William Robinson (1743 - 1815)

Born 18 Apr 1743 in Augusta, Virginia [uncertain]

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 18 Oct 1815 at age 72 in Conesville, Coshocton, Ohio, United States

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Dee Christophel D'Errico [send private message], Sara Patton [send private message], and Julie Steves [send private message]

Biography

William was born about 1743 and passed away about 1815

Major William Robinson served in the Revolutionary War as Adjutant of the 5th & 9th Regiments under Col. O. Towles. He was also a provider of material assistance to the troops. During Lord Dunmore's War, William experienced a unique and historic adventure. The following was reported in many histories, including Theodore Roosevelt's "The Winning of the West, Vol. 1" (NY 1906: G. P. Putnam & Sons), pages 243-244.

William had been living in a fort in 1774 in order to be protected against Indian attack. He served in the fort militia. He may have earned the commission as major through training provided by his father, who served in the Virginia Militia. One day, outside the walls of the fort, William and two friends were working on the flax crop. They were attacked by Chief John Logan and his warriors of the Mingo Tribe. William was forced to run the gauntlet, then tied up to be burned at the stake three separate times. He was removed from the stake each time as the debate about his merit raged on amongst his captors. He was verbally defended by the Chief, himself, against the hostile element who wished to burn him. He was spared when Chief Logan adopted him.

After about four months with Logan, Major Robinson escaped and returned to his family in Clarksburg, Virginia (now West Virginia). It is interesting to note that his wife, Margaret See, had been a hostage of the Shawnee, after her first husband, father, and others were killed in the Muddy Creek Massacre of 15 July 1763. Margaret's mother and siblings were among the captives in the village of Chief Cornstalk until a hostage exchange was arranged. When William and Margaret moved to Ohio, her mother moved with them, along with a large group of family and friends. Some of these pioneers are buried in the cemetery beside William in the Robinson Family Cemetery, while others are interred in Bethany Cemetery. The inscription on William's tombstone reads "72 y 6 m An honest man's the noble mark of God".

William had acquired 4,000 acres in what would soon become Franklin Township, Coshocton County, Ohio, near the town of Conesville. Prior to moving to Ohio, William had served as Mayor of Clarksburg; and, as the third Sheriff of Harrison County, Virginia (WV). ^[1]

CONTROVERSIES

It was brought to my attention by a descendant of William Robinson's daughter, Mary, and her husband, John Wamsley, named Julie Steves, that there has been in the dim past, and in recent times, a turn of thought about the family of William Robinson, in that he may have been married once before he married Margaret See. I found that this was written of as early as 1944 in the Detroit Society for Genealogical Research Magazine, Vol 8 No 2, Detroit, Michigan, Nov 1944, page 35 where it is said "although there is a tradition, not yet proved, of another wife, possibly the mother of all the children except the Last two."

Because of written family lore and proven historical events, Julie Steves believes this first wife may have been a daughter of "Pioneer" John and Margaret Dean Bird of Bath County, Virginia. She is a direct descendant and has taken an autosomal DNA test which shows that she has DNA which matches the Bird and Dean families, as well as the Robinsons. Both the Bird and Dean families would have also been in the Bird children's DNA. She feels that many of the names of the early children could have been the result of a naming pattern from these two families, although some of them could also have come from the See family as they were not entirely unique names of the time period. None of the earlier children were named Michael or Frederick or even George. Sarah Bird was captured at age 12 by the Indians but escaped and chose John Dean as her guardian. Her father was killed and her mother and siblings were taken captive for a number of years. Sarah Bird was born about 1743. Her father Pioneer John Bird, (Byrd) was killed by Indians. "Of wife and six children who were carried away, John Jr. is the only one we know to have returned. The family was trying to escape to Fort Dinwiddie.

Julie's grandmother, Bertha Birdie Sylvester, claimed that her middle name represents a family name. Her nieces always referred to her as Aunt "Bird". She wrote memoirs; and, in them, told of her own father telling her tales of his early years. One of them was about his mother, Mary Wamsley, using her strong voice to call to the men all the way into the woods. Another story he told of a man [William Robinson] who had to run a gauntlet if he wanted to live [and] one of his grandmother being captured by the Indians when she was about 12 and carried away with them for about a year and then brought back near her home. She recognized the Ohio River and since they had camped on a creek and she figured it emptied into the Ohio River she made up her mind to escape. She reached the Ohio and swam across and hid in a hollow log or tree during the next day. She finally did reach home". (Note: This would have been his great grandfather and Great Grandmother, in reality.)

Early Virginia Marriages, edited by William Armstrong Crozier, Southern Book Co., Baltimore, MD, 1953, Page 86 lists a William Robinson marrying on 06 Jun 1762 in Augusta County, Virginia; but, the bride is not named. This bride could not be Margaret See because she was still married at that time as the Muddy Creek Massacre had not yet taken place.

There also has been a controversy as to exactly when William married Margaret as there has been no marriage record ever found. It has been presented as tradition and in some history books that he married her shortly after his capture by Chief Logan in 1774 (source: History of Coshocton County Ohio, It's Past and Present, 1740-1881, N. N. Hill, Jr., A. A. Graham & Co., Newark, Ohio, 1881, pg 493); but, there are those who do believe that they may have met and married earlier, in fact some researchers believe they married on the South Branch of the Potomac in 1766 (where both families lived), which is based solely on the birth date of the oldest child, (William Robinson's brother, McKenny was a Sargeant in John Harness' Militia group in 1775) until they moved to Clarksburg, Harrison County, Virginia (they appear in deed books and a court case there) where they stayed until both the Robinsons and Johnstons moved on to the Monongahela River and finally to Ohio.

It is my hope that further research will bring to light a reconciliation of these differences.

Sources

1. ↑ Entered by Dee Christophel D'Errico, Jan 28, 2012

• History of Coshocton Co, OH; It's Past & Present, 1740-1881 (Secondary evidence) Page: 492-494
  
  
• Coshocton County Ohio Cemeteries, Vol. IV: Franklin Township, Page: 23
  • Text: Tombstone in William Robinson Family Cemetery, Franklin Township: William Robinson, Oct. 18, 1815, 72y 6m. He is a true representative of the saying of Pope: 'An honest man's the noble mark of God.'

• West Virginia Will Books, 1756-1971: Harrison: Will book, v. 002 1788-1794, image 148-149. Database and images at FamilySearch.org, accessed 4 Jan 2020 [1]

Will of JOHN ROBINSON, of Harrison County

Signed 8 January 1807

References property purchased from John's brother, William Robinson

• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/54391892/william-robinson: accessed 05 December 2023), memorial page for Maj William Robinson (18 Apr 1743–18 Oct 1815), Find a Grave Memorial ID 54391892, citing William Robinson Family Cemetery, Conesville, Coshocton County, Ohio, USA; Maintained by JanisCJ (contributor 47095198).