University of Virginia Library

WYNDHAM ROBERTSON.

The clan Donnachie, or Duncan, or Robertson, trace descent from
Duncan, King of Scotland, eldest son of Malcolm III., their immediate
ancestor being a son of the "ancient and last Celtic Earl of Atole" who,
in the reign of Alexander II., received the lands of Strowan. A great
grandson of this founder was named Andrew, and was styled of Athole
or "de Atholia," which was the uniform designation of the family; and
from Duncan, a son of Andrew, they derive their distinctive appellation
of the clan Donnachie, or "children of Duncan." This Duncan was twice
married, and acquired by both marriages considerable territory in the
district of Rannoch. By his first wife he had a son Robert "de Atholia,"
who also had a grandson named Robert; and from him the clan Duncan
or Donnachie derive the name of Robertson from their lowland
neighbors. This Robert is famous in history, and known as the chief
who arrested and delivered to the vengeance of the government Robert
Graham and the master of Athole, two of the murderers of James I.,
for which he was rewarded with a crown charter, dated 1451. He was
mortally wounded in a conflict with Robert Forrester, of Solwood, with
whom he had a dispute regarding the lands of Little Dunkeld. Binding
his head in a white cloth, he rode to Perth and obtained from the
king a new grant of the lands of Strowan. Returning home he died
of his wounds. His eldest son was twice married; his son, again, becoming
progenitor of various families of Robertsons. Towards the close
of the century an heiress of the clan married "Thomas of Loudoun,"
while another married "David of Hastings," and an heiress of the Leeds
branch married a Stewart of Invermeath. The clan were valiant and
powerful supporters of the House of Stewart, and devoted to the cause
of Charles I. It furnished, during the past two centuries, many warriors
and learned men, famous in Scottish annals. Alexander Robertson,
the celebrated Jacobite chief and poet, was born about 1670. After
a warlike and eventful life he died, in the eighty-first year of his age, in
his own house. Carr of Rannoch's poems were published after his death,

with a history of the Robertsons of Strowan. He was Sir Walter Scott's
prototype of the Baron "Bradwardine," in Waverley.

The ancestor of the Robertsons of Virginia was William Robertson,
son of the Bailie of Edinburgh, Scotland, and a relative of Alexander
Robertson, of Strowan, Baron Bradwardine, who emigrated to the colony
in the early part of the eighteenth century, and settled in Bristol
parish, near the location of Petersburg. His son, William Robertson,
born in the year 1750, was a vestryman, warden, and deputy of Bristol
parish from 1779 to 1789, a member of the council of Virginia, and
for a series of years its secretary. He married Elizabeth, daughter
of Thomas and Elizabeth (Gay) Bolling, of "Cobbs" (fourth in descent
from John Rolfe and the Indian Princess Pocahontas), and had issue
twelve children, those who survived being as follows: i. Archibald,
born 1776; died 1861; married Elizabeth M. Bolling, ii. Thomas Bolling,
born February 27, 1778; married, April, 1821, Lelia, daughter of
Fulwar Skipwith; studied law with the distinguished John Thompson;
member of the House of Delegates from Dinwiddie County 1805-6;
appointed, in the summer of 1807, by President Jefferson, Secretary of
the then territory of Orleans; continued in this station until Louisiana
was erected into a State; member of Congress 1812-18, when he resigned,
resuming the practice of law; appointed, in 1819, Attorney-General
of Louisiana; elected Governor of the State in 1820, appointed,
in 1825, United States Judge for the district of Louisiana. During
the recess of Congress, 1815, he visited England and France, and being
in Paris at the time of the return of Bonaparte from the campaign
which ended in his overthrow at Waterloo, he wrote a concise and animated
account of the interesting scenes which were passing before him,
in letters to his friends in Virginia, which were published in the Richmond
Enquirer, and in book form. He died October 5, 1828, at the
White Sulphur Springs, Greenbrier County, Virginia, where a monument
marks his remains; iii. William, born 1786; member of the Virginia
Assembly; married Christiana, daughter of Frederick Williams,
and had issue; iv. John, born 1788; died 1873; Attorney-General of
Virginia; member of State Assembly, and Chancellor of Virginia;
member of Congress, representing Richmond for more than half a
century; a quaint, vigorous, and accomplished writer, publishing many
brochures; married, in 1814, Anne Trent, and left issue; v. Anne, born
1790; died 1842; married Henry Skipwith, M. D., and left issue;
vi. Jane Gay, born 1796; died 1840; married, 1818, John H. Bernard,
of "Gaymont," Caroline County, Virginia, member of the State Senate;
left issue; vii. Wyndham, the subject of this sketch, born January 26,
1803. He first attended the private schools in his native city—Richmond—and
completed his education at William and Mary College under
the presidency of the brilliant John Augustine Smith, graduating

REV. JOHN BUCHANAN D.D.

Rector of St. Johns Church Richmond Va. from 1785 to his death in 1820.

thence in 1821. Entering upon the study of law, he was admitted to
the bar in 1824. In 1827 he went to Europe for recreation, visiting
the cities of London and Paris. Returning home he resumed the practice
of his profession. The French Revolution of 1830 enkindled the
patriotism of the citizens of Richmond to highly enthusiastic demonstrations
in civic procession, with flags and banners flying, the parade of
the military with salute of musketry and cannon, and a mass meeting.
Mr. Robertson was the chosen orator on the occasion, to voice the public
sentiment, an office which he discharged so eloquently and acceptably
that the common sympathy then established carried with it a regard and
confidence which was enduring and found expression in many positions
of honorable trust conferred on him. In 1833 Mr. Robertson was
elected a member of the Council of State. In 1834, at the first meeting
of the James River and Kanawha Company, the successors to the
franchises of the old James River Company, Mr. Robertson proposed,
in lieu of the projected canal, a measure that looked to a railroad connection
with Lynchburg, to progress alternately westward, on the one
hand, to the Mississippi, and on the other to the Kanawha. Although
his proposition was defeated, it had the favor of sagacious and able
minds, Dr. John Brockenbrough, Judge Philip Norborne Nicholas,
Moncure Robinson, and Hon. John Robertson being among its supporters.
After nearly half a century the wisdom of the measure proposed
has been vindicated in the displacing of the canal by the Richmond
& Alleghany Railroad erected on its banks, and which we may
hope, may yet grasp the consummations so long ago ardently outlined
by Mr. Robertson. On the 31st of March, 1836, Mr. Robertson became
senior member of the Council, and as such, Lieutenant-Governor, and
on the same day, by the resignation of Governor Tazewell, succeeded
him for the remaining year of his term as Governor of Virginia. The
period is somewhat memorable. Then began the initiatory movements
of the undisguised and fateful crusade by the Northern section of our
Union against slavery. We can now calmly survey its turbulent course
in thankful acceptation of an issue which is destined to progressively redound
in blessings to the South. A different sentiment then prevailed
in Virginia. In his first message to the Legislature, Governor Robertson
called attention to the abolition movement, designating it as "a mad
fanaticism, the march of which, if unchecked, could well be over violated
faith, the rights of the slave-holding States, chartered liberty, and
the cause of humanity itself," and recommended that measures should
be taken for a convention of all the States to take measures to avert
such dire consequences. The Democracy being largely in the majority
in the Legislature of 1836-7, one of that party—David Campbell—was
chosen to succeed Governor Robertson on the expiration of his term,
March 31, 1837, and he retired to private life. In 1841, his health being
impaired, he removed to the country and engaged in agricultural
pursuits. In 1858 he returned to Richmond, and in 1860 acquiesced
in the wishes of his old constituents to serve them in the House of Delegates.
A friend to peace and the Union, Mr. Robertson actively opposed
secession, and the overtures of South Carolina for a Southern
Convention as endangering both, and hastening the loss of what they
were designed to save. After South Carolina and other Southern States
had seceded, he still urged a refusal on the part of Virginia to follow
them, and brought, as the organ of a committee, into the House of
Delegates, January 7, 1861, the resolution known as the Anti-Coercion
Resolution, denying the existence of present cause for secession, but
declaring her purpose, if a war of coercion was undertaken by the
Federal Government on the seceded States, to fight with the South.
The resolution was adopted. The State now addressed itself to measures
of reconciliation, some of which were proposed, and all were advocated
by Mr. Robertson. They were, however, all futile, and the
proclamation of President Lincoln calling for troops from Virginia,
speedily determined her lot with her Southern sisters, peopled by her
own offspring, and Mr. Robertson, ever a dutiful son, was henceforth
zealously active in all measures of sustenance and defense, in the lamentable
fraticidal strife which ensued. The painful struggle over, he
removed to the native place of his wife (Mary T., daughter of Francis
Smith, Esq.), Abingdon, Virginia, where he has since resided. Mr.
Robertson has been an ardent student of history for many years, naturally
with a special regard for that of his native State. He has frequently
contributed the results of his research to periodicals, and at the annual
meeting of the Virginia Historical Society, December 15, 1859, he read
an exhaustive paper on the "Marriage of Pocahontas with John Rolfe,"
which was published by the Society. He has had in preparation for a
number of years past, a genealogical account of his kindred, "The Descendants
of Pocahontas," which, it is believed, is now ready for publication.
There is an excellent portrait of Governor Robertson in the
State Library at Richmond, Virginia.