State

Tar Heel H ISTORY By Rodney Barfield The Indomitable Parker D. Robbins The Bertie County native overcame all obstacles to become a land owner, builder, farmer and inventor. The Si. Peter slipped its moorings and splashed into l he dark wains of die Northeast Gipe Fear River. The newly built stemwheeler churned the waters Ix-tu-ath overhanging Spanish moss as it chugged its way to Wilmington. It was 1888 and a day of triumph lor Park¬ er 1). Robbins. The Bertie County native and "man of color." as the cen¬ sus records described him. had just made a dream come true. I le had built bis own steamlxKil. .-Vs a state legislator in 1868. Rob¬ bins had failed to pass legislation inte¬ grating passengei set rice on steam¬ boats. At the time, blacks were forced to ride On the lower decks, alongside f reight and the stacks of wood that fired the boilers. Robbins must have f>een a very satisfied man the day his own steamer dipped into the water. hi reality that accomplishment was just one of many achieved by this lit¬ tle-known inventor, builder, farmer and craftsman. P.D. Robbins, as he was known around Duplin County, was Ixirn into humble circumstances in 1834. circumstances that broke and warped innumerable young men in 1830s rural North Carolina. It is difficult to trace the rise of this inventive and tenacious youth who — despite the region's fortress men¬ tality and constraints of class and race — became a first-rate carpenter and even a laud owner. The state census of I860 descrilx's Robbins as a “mechanic" and reveals that he owned 102 acres of land near Powellsrille. Not a bad beginning lor a man of 23. At the time, the “man of Color" designa¬ tion was given to anyone who possessed African or Indian blood lines. There is evi¬ dence that Robbins' grandfather was Joint Robbins, one of the chiefs of the Chowan Indian Nation in 1790. It can only be guessed what Robbins would have done with his life had not the Civil War intervened. Free blacks and "men of color" had accumulated land and wealth before the war and took part in the commercial life of the state. North Caroli¬ na had more than 30,000 free blacks when the war came. On the other hand, in a war fought in part met slavery, a “man of color." slave or free, held an untenable position. Numer¬ ous Indians and “men of color" were rounded up in Robeson County and forced to build earthworks at Fort Fisher. sparking an internal civil war between Robeson County Indians and die state mili¬ tia that raged well into the 1870s. Whatever die nature of Robbins' wartime existence, lie held his ground until 186-1. when he left his land and journeyed to Nor¬ folk to dirow in his lot with the Union. He was given the tank of sergeant-major, like¬ ly a reflection of his literacy and abilities. Though he probably did not see action. Robbins was proud of his commitment to the Union, as demonstrated in a hand-tint¬ ed photograph of him in his blue uniform. But he came down with rheumatism while in service and was discharged in May 1865 with a disability pension. After the war. reconstruction politics raged in the South, pitting unrecon¬ structed Rebels against Unionists, carpet¬ baggers and Republicans. Nevertheless, diere were some people of vision and integrity who honestly wanted to achieve a more equitable society. Robbins was literate, resourceful, a former land owner, obviously hard¬ working. and he probably brought an integrity' to the Republican party that was sorely needed. Robbins ran for election to the (ieneral Assembly and to the state’s Constitutional Convention. He served one term before being hounded from office. The single bill he presented called for the integra¬ tion of steamboats. The following year. Robbins left Raleigh and moved back to the Bertie/Hertford Сюиту area of his youth. In 1874 he applied for a patent on improvements he had made to a cotton cultivator, which indicates he also may have farmed that crop. In 1875 he was appointed postmaster of Harrellsville, a job he held for two years. In 1 877 he applied for a patent on a saw-sharpening device for sawmills. Robbins owned a sawmill, and he sawed the limbers for his steamboat there. For unknown reasons, Robbins moved to Duplin County in 1877. Settling in Magno¬ lia. he went into business as a carpenter and a builder. He built at least two houses in Magnolia, one of which still stands, and did decorative work for other builders. A wood¬ en sunburst over the oldJ.H. Baker store- Parker D. Robbins in his Second Л'.С. Cavalry uniform ИМт *, Heine» fttrikU *ivJ ounr,» •it the N C Do i,«* ol Antnn uvl llu.., The Statc/Fcboiarv 1992 12