Maria Louisa Bustill

Maria Louisa Bustill
Born November 8, 1853(1853-11-08)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Died January 20, 1904(1904-01-20) (aged 50)
Spouse William Drew Robeson I
Children Gertrude Lascet Robeson (1880), William Drew Robeson II (1881-?), Marian M. Robeson (1894-1977), Benjamin Robeson (1894-1966),
J. B. Reeve Robeson (1886-?),
Paul Robeson (1898-1976)
Parents Charles Hicks Bustill
Emily Robinson

Maria Louisa Bustill Robeson (November 8, 1853 – January 20, 1904) was a Quaker schoolteacher; the wife of the Reverend William Drew Robeson of Witherspoon Church in Princeton, New Jersey and the mother of Paul Robeson and his siblings.[1][2]

Contents

Birth

She was born in 1853 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Charles Hicks Bustill (1816-1890) and Emily Robinson (c. 1815-before 1860).[3] She was of mixed Igbo African, Lenni-Lenape Native American, and Anglo-American descent, born into a prominent black Quaker family.[1][4][5][3][6] Her siblings include: Samuel Bustill (1841-?); George Bustill (1847-?); Desaline Bustill (1848-?); and Mary Bustill (1854-?). After her mother Emily died some time before July 3, 1860, Charles remarried a woman whose first name was Catherine (1808-?).[7] In 1870 Charles and his sons were working as expressmen in Philadelphia.[8]

Lincoln University and marriage

The Bustill family was part of the black bourgeoisie of Philadelphia; in the 1870s, Louisa attended Lincoln University. There she met and married William Drew Robeson I (1845-1918) in 1878.[4] They had several children, and Louisa continued to teach school for many years while her husband served as minister of a black church in Princeton. They both emphasized education and advancement to their children.

In 1880 William and Maria Robeson were living on Witherspoon Street in Princeton, New Jersey. Reflecting her mixed race, Maria was classified in the census as a mulatto.[9] Their first daughter Gertrude Lascet Robeson (1880) died as an infant, but nearly all the other children were highly successful as adults. William Drew Robeson II (1881-?) b. November 1881, became a physician in Washington, DC; Marian M. Robeson (1894-1977) b. December 1, 1894, married a Forsyte and moved to Philadelphia; Benjamin Robeson (1894-1966) b. September 1894, became a minister at the Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in Harlem; J.B. Reeve Robeson (1886-?) aka Reed Robeson, b. March 1886, moved to Detroit and may have worked at a hotel, but died in poverty; and Paul LeRoy Robeson, better known as Paul Robeson (1898-1976), became an athlete, orator, singer and actor. Another child died at birth, but the name is not known. [4]

Death and burial

By 1904 Louisa was nearly blind from cataracts; she was burned in a kitchen accident when an ember from the stove ignited her clothes. She died several days later with burns over 80% of her body.[5] She was buried in Princeton Cemetery.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b "Birth of Paul Robeson". History Today. April 1, 1998. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-20490506.html. Retrieved 2009-07-24. "Robeson was the name of a white, slave-owning family in North Carolina before the American Civil War. Their black slaves took the same surname and among them was William Drew Robeson, who ran away from the plantation, fought for the North in the Civil War and later became a Presbyterian minister and subsequently a pastor in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. He married a Quaker schoolteacher, Maria Louisa Bustill of Philadelphia, of mixed Negro, American Indian and white Quaker descent. The Robesons were an upwardly mobile family and their three older sons were to have careers as a doctor, a businessman and a minister. Their youngest child, Paul Leroy Robeson, ..." 
  2. ^ "Performing Black-Jewish symbiosis: the "Hassidic Chant" of Paul Robeson.". American Jewish History. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-119570007.html. Retrieved 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. ..." 
  3. ^ a b "Robeson Family Genealogy". Princeton Public Library. http://www.princeton.lib.nj.us/robeson/ancestry.html. Retrieved 2007-02-14. 
  4. ^ a b c d Robeson II, Paul. The Undiscovered Paul Robeson: An Artist’s Journey, 1898–1939. http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/59/04712426/0471242659.pdf. 
  5. ^ a b "Paul Robeson". Bay Area Robeson. http://www.bayarearobeson.org/RobesonInDepth.htm. Retrieved 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." 
  6. ^ Nollen, Scott Allen (2010). Paul Robeson: Film Pioneer. McFarland. p. 7. ISBN 0-786-4352-08. 
  7. ^ 1860 US Census
  8. ^ 1870 US Census
  9. ^ 1880 US Census

External links