Maria Louisa Bustill
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Maria Louisa Bustill | |
.jpg/225px-Maria_Louisa_Bustill_(1853-1904).jpg) |
|
| Born | November 8, 1853 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
|---|---|
| Died | January 20, 1904 (aged 50) |
| Spouse | William Drew Robeson I |
| Children | Paul Robeson |
| Parents | Charles Hicks Bustill Emily Robinson |
Maria Louisa Bustill Robeson (8 November 1853 – 20 January 1904) was a Quaker schoolteacher; the mother of Paul Robeson; and the wife of the Reverend William Drew Robeson of Witherspoon Church in Princeton, New Jersey.
Contents |
[edit] Birth
She was born in 1853 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Charles Hicks Bustill (1816-1890) and Emily Robinson (c1815-before1860).[1] She was of mixed Igbo Nigerian, Lenni-Lenape Native American, and American Quaker descent.[2][3][4][1] Her siblings include: Samuel Bustill (1841-?); George Bustill (1847-?); Desaline Bustill (1848-?); and Mary Bustill (1854-?). Emily died some time before July 3, 1860 and Charles remarried someone named Catherine (1808-?).[5] In 1870 Charles and all his male children were working as expressmen in Philadelphia.[6]
[edit] Lincoln University and marriage
In the 1870s she attended Lincoln University. There she met and married William Drew Robeson I (1845-1918), around 1873, and they had the following children: Gertrude Lascet Robeson (1880) who died as an infant; William Drew Robeson II (1881-?) b. November 1881, who was a physician in Washington, District of Columbia; Marian M. Robeson (1894-1977) b. December 1, 1894, who married a Forsythe and moved to Philadelphia; Benjamin Robeson (1894-1966) b. September 1894, who was a reverend at the Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in Harlem; J.B. Reeve Robeson (1886-?) aka Reed Robeson, b. March 1886 who moved to Detroit and may have worked at a hotel before he died in poverty; and Paul LeRoy Robeson (1898-1976) who was an orator, singer and actor. Another child died at birth, but the name is not known. [3]
[edit] Death and burial
In 1904 she was nearly blind and she was burned in a kitchen accident when an ember from the stove ignited her clothes on fire. She died several days later with burns over 80% of her body.[4] She was buried in Princeton Cemetery.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Robeson Family Genealogy. Princeton Public Library. Retrieved on 2007-02-14.
- ^ "Performing Black-Jewish symbiosis: the "Hassidic Chant" of Paul Robeson.", American Jewish History. Retrieved on 2008-04-21. "... a further boost through his marriage in 1878 to Maria Louisa Bustill, a light-skinned woman from a prominent family of Philadelphia's black bourgeoisie. ..."
- ^ a b c Robeson II, Paul. The Undiscovered Paul Robeson: An Artist’s Journey, 1898–1939.
- ^ a b Paul Robeson. Bay Area Robeson. Retrieved on 2007-02-14. “Louisa, in ill health and nearly blind, was set alight when a coal from the stove fell on her long dress and she failed to notice. Mortally burned, she died several days later.”
- ^ 1860 US Census for Princeton, New Jersey
- ^ 1870 US Census for Princeton, New Jersey
