother church of Lynnhaven Parish. The church moved to its current site in 1694 when changes in the channel forced the parish to abandon its location on the Lynnhaven River.” Nearly 30 years earlier in 1663, William (2) Robinson’s religious convictions were called into question when he and his wife, and presumed brother, John Robinson, were fined 200 lbs of tobacco for attending a Quaker meeting at the home of Mrs. Mary Emperour, wife of Capt. Francis Emperour, a master mariner and merchant and sister of William (2) Robinson's wife, Elizabeth Tully (2) Robinson.
In October 1680, the Norfolk County Court ordered Captain Robinson and Major Anthony Lawson to be trustees for land on which the new city of Norfolk was to be laid out. Robinson and Lawson purchased this 50 acres which is now located on Norfolk’s waterfront area. Their purchase had in fact been authorized by the House of Burgesses as a means to promote the colony for expanded colonization. One historian describes the purpose of the legislation as “intended to work wonders. Its scheme was to build a town in each of the 20 counties of the colony, and to equip them with storehouses and other facilities of trade, for the principal and special object of increasing the price of tobacco. In a nutshell then, the real object sought in the founding of Norfolk was to raise the price of tobacco.” By 1691 there were only five lot owners in Norfolk including Peter Smith, William Porten, Mrs. Jane Sawcer, William Knott, and William Robinson.
Captain William (2) Robinson amassed over 1,400 acres by his death in 1695 including:
§ 500 acres on the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River near Pussell Point that he probably inherited from his father.
§ A 1682 patent on the Eastern Branch of the Elizabeth River (Fausett's Lone).
§ 350 acres going by the name Porters Ridge lying near the Eastern Branch of the Elizabeth River.
§ 70 acres lying in Lynnhaven Parish that adjoins his old patented land (probably Porter’s Ridge).
§ 350 acres of woodland lying near the head of the Eastern Branch of the Elizabeth River.
§ 200 acres purchased from John Tucker bounding on the land of Richard Church.
§ A waterfront lot in Norfolk.From 1685 to 1686, Captain William (2) Robinson served as a member of the House of Burgesses, the first popularly elected legislature in the New World, representing Lower Norfolk County. Later in 1695 he was elected again to serve in the House of Burgesses but he died before taking office and a replacement was named.
No known ancestral home or building exists today of the Robinson estate. By the time of his death the Princess Anne County population had begun to move “southward as the Eastern Branch of the Elizabeth River was attracting influential and wealthy families such as the Walkes, the Kemps, the Moseleys, the Whitehursts and the Lawsons” as well as the Robinsons. However, we do learn much about the status of Captain William (2) Robinson in local society through the marriage of his two daughters.
Mary (3) Robinson married into one of the most prominent families in Princess Anne County; her husband, Argall Thoroughgood inherited his father’s plantation and by 1704 owned 1,000 acres. Argall’s grandfather Adam Thoroughgood was one of the original patent holders for Lower Norfolk County.
Elizabeth (3) Robinson married Dr. George Smyth/Smith a prominent member of Accomack County society on the Virginia Eastern Shore.
Captain William (2) Robinson’s will was dated April 16, 1695 and proven March 4, 1696. In his will he provided the following legacies:
§ A life estate of his plantation where he lived to his son Tully (3) Robinson with the remainder going to his grandson William (4) Robinson (son of Tully (3) Robinson). It is presumed that this plantation was located on the Eastern Branch of the Elizabeth River in the Parish of Lynnhaven (this is believed to have been a 500 acre plantation).
§ William (4) Robinson also inherited 200 acres of the Porters Ridge purchase.
§ William (4) Smith inherited 150 acres of the remaining Porters Ridge purchase.
§ Tully (3) Robinson inherited the lot in Norfolk along with the house.
§ William (4) Thoroughgood inherited 200 acres that had been purchased from John Tucker.
§ Elizabeth (3) and George Smith received a certain bequest including his gun.
§ Benjamin (2) Robinson received six large plate buttons for a coat.Additional research related to Captain William (2) Robinson needs to be done to determine his relationship with the Christopher Robinson family from Middlesex County. It is known that the two served in the House of Burgesses together but not much more is known about the relationship of the families. Also, not much is known about Capt William (2) Robinson’s education or that of his children. Further research should be undertaken to determine what happened to the land on the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River.
Biography of Elizabeth Tully (2) Robinson
§ Mother of Col. Tully (3) Robinson, Elizabeth (3) Robinson Smith & Mary (3) Robinson Thorowgood
§ Wife to Captain William (2) Robinson
§ Sister to Mary Tully Emperour
Elizabeth Tully was born about 1638 and died about 1668. She was the sister of Mary (Tully) Emperour. Mary Emperour was wife of Captain Francis Emperour, prominent mariner and well-known Quaker evangelist. Both Mary and Elizabeth named their oldest sons Tully. We believe the Tully family lived on Eastern Shore and had previously lived in British West Indies or Barbados before coming to Virginia. Sarah Emperour (believed to be the daughter of Mary Emperor) witnessed the will of Captain William (2) Robinson dated 1695.Elizabeth Tully Robinson is said to have been alive on December 3, 1667 (Elizabeth was not named in her mother-in-law’s will by name, but did receive a legacy of one black gown and other items. In presenting the will to the Northampton County Court on June 29, 2668 Mary Robinson’s son-in-law John Custis and Alisia Custis attested that Elizabeth Tully (2) Robinson had in fact predeceased her mother-in-law and it was the wish of Elizabeth Robinson that the said legacy directed to Elizabeth Tully (2) Robinson should belong to her daughter Anne (1) Robinson instead. Will of Elizabeth (of Shadwell) Robinson dated December 3, 1667 published in Northampton County, VA Deeds, Wills & C No. 7, 8 1655-1668 at page 26.)--and known to be deceased by June 29, 1668--27 years before the death of her husband Capt. William Robinson (Abstract of Will of Mary Emperour dated July 3, 1676 and recorded in A Brief Abstract of Lower Norfolk County and Norfolk County Wills, 1637-1710 by Charles Fleming (1914: MacIntosh) at page 48. Mary Emperour made no mention of her sister in her will but did provide a legacy to her cousins (the three children of Elizabeth Tully (3) Robinson) Tully, Elizabeth & Mary Robinson). Whether she and any other Robinson children of this generation were victims of the “The Great Hurricane of 1667” is an unknown fact worthy of more research.
1 NOTE John Robinson, third child end 2nd son of William (1) andElizabeth of
Shadwell. B. about 1644, possible in Rotterdam. Known to beliving in 1667/66.
when mother's will was proved. Not otherwise identified inrecords.
11. William Robinson
Birth Record is listed as part of the Hungars Parisg Records for 1660-1661 for Northamption County VA and published in the William and Mary Quarterly Historical Magazine, Vol. 18, No. 3 (Jan. 1910), pp. 178-181.