Anthony Robinson (1662 - 1727)

Born 11 Feb 1662 in Charles Parish, York County, Colony of Virginia

Husband of Mary (Starkey) Robinson — married about 1684 in York County, Colony of Virginia

Husband of Jane (Parsons) Robinson — married 1698 in York County, Colony of Virginia

Husband of Anne (Unknown) Robinson — married after 17 Feb 1718 (to 11 Nov 1727) in York County, Colony of Virginia

Descendants

Died 11 Nov 1727 at age 65 in Charles Parish, York County, Colony of Virginia

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Anthony Robinson resided in the Southern Colonies in North America before 1776. Join: US Southern Colonies Project Discuss: southern_colonies

NOTE: There were many errors in the early published research on the Robinsons of colonial Virginia. Quite often, Robinsons with the same first name were conflated and children were indiscriminately assigned to parents. To make matters worse, when an individual with one name couldn't quite fit as a spouse or child, a middle name would be created to make that person fit. See the Research Notes below for a more in-depth discussion of these issues.

Biography

Anthony Robinson was a prominent landowner and slaveholder in York Co., Va. We do not know how his family obtained their holdings nor how, or if, they were related to other Robinson families in the Tidewater area of Virginia. What’s clear is that they were members of the close-knit community of plantation owners and large-scale tobacco farmers in York County who exercised considerable economic and political influence in the area.

Anthony Robinson was born on February 11, 1662 (1661 according to the pre-Gregorian calendar) in York Co., Va. According to his birth record in Charles Parish (or its predecessor parish), his parents were John and Elizabeth Robinson.^[1] At this time we know very little about his parents except that they were not the John and Elizabeth (Potter) Robinson mentioned in the Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography discussed In Note 1 below. Based only on Charles Parish records, it appears that Anthony was the only child born to John and Elizabeth. John Robinson’s 1687 last will was written on February 3, 1687 (1686 in the pre-Gregorian calendar) and recorded on May 4, 1687.^[2] With regard to immediate family members, his will only named his wife Elizabeth, his son Anthony Robinson and his grandson John Robinson, thus seeming to confirm that Anthony was his only child. According to parish records, John Robinson was buried on March 1, 1687 (1686 in the pre-Gregorian calendar)^[3] and his wife Elizabeth appears to have died on October 2, 1691.^[4]

Around 1684, Anthony Robinson married Mary Starkey, the daughter of Peter and Bridget Starkey. We know Mary Starkey was Anthony Robinson’s wife because her brother, Peter Starkey, called Anthony Robinson his brother-in-law in his 1702 last will.^[5] Also, in the first provision of her father’s 1675 last will, Mary received land and a couple of slaves. As a sign that the Starkey-Robinson relationship went back pretty far, Peter Starkey also named John Robinson, a “trusty friend,” as one of the overseers “to see this my last will and testament in every part fulfilled.”^[6] According to Charles Parish records, Mary Starkey was born on October 14, 1668,^[7] so she was only seven years old when her father died. She and Anthony Robinson had their first child, John Robinson, on August 25, 1685. Thus, the two must have married around the time Mary turned 16 years of age in late 1684. Based on Charles Parish records, Anthony and Mary (Starkey) Robinson had the following children (dates of births and deaths are from Charles Parish records only):

• John, b. Aug. 25, 1685.
• Elizabeth, b. Dec. 14, 1687, d. Sept. 16, 1712.
• Frances, b. Jan. 5, 1689, d. May 7, 1718.
• Starkey, b. Dec. 10, 1691, d. Nov. 30, 1695.
• Mary, b. May 14, 1694, d. March 18, 1718 (1717 in the pre-Gregorian calendar).
• Sarah, b. Aug. 17, 1696, d. Sept. 2, 1696.
• Anthony, b. Oct. 23, 1697.

Mary (Starkey) Robinson died on January 31, 1698 (1697 in the pre-Gregorian calendar),^[8] just a few months after the birth of her seventh child. Anthony Robinson then married Jane Parsons later in 1698. Anthony and Jane (Parsons) Robinson had the following children (dates of births and deaths are from Charles Parish records only):

• James, b. June 5, 1699, d. Oct. 24, 1700.
• Peter, b. Dec. 28, 1700.
• James, b. Nov. 23, 1703, d. Oct. 11, 1705.
• William, b. Aug. 20, 1705.
• Anne, b. Oct. 28, 1707.
• Jane, b. Nov. 29, 1713, d. Feb. 14, 1718 (1717 in the pre-Gregorian calendar)

Jane (Parsons) Robinson died on February 17, 1718 (1717 in the pre-Gregorian calendar), just three days after the death of her sixth child, Jane.^[9] [Jane’s 1713 birth record is nearly unreadable in the Charles Parish records, but her death record is clear.] The search for the last name of Anthony’s second wife was a challenge. We determined the place to start might be with the five Janes born in Charles Parish before 1680 (Digason/Dickason, Hewlet, Mackentosh, Parsons and Powers). In January 1679/80 John Robinson sold a “small” tract of land (100 acres) to Richard Dikeson, the father of the first Jane.^[10] One of the witnesses was Enoch Makentosh, the father of the third Jane on the list. The Jane Parsons was likely related to the William Parsons who married Anthony and Jane Robinson’s daughter, Anne. It was a small world in the planter community of York County. In pursuing these leads, we examined the last will of John Parsons^[11] who died shortly after Jane's marriage to Anthony Robinson. Sure enough, one of the provisions of his will mentioned "my Daughter Jane Robinson." This gave us the confidence to name Jane Parsons, the daughter of John and Elizabeth Parsons, as the second wife of Anthony Robinson. It appears that Elizabeth Parsons was born Elizabeth Starkey. And William Parsons who married Anne Robinson appears to have been a grandchild of John and Elizabeth Parsons. It really was a small world in the planter community.

Anthony Robinson died on November 11, 1727 according to Charles Parish records.^[12] He signed his last will on November 9, 1727 and it was recorded in York County on December 18, 1727.^[13] Anthony Robinson named his son John Robinson as executor and his wife (unnamed in the will) as executrix. The provisions of his last will named sons, John, Peter, William and Anthony, granddaughters Martha Sweny, Mary Robinson (daughter of John), Mary Robinson (daughter of Anthony) and Diana Robinson, and grandsons Merritt Sweny, William Parsons, Starkey Robinson, Anthony Robinson and John Robinson. He also named his married daughter Anne Parsons and her husband William Parsons. It’s presumed that eight of his thirteen children had died by the time Anthony Robinson died. All of their deaths are confirmed by Charles Parish records except the death of Mary Robinson. There is a record of a Mary Robinson dying on March 18, 1718 (1717 in the pre-Gregorian calendar), but no father is mentioned.^[14] We assume she was the daughter of Anthony and Mary (Starkey) Robinson, but cannot be absolutely sure until we rule out any wives or children of his sons who might have been named Mary.

On the same day Anthony Robinson’s last will was recorded, his wife, Anne Robinson, filed a suit against the estate to protect her rights under Virginia law.^[15] This suit not only provides us with the name of Anthony Robinson's third wife, but also opens the door on a bit of drama around his last will. We do not know if this petition was a normal filing for a second or third wife or if she got wind of a hastily drawn up will (two days before her husband’s death) that may have been written without her interests in mind. We could find no other court filings by Anne Robinson within the next year which suggests that any issues or concerns between Anne Robinson and John Robinson, the other executor, were likely worked out. While Anne Robinson’s last name at birth (and other possible marriages) are unknown, other court records may be useful in fleshing out her life.

Research Notes

Note 1: Biographies and family histories written in the late 1800s and early 1900s were often puff pieces and, just as often, contained dubious genealogical research. One of the family history sources for the Robinsons of York Co., Va. is a biographical sketch from a five volume set of books known as the Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography.^[16] It was a massive undertaking and contains a lot of good research; however, not surprisingly given its size and scope, there are many errors. The first three volumes deal with Virginia’s top political and military leaders. Volumes IV and V contain biographical information about other individuals they considered “prominent persons” including the Robinsons of York Co., Va.^[17] The resulting sketch, while providing many clues for further research, seems to conflate nearly every John Robinson who lived in Virginia in the late 1600s and early 1700s. As one review of the complete work warns, “[t]he reader should not take as gospel the information in the biographical sketches.” In the case of the Robinson sketch, we agree.

Note 2: Anthony Robinson had at least three wives. In order, they were Mary Starkey, Jane Parsons and Anne LNU. Over time, it appears that middle names were assigned to his first two wives, likely because the name of his third wife Anne, who made an appearance at the time his last will was filed, had to be accounted for in some way. There may have been a similar process at work for Anthony himself. Most family trees on major genealogy sites have his name as William Anthony Robinson. The assignment of first and middle names to men and women in colonial America often happened by combining two individuals into one. To be clear, middle names did not come into common usage in America until the late 1700s and early 1800s. There are no primary source documents we’ve found that indicate Anthony Robinson had an alternate first name or that any of his wives had middle names.

Sources

1. ↑ "York, Virginia, United States Records," images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS44-T91L : March 3, 2022), image 32 of 151; York-Hampton Parish Episcopal Church (York County, Virginia).
2. ↑ https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9PX-2SRG
3. ↑ "York, Virginia, United States Records," images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS44-T9JK : March 3, 2022), image 130 of 151; York-Hampton Parish Episcopal Church (York County, Virginia).
4. ↑ https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS44-T9XF
5. ↑ https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9PX-2STX
6. ↑ https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9PX-2STX
7. ↑ https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS44-T9R9
8. ↑ https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS44-T9XB
9. ↑ https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS44-T9XB
10. ↑ https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9PX-2S7B
11. ↑ https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9TC-J9ZT-V
12. ↑ https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS44-T9NF
13. ↑ https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-892Z-ZTLN
14. ↑ https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS44-T9D6
15. ↑ https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-892Z-ZT2L
16. ↑ https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/68071?availability=Family%20History%20Library
17. ↑ https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/viewer/791128/?offset=0#page=121&viewer=picture&o=&n=0&q=