LVI.
JOHN ROBINSON.
LVI. President of the Council.
LVI. June 20, 1749, to September 5, 1749.
The first of the Robinson family of whom we have knowledge
was John Robinson, of Cleasby, Yorkshire, England,
who married Elizabeth Potter, of Cleasby, daughter of
Christopher Potter, from whom, no doubt, the name of Christopher,
so common in the family, was derived. The fourth
son of John Robinson was Dr. John Robinson, Bishop of
Bristol, and while Bishop, was British Envoy for some years
at the Court of Sweden, writing while there, a history of
Sweden. He was also British Plenipotentiary at the Treaty
of Utrecht, being, it is supposed, the last bishop or clergyman
employed in a public service of that kind. He afterwards
became Bishop of London, in which office he continued
until his death, in 1723. Having no children, he devised
his real estate to the eldest son of his brother Christopher,
who had emigrated to Virginia and settled on the Rappahannock
River. This Christopher was a vestryman in the church
in Middlesex County, in 1664. He married Miss Bertram,
and their oldest son (who inherited the Bishop of London's
estate) was John Robinson, born in 1683. He married
Catherine Beverley, daughter of Robert Beverley, author of
"The History of Virginia," and "Speaker Robinson," or
John Robinson, who was Speaker of the House of Burgesses
and Treasurer of the Colony, was their son.
John Robinson (born in 1683) occupied many important
positions in the Colony. He was Speaker of the House of Burgesses
under Sir William Gooch, and was the first on the list of
gentlemen named by Governor Gooch to disburse the ¢4000
appropriated by the General Assembly for an expedition
against Canada. This Act reads, "Whereas his most sacred
Majesty, for vindicating the honor of his crown, and for
restoring the peace and tranquility of Europe, is engaged in
a just and necessary war against the French King; and with
a fervent and paternal vigilance ever meditating the advancement
of his people's happiness, and the confusion of our
common enemy, hath resolved on an important expedition to
the Northward, and required his American Colonies to second
it with their united forces and abilities; and hath instructed
his Lieutenant-Governor of this Colony to enlist men with all
possible speed, who with the levies made in the other governments
are to rendezvous at Albany, in New York, and thence
proceed to act in conjunction with the troops from Great
Britain, in the Conquest of Canada," etc., etc.
The most important feature of Governor Robinson's brief
administration was the passage of several Acts by the
Assembly, touching the government of the Colony, which
were afterwards, in 1752, repealed by the King. "This,"
says Hening, "made a very important change in our system
of jurisprudence, and it became necessary to publish a new
edition of our laws."
