The Robinson Family

John Robinson, an enslaved man in Appomattox County who had longed for freedom, gained it when Lieutenant General Grant's armies arrived, and in 1871 he purchased this home. A shoemaker, he lived here and ran his business from the basement for more than 50 years. He died in 1933 and was buried in the family cemetery behind the house. Robinson was also one of 30 African American members of Liberty Baptist Church who received letters of dismission to form an African Baptist Church that became Galilee Baptist Church, just west of Grant's headquarters. With help from Philadelphia Quakers Francis and Anna Cope, Robinson, serving as church treasurer, and other trustees bought the church property for one dollar in 1872. Philadelphia Quakers also supported the Freedmen's Bureau School at Galilee, where Robinson's children were among the 100 male and female students enrolled by 1866. His daughters later recalled that 18 children lived in the house at one time, all but two of them born there. A list of Appomattox County property owners for 1877 recorded Robinson as owner of three and one-half acres and buildings valued at $325.

Appomattox, Virginia · United States