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William Pitt Robertson, Sr. b. 21 Nov 1795 NC - but where?
Here is my brick wall - William Pitt Robertson, Sr. b. 21 Nov 1795 NC - ? married ??? had one known son, William Pitt Robertson, Jr. b. 7 Feb 1821 NC d. After 1877 probably in Alabama
I have not found WPR Sr. in any census record positively. WPR Jr. married Margaret UNKNOWN 28 Aug 1838. I believe Margaret had been married previously and had a son that then went by ROBERTSON - William Andrew Johnson Robertson b. 1 Apr 1836 Pickens Co., AL (according to his descendants). Margaret was born 20 May 1812 TN - she was 8 years older than her husband.
William Pitt Robertson Jr. and Margaret had at least 10 children of their own. I can provide their names if needed. Margaret apparently died between 1870 and 1873 because WPR Jr. married 2nd Mary Morehead in 1873 and they had 2 sons in 1874 and 1877.
WPR Jr. and Margaret are found in the following census records:
1840 US Fed Census in Pickens Co., AL
1850 US Fed Census in Pickens Co., AL
1860 US Fed Census in Fayette Co., AL
1870 US Fed Census in Sanford Co., AL (now Lamar Co., AL)
WPR Jr. and 2nd wife, Mary, should be together in the 1880 census, or she should be somewhere, widowed, with her sons, Frank & Jack, but I cannot find any of them in Alabama or in Mississippi. The next "sighting" of Mary Morehead Robertson is in 1900...
1900 US Fed Census in Webster Co., MS, Mary is living in son Frank Robertson's household.
1910 US Fed Census in Webster Co., MS, Mary is living with son
1920 US Fed Census in Webster Co., MS, Mary is living with son
Mary died 23 Oct 1921 and is buried near her son, Elisha Jackson Robertson, in Springhill Cemetery, Webster Co., MS.
I have "tracked out" all of the children from both of WPR's marriages, found their marriage records and burial locations, and WPR Jr. is not buried with any of them, at least not in a marked grave. I also cannot find a marked grave for his first wife, Margaret.
I am trying to figure out where in NC WPR Jr & Sr lived, or any other information about them. I have a "book" started in 1819 by WPR Sr. that has arithmetic problems in long hand (he was said to be a school teacher) and in it are recorded random items of genealogical interest, including his birthdate, his son's and his his grandchildren born up to about 1858. There is a note that says "William Pitt Robertson left Alabama in 1858" but doesn't say where he went. There are clues in this book that seem to indicate that WPR Sr. may have had brothers. Here's what the book says:
"Bro. John Isom and Iepee in 1820 in Alabama. Athens County and Athens Town. Bro. Jacob, Hamilton City, Tenn. (information entered in 3/1/1821)" Could "Iepee" have been mistranscribed by my cousin (who has the original) be "Jesse"??? (She showed the first letter as a capital "i" just to be clear).
WPR Jr. named one of his sons Isom/Isham Pitt Robertson (my ancestor).
Has anyone doing NC research ever run across any of my Robertsons?
Thanks and if anyone has any ideas for me, please let me know!
I have not found WPR Sr. in any census record positively. WPR Jr. married Margaret UNKNOWN 28 Aug 1838. I believe Margaret had been married previously and had a son that then went by ROBERTSON - William Andrew Johnson Robertson b. 1 Apr 1836 Pickens Co., AL (according to his descendants). Margaret was born 20 May 1812 TN - she was 8 years older than her husband.
William Pitt Robertson Jr. and Margaret had at least 10 children of their own. I can provide their names if needed. Margaret apparently died between 1870 and 1873 because WPR Jr. married 2nd Mary Morehead in 1873 and they had 2 sons in 1874 and 1877.
WPR Jr. and Margaret are found in the following census records:
1840 US Fed Census in Pickens Co., AL
1850 US Fed Census in Pickens Co., AL
1860 US Fed Census in Fayette Co., AL
1870 US Fed Census in Sanford Co., AL (now Lamar Co., AL)
WPR Jr. and 2nd wife, Mary, should be together in the 1880 census, or she should be somewhere, widowed, with her sons, Frank & Jack, but I cannot find any of them in Alabama or in Mississippi. The next "sighting" of Mary Morehead Robertson is in 1900...
1900 US Fed Census in Webster Co., MS, Mary is living in son Frank Robertson's household.
1910 US Fed Census in Webster Co., MS, Mary is living with son
1920 US Fed Census in Webster Co., MS, Mary is living with son
Mary died 23 Oct 1921 and is buried near her son, Elisha Jackson Robertson, in Springhill Cemetery, Webster Co., MS.
I have "tracked out" all of the children from both of WPR's marriages, found their marriage records and burial locations, and WPR Jr. is not buried with any of them, at least not in a marked grave. I also cannot find a marked grave for his first wife, Margaret.
I am trying to figure out where in NC WPR Jr & Sr lived, or any other information about them. I have a "book" started in 1819 by WPR Sr. that has arithmetic problems in long hand (he was said to be a school teacher) and in it are recorded random items of genealogical interest, including his birthdate, his son's and his his grandchildren born up to about 1858. There is a note that says "William Pitt Robertson left Alabama in 1858" but doesn't say where he went. There are clues in this book that seem to indicate that WPR Sr. may have had brothers. Here's what the book says:
"Bro. John Isom and Iepee in 1820 in Alabama. Athens County and Athens Town. Bro. Jacob, Hamilton City, Tenn. (information entered in 3/1/1821)" Could "Iepee" have been mistranscribed by my cousin (who has the original) be "Jesse"??? (She showed the first letter as a capital "i" just to be clear).
WPR Jr. named one of his sons Isom/Isham Pitt Robertson (my ancestor).
Has anyone doing NC research ever run across any of my Robertsons?
Thanks and if anyone has any ideas for me, please let me know!
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Ginger R Smith on
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If you are trying to find out what county a particular surname might be from, my best advice would be to look at Mitchell's Will Index of NC under that surname and copy down how many wills there are for each county. You will probably see a more prevalent number of that particular surname in one or two counties.
You can access Mitchell's Will Index (Mitchell is the author of the index) online at the NC State Archives website here:
http://www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/archives/hours.htm and click on the link on the left that says "MARS catalog." It will open up a new screen where you can search. Type in "Robertson" in the search box.
Then select the "Mitchell Will Index" database to search. It will bring up 24 hits in "County Records 1" and 44 records in "County Records 2." Click on County Records 1 where it says "24 hits." to pull up the entries. They are in alphabetical order. There are 4 William Robertsons in this database:
William, 1842, Davidson Co., NC
William, 1843, Davie Co., NC
William, 1872 Forsyth Co., NC
William, 1883, Forsyth Co., NC
Forsyth Co wasn't formed until 1849 from Stokes Co., NC.
Davie Co wasn't formed until 1836, from Rowan Co., NC
Davidson Co wasn't formed until 1822 also from Rowan Co.
So any early records, ie, census reports from 1820 (WPR SR would be 25years old), 1830, would be from Rowan Co. and/or Stokes County up to 1850.
There was a William Robertson in Davidson Co., NC on the 1830 census report. He was 50-60 years old (b. abt 1770-1780), so he was probably too old to be your WPR Sr., there were also two males between 20 and 30 years of age living in the house, 2 females 20 to 30 years of age, and one male < 5 which could be Jr.
He was also on the 1840 Davidson Co., NC Census report: 1m 30-40 (b. bet 1800-1810), 1m 60-70 (b. bet 1770-1780),etc...
There is a William Robertson on the 1840 Stokes Co., (founding county of Forsyth) between the ages of 20 and 30 (b. abt 1810-1820), this could have been WPR Jr, however I believe you said he was in AL by 1840
Try clicking on the 2nd set of will records. The MARS database is very picky and it crashed before I could review the 44 hits. Write down the counties listed for each William Roberston and then try to cross check them with the early census reports. Make sure you check the USGEnweb NC page first to see when the listed county was formed. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ncgenweb/county.html -
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Permalink Reply by Allison Saxman on
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Thanks Ginger - I will check those items out. Because the arithmetic book, authored by WPR Sr. (he wrote he started it in 1819) ended up in the hands of descendants of WPR Jr's second wife's children's descendants, I would suspect that WPR Sr. would have been in Alabama toward the middle/end of his life, especially if Jr. was his only child (at least living). It seems logical that the 2nd wife's people ended up with it - he would have brought that treasure into his second marriage and his effects would have been her's to take care of, I would think.
I wish I had copies of all of the pages of the book - my cousin said it is fragile and she only photocopied a couple of pages and then transcribed some of the others with genealogical info on them. The pages she did copy reveal at least two different hand writings - and from the when & where and info written, looks like both Jr. and Sr. wrote in it. The entry of WPR Sr. leaving AL in 1858 is in what is believed to be Jr.'s handwriting. But the recorded births of WPR Jr's children (and his 1st marriage date, wife's birth date and the first 5 or so of his known children, verified by other sources as well) are in what is Sr's handwriting - it matches the earliest handwriting of the arithmetic problems and the "I started this book on..." entries. Since the births of the first several children all occured in or around Pickens Co., AL, I have to assume WPR Sr. was also in the area - but I can't find any census or other record to even suggest that I am right. It's maddening.
Sorry - went on way too long - you see how passionate I am about this line!
Thanks for great suggestions and I will check them out for sure! -
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