Caesar Robbins

The Robbins House, taken by Todd Van Hoosear, in August 2019.

Caesar Robbins was a formerly enslaved American war veteran who lived in the 18th and 19th centuries. His legacy is a 540-square-foot farmhouse standing in the town of Concord, Massachusetts.

Early life

Caesar Robbins was born in about 1745 in Chelmsford, Massachusetts. He was enslaved at birth, yet the names of his parents and enslaver remain unknown. At 16 years old, Robbins enlisted in the French and Indian War. He later enlisted in the American Revolutionary War in his early 30s, gaining his emancipation either at or before this time. He might have been involved in the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775. Only a year later, in 1776, he served under Captain Israel Heald in Boston and marched to Fort Ticonderoga in upstate New York in the summer of that same year. There is also evidence Caesar was involved in battles in Bennington, Vermont. He finished his duties c. 1779, before he finally moved back to Concord, Massachusetts, as a war veteran.

Later life

In 1784, Robbins was 40 and living in Carlisle, Massachusetts, with his family. He is said to have had two or three wives who were all local women in Concord. He and his first wife, Catherine Boaz, were married in 1979 until she died. He was then said to have married a woman named Rose Bay in 1807. Caesar had six children among his wives, and moved to a plot of land in Concord, although which of his wives and children he lived with at the time is unclear. The Robbins family resided in an area of Concord known back then as "Great Field" (Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge). In this area, many recently freed or returning African Americans settled. Concord, at the time, had what was considered a large black population, although the population in question was only near three percent. Many of these African Americans had purchased their freedom through the wars, similar to Caesar. Caesar Robbins would not live to see his family's land expanded or moved in the later years, as he died in 1822.

Legacy

In 1823, Caesar Robbins' son, Peter, purchased a small farmhouse at the edge of the Concord River with 13 surrounding acres. From the 1820s until 1837, Peter resided in the home, sharing it with his wife Fatima, his sister and Caesar's daughter Susan, and Susan's husband Jack Garrison. Later they also shared the home with Susan and Jack's children. However, it was said that some of the children had passed away at a young age. Eventually, the farmhouse was sold to Fatima's relative, Peter, in 1852, and her relative's family would ultimately be the last to live at the Robbins House.

Caesar Robbins was not the only person in the Robbins family to make waves. Susan Robbins, later known as Susan Garrison, became a critical part of Concord's feminist and anti-slavery movement. She was the founding member of the Concord Female Anti-Slavery Society, otherwise known as CFAS, in 1837. The Robbins House was home to many of the first CFAS meetings, where the committee "signed petitions against slavery, the slave trade, the annexation of Texas, and the removal of the Cherokees from their homeland in the southeastern United States. [Susan also] likely helped found the First African Baptist Church in Boston." Susan passed in 1841 at about 61 years of age, but her four children continued to carry the passion of the anti-slavery movement. Even Henry David Thoreau, a Massachusetts-bound historical icon, was deeply influenced by the Robbins family and included aspects of their anti-slavery work in his writings.

Robbins' granddaughter Ellen Garrison was a pioneering civil rights activist, and was born in the Robbins house.

Modern times

The Robbins House still stands as a historic landmark in Concord. Mass Humanities, an organization based in Massachusetts, is working with the town of Concord to uphold Caesar Robbins' history and preserve the Robbins' house. The organization takes donations for the house and volunteers to clean it consistently and keep an eye on the property. Concord also offers a Guided African American History Tour, where five percent of the proceeds are donated to the Robbins House. the house is also cleaned and refurbished by locals and surrounding students. There are multiple locations in Concord where Caesar and his legacy can be found. Caesar's Wood and Peter's Field are two places nearing The Robbins House. Other significant places lying among The Robbins House are Brister Hill, named after Brister Freeman, and even Walden Woods, a famous landmark. The Robbins House is woven among some of Concord's most important history.