William Drew Robeson I
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William Drew Robeson I (July 27, 1844 - May 17, 1918) was the father of Paul Robeson and the Reverend at Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church in Princeton, New Jersey.
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[edit] Birth and escape from slavery
William was born in 1845 to Benjamin Robeson (1820-c1889) and Sabra (1825-c1885) who were enslaved on the Robeson plantation near Cross Road Township, Martin County, North Carolina. Cross Road Township is near Raleigh, North Carolina. In 1860, when he was 15 years old, William escaped on the Underground Railroad to Philadelphia. He left North Carolina by crossing the Maryland border into Pennsylvania. It was in Pennsylvania that he served in the Union Army as a laborer. In 1876 he received a degree in theology from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania.
[edit] Marriage
While at Lincoln University he met Maria Louisa Bustill and they married in 1879. Maria was described as a mulatto in the 1880 Census. In 1880 they were living on Witherspoon Street in Princeton, New Jersey, and together they had the following children: Gertrude Lascet Robeson (1880) who died as an infant; William Drew Robeson II (1881-?) who was born in November of 1881, and was a physician in Washington, District of Columbia; Benjamin Congleton Robeson (1894-1966) who was born in September of 1894, and was a military chaplin in World War I, married Frances Elizabeth Cline, and later was a reverend at the Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in Harlem; J.B. Reeve Robeson (1886-?) aka Reed Robeson, who was born in March of 1886 and he moved to Detroit and may have worked at a hotel and died in poverty; Marian Margaret Robeson (1894-1977) who was born on December 01, 1894, and she married Dr. William Forsythe and moved to Philadelphia; and Paul LeRoy Robeson (1898-1976) who was an orator, singer and actor. Another child died at birth, but the name is not known.
[edit] Death of Maria
In 1904 his wife, Maria was burned and died in Princeton, when her clothes caught fire from the coal burning stove.
[edit] Princeton to Westfield
William was reverend of the Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church in Princeton, New Jersey from 1880 until 1901. In 1901 his congregation dismissed him, and from 1907 to 1910, he took up residence in Westfield, New Jersey where he was reverend of the Downer Street Saint Luke African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. The church itself was built in 1908 while William was reverend. His children attended the Washington School at Elm and Orchard streets, and his son Paul, as a 12-year-old, played in baseball games for the high school team. The Robeson's lived on the South side of Spring Street, where it intersects with Rahway Avenue. The street is now called Watterson Street and the home is no longer extant.
[edit] Westfield to Somerville
In 1910 William moved to Somerville, New Jersey and took over the congregation at the Saint Thomas African Methodist Episcopal church.
[edit] Death and burial
He died on May 17, 1918 and is buried in Princeton Cemetery with his wife.
[edit] Timeline
- 1876 Degree in theology from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania
- 1879 Marriage to Maria Louisa Bustill
- 1880 Begin tenure at Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church in Princeton
- 1880 US Census
- 1900 US Census
- 1901 End tenure at Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church in Princeton
- 1904 Death of Maria Louisa Bustill, his wife
- 1907 Move to Westfield, New Jersey
- 1910 Move to Somerville, New Jersey to Saint Thomas African Methodist Episcopal church
- 1918 Death and burial
[edit] External links
