From:   Robbinsfamilysouthjersey@yahoogroups.com on behalf of Sara Robbins Hoffman [july37@cox.net]
Sent:   Saturday, May 03, 2008 5:24 PM
To: Robbinsfamilysouthjersey@yahoogroups.com
Subject:    [SPAM] [Robbinsfamilysouthjersey] Sergeant  Major Parker D. Robbins

Thought the group may find this biography interesting. Discovered
this man while researching Robbins in the Civil War. I'm uncertain of
the source right now but I think it came from the Archives of the
North Carolina Museum of History. Maybe someone here knows the
genealogy of Parker D. Robbins though his father John A. Robbins.

Biography of Parker D. Robbins
In 1860 Parker D. Robbins was one of more than 30,000 free African
Americans living in North Carolina. He was born in Bertie County in
1834, the son of John A. Robbins and a woman whose name is not known.
Apparently Parker was a mulatto with Chowan Indian ancestors. Even
though antebellum North Carolina law forbade the education of blacks,
Parker was a literate man. He owned a 102-acre farm and supported
himself as a successful carpenter and mechanic. Despite having his
freedom and holding property, Robbins faced rigid social and legal
restrictions as an African American. But events would soon present
the opportunity for him to use his knowledge and talents in both war
and peace.

Like many other North Carolina African American men, Parker D.
Robbins enlisted in the Union army to help end slavery and win equal
rights for his kinsmen. In 1863 he went to Norfolk, Virginia, and
enlisted in the Second United States Colored Cavalry. Apparently a
natural leader, Robbins reached the rank of sergeant major. Little
else is known about his military career. Robbins was discharged from
service in 1866 because of illness.

Following his discharge from the Second United States Colored Cavalry
in 1866, Parker D. Robbins returned home to Bertie County. In 1868 he
became one of fifteen African Americans elected to the constitutional
convention to write a new state constitution. A year later, he was
elected to serve in the state house of representatives for the 1869-
1870 session. The 1870 census gave Robbins's occupation as farmer.
During Reconstruction he served as postmaster for the town of
Harrellsville, Hertford County, and obtained several agriculture-
related patents. In 1877, with the end of Reconstruction, Robbins
resigned as postmaster and moved to Duplin County, where he owned a
sawmill and cotton gin. There he built and operated the steamboat
Saint Peter on the Cape Fear River. He also used his building skills
to construct homes in the community of Magnolia. He died on November
1, 1917, and was buried in Duplin County. Recently, individuals there
have worked to bring state and national recognition to Robbins.

                            Sara