Rufus Morgan Roberson

Biography

Rufus Morgan Roberson was born circa 1811 in Wythe County, Virginia, United States. His parents were James Roberson, of Lee County and Catharina (Helvey) Roberson. He was a Farmer.

Rufus married Elizabeth A. (Lomax) Roberson on December 26, 1840 in Platte Co, Missouri. Together they had the following children: Rachel Jane H. (Roberson) Horne; White Woman.

He died on December 12, 1897 in Mound City, Holt County, Missouri, United States from Pneumonia and was buried there.

His father's 1835 will calls him Rufus Robinson. He appears on the 1835 tax list of Lee County as Morgan Robinson, with one male over 16 in his household (p. 12). He inherited land in Lee County, Virginia (at Turkey Creek?) near the Virginia border with Tennessee and North Carolina from his father in 1836. His great granddaughter Evelyn Horn said that he lived for a time in Georgia and his son Thomas Roberson was born there, near Atlanta, but that seems to have been a mistake for the Horne family. If Rufus lived in Georgia, it must have been sometime between 1836 and 1839. Another member of the same company might have been his cousin John Pickney Helvey, who was in Missouri before 1842.

Rufus moved to Missouri probably in 1839, when he appears as R. M. Robertson on a tax list of Platte County, with his brother Benj. Robertson. Also on the 1839 list are Elisha Morgan, J. C. Roberson, Charles Robertson and William Roberson. Platte County, Missouri was organized 1 January 1839, two years after the Platte Purchase opened the area to settlement. Most settlers came to the area by river boat up the Missouri River to Weston.

In 1840 he was probably one of the three males 20-30 enumerated in the household of his mother, Catherine Robinson in Platte County. His 1840 marriage license calls him Rufus Robinson and his wife Elizabeth H. Lomax, both of Platte County. Their marriage was solemnized on 6 January 1841 by Moses Allen, Minister of the Gospel (Presbyterian). Moses Allen was probably his wife’s cousin.

The 1850 census shows him as Rufus M. Robertson, a farmer in Platte Township in Andrew County, Missouri, age 39, born in Virginia. He might have still been living in the same area as in 1839, as Andrew County was created from Platte in 1841. Others in his household were his wife Elizabeth H. (or A.), age 37, born in Tennessee; Rachel J. H. Roberts, age 3, born in Missouri; and Robert R. Hammonds, age 9, born in Ohio. Rufus was living next door to Thomas Roberts (40), whose family consisted of Mary A. M. Roberts ((36), Mary J. Roberts (15, Indiana), Thomas M. Roberts (13, Indiana), Martha A. Roberts (9, Missouri), John P. Roberts (7, Missouri), James W. Roberts (4, Missouri), and Charles P. Roberts (9/12, Missouri).

Also in 1850 (his wife's sister?) Nancy Lomax was living next door to O. C. Roberts, who was born about 1806 in Virginia. This O. C. Roberts was Oswald Clement Roberts, born 1806 in Washington County, Virginia and died 1877 in Modena, Missouri.

Also in 1850, Rufus was a neighbor of Jonathan Rea (44). Rea is the only incorporated town in Platte Township. His sister Regina was married into the Rhea family, but there appears to be no connection between the two families.

Rufus M. Robison appears on the 1860 census as a farmer born in Virginia, in Rock Port in Clark Township, Atchison County. His household included his wife Elisabeth A., age 46; daughter Rachel J., age 12; a Robert N. Hammers (or Hammus, or Hammond), age 18, laborer, born in Ohio; and a Hannah, age 12, black, born in Missouri.

He and his wife raised Rufus' orphan nephew, Robert Hammond. HThey also inherited a slave Hannah Roberson from Rufus' mother.

He was the Rufus M. Roberson (aka Rufus M. Robinson and Rufus H. Roberson) who served in Company C, 3rd Missouri Cavalry, in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. "The regiment was organized in the summer of 1862 with men from Polk County and Springfield and Newtonia. Many of the men had prior service in the Missouri State Guard. It served in Shelby's, C. Greene's, J. B. Clark's brigade. It took part in Marmaduke's expedition into Missouri and Price's 1864 Missouri expedition. It lost 26 men with Marmaduke, nine at Helena, four at Bayou Fourche, two killed and five wounded at Poison Spring, six killed and 31 wounded at Jenkins' Ferry and 19 killed and 110 wounded during Price's expedition. It disbanded in the spring of 1865." (John Heseltine.) Pvt. Rufus Robinson appears on a muster roll dated 4 May 1865. Other regimental records show him as Rufus Roberson. A John Robinson, relationship unknown, served in the same company. A Cpl. John Craig served in Company B. Rufus' cousin Morgan Helvey served in Company A, 15th Cavalry Regiment Missouri (Confederate).

Rufus might have lived in Indiana after the Civil War. His uncle Jacob Helvey lived in Indianapolis. Rufus' son-in-law William Horn was from near Indianapolis and family tradition says (erroneously) that Rufus had a son Thomas Roberson who was buried there. Further, Rufus does not seem to appear on the 1870 census in Missouri. Neither does his son-law-law William Horn. The two families probably settled elsewhere, perhaps in Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, or Texas then later returned to Atchison County. (Searched Clark and Clay Townships page-by-page.)

Rufus and Elizabeth were back in Missouri by 1876, when he appears on the state census at Township 64 in Atchison County. The 1876 census of Township 64, Range 41 (page 13) shows Rufus M. Roberson (white male over 45, able to read and write, 9 cattle, 12 sheep, 16 hogs - no horses, mules, jacks or jennets, 100 bushels of corn, 15 pounds of wood), and wife Elizabeth (white female, 21-45, not able to read and write). They are followed by the family of his son-in-law William S. Horn. On page 14 we find Nancy Rea (white female, age 21-45, can read and write), perhaps Rufus' niece of that name, with no livestock or agricultural products.

The 1880 census shows him as R. M. Robison, at Clay Township in Atchison County, age 69, a farmer, born in Virginia. His wife E. H. Robison, age 66, and granddaughter Isidore Horn, age 11, are listed in his household. He was the Rufus M. Robinson named in the Atchison County Journal (Missouri) between 1880 and 1882: on 31 December 1881 as one of the executors of M. E. Hall's estate; on 1 December 1882 on a list of Letters in Hand; on 10 July 1880 as one of the settlers (along with Abraham Robinson) who had been in the county for over 20 years (since before 1860); and on 9 July 1881 as one of the settlers (again, with Abraham Robinson) who had been in the county for over 35 years (since before 1846). If so, he seems to have fudged a bit on the latter claim, as he was living in Andrew County, not Atchison, as late as 1850.

He might have been a relative of the Abraham Robinson who was a early settler of northwestern Missouri. That Abraham might have been the Abraham Roberson who married 30 December 1857 in Henry County, Missouri to Elizabeth Motsinger. Her family came from Davidson County, North Carolina. His family is not known.

Rufus later moved to Mound City, Holt County, Missouri, where his wife died in 1895. His great granddaughter, Evelyn Horn, says he died of pneumonia in 1897 at Mound City and was buried there. However, he is not named by Eileen Derr in Gone Home, an incomplete list of burial records in Holt County.

Thomas Skidmore Robinson?

His great granddaughter Evelyn (Horn) Miller said he had a son Thomas Skidmore Robinson, called "the first" by his sister's descendants, because she named one of her sons after him. However, there is no evidence of him except family tradition. He was probably a mistake for an uncle on the other side of the family, Thomas Skidmore Horne.

He was not assessed for personal property at Platte County in 1839 with his father and uncle, so he would have been probably not yet 21 which would place his birth after 1818. He is likely to have been at least 18 years younger than his father, which would place his birth after 1829, yet Thomas does not appear in his father's household on the 1850 census.

He cannot have been the Thomas Roberts who was living next door to Rufus Robertson in 1850. That Thomas was a year older than Rufus.

He could have been the Thomas Robinson, who appears on the 1860 census of Atchison County, Missouri at p. 528. If so, he was living not too far from Rufus, who was listed on p. 513.

• Emigration: Circa 1832 - Atlanta, Fulton Co, Georgia
• Census: 1839 - Platte Co, Missouri
• Residence: 1850 - Platte, Andrew, Missouri, USA
• Census: Oct 24 1850 - Platte Twp, Andrew Co, Missouri
• Residence: 1860 - Clark Township, Atchison, Missouri, USA
• Census: June 8 1860 - Clark Twp, Atchison Co, Missouri
• Census: 1876 - Atchison Co, Missouri
• Residence: 1880 - Clay, Atchison, Missouri, USA
• Race: White
• Ethnicity: American
• Census: June 3 1880 - Clay Twp, Atchison Co, Missouri

Sources

• Reference: 1850 United States Federal Census - SmartCopy: Apr 29 2017, 5:29:30 UTC
• Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: May 18 2016, 6:17:03 UTC
• Reference: 1850 United States Federal Census - SmartCopy: May 3 2017, 1:46:31 UTC
• Reference: 1860 United States Federal Census - SmartCopy: May 3 2017, 1:52:24 UTC
• Reference: 1880 United States Federal Census - SmartCopy: May 3 2017, 1:57:25 UTC