William Robinson and M. Emmet Robinson Papers

1844-1891
Manuscript Collection #1481
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Creator(s)
Robinson, William; Robinson, Marius Emmet
Physical description
1.0 Cubic Feet, 1 document case, 1 flat box, 1 oversize folder, including correspondence, account books, speeches, pamphlets, receipts, legal papers, and publications
Preferred Citation
William Robinson and M. Emmet Robinson Papers (#1481), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA
Repository
ECU Manuscript Collection
Access
The collection is open for research.

Material (1844-1891) including correspondence, account books, speeches, pamphlets, receipts, legal papers, and publications concerning William Robinson (an Irish immigrant) who was a newspaper publisher, town commissioner and mayor of Goldsboro, Wayne County, North Carolina, and his son Dr. Marius Emmet Robinson who practiced in Goldsboro, operated a drugstore with his brother, and was the first chief of staff of Goldsboro's first hospital.

Biographical/historical information

William Robinson was born on June 12, 1816, in Drumalegaun, County Galway, Ireland (other sources say he was a native of Londonderry County, Ireland). He is supposed to have graduated from Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. William and his first wife Mary Duff (1816-1845) were married in 1832 and they immigrated first to Canada (prior to 1835) where their first son William George Robinson was born. They relocated to North Carolina in 1839 to Stantonsburg in Edgecombe County where Mary died in 1845 after bearing three more sons: James Henry, Windal Thompson, and John B. Robinson. He lived for a time in White Hall (now Seven Springs) in Wayne County and then settled in Goldsboro, Wayne County, N.C. William Robinson married his second wife Elizabeth A. "Eliza" Davis (1819-1886) of Lenoir County, N.C., by 1846 and they had sons Marius Emmet, James D., Frank P., and Thomas Ruffin Robinson. William Robinson died on September 6, 1877, in Goldsboro and is buried in Willow Dale Cemetery.

In 1847, William Robinson's older brother John emigrated from Ireland and settled in Seven Springs. For awhile the two brothers ran a school there which soon moved to Goldsboro where it flourished as the Goldsboro Female Academy. Besides being a teacher, William was also a merchant, a lawyer, and a newspaper editor. He edited Goldsboro's first newspaper: the Goldsboro Patriot beginning in 1849.In 1860, William edited the Daily Rough Notes (the first daily in Goldsboro). He also edited the oldest weekly paper in Goldsboro--the New Era. William Robinson was elected town commissioner in 1848, and as mayor of Goldsboro in 1870.

Marius Emmet Robinson was born on July 27, 1847, in Goldsboro, North Carolina. He served in the Reserves during the Civil War and then attended Washington University in Baltimore, Maryland, and graduated in 1870. He set up his medical practice in Goldsboro and operated the M. E. Robinson and Bros. Drug Store with his brother Thomas R. Robinson. Marius Emmet Robinson was the first chief of staff in Goldsboro's first hospital when it opened in 1896. He married Susan "Sudie" Green Kirby of Goldsboro on December 30, 1891. They had one son Marius Emmet Robinson, Jr. Dr. Marius Emmet Robinson, Sr. died on March 23, 1918, in Goldsboro and is buried in Willow Dale Cemetery.

Sources: FamilySearch (accessed Sept. 29, 2025), Find a Grave (accessed Sept. 19, 2025), Bicentennial Series of Articles in the Goldsboro, N.C. News-Argus newspaper

Administrative information
Custodial History

September 30, 2025 (unprocessed), 1 cubic foot; Material (1844-1891) including correspondence, account books, speeches, pamphlets, receipts, legal papers, and publications concerning William Robinson (an Irish immigrant) who was a newspaper publisher, town commissioner and mayor of Goldsboro, Wayne County, North Carolina, and his son Dr. Marius Emmet Robinson who practiced in Goldsboro, operated a drugstore with his brother, and was the first chief of staff of Goldsboro's first hospital. Transferred from Johnston County NC Heritage Center.

Source of acquisition

Transferred from Johnston County NC Heritage Center

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Container list
Box 1 Folder a Correspondence , 1850-1854
Box 1 Folder b Correspondence, 1855
Box 1 Folder c Correspondence, 1856-1860
Box 1 Folder d Correspondence, 1861-1891, undated
Box 1 Folder e Legal Documents [also includes 3 documents concerning the hiring of enslaved persons], 1859-1878, undated
Box 1 Folder f Class and Conduct Reports for a Student at West Point Military Academy [also September 26, 1854 letter], 1854, 1857
Box 1 Folder g Document concerning the Appointment of a Surgeon for 5th Regiment of NC Volunteers, 1861
Box 1 Folder h Documents related to Dr. M. Emmet Robinson's Medical Career, 1868-1890
Box 1 Folder i Talk given to Eastern Medical Association of North Carolina, undated.
Box 1 Folder j Accounts receipts for Dr. M. Emmet Robinson's patients, 1872-1876, 1883
Box 1 Folder k Account book for Dr. M. Emmet Robinson's patients, 1870-1873
Box 1 Folder l Treasurer and Clerk Reports for Accounts of the Town of Goldsboro, North Carolina, 1870-1871
Box 1 Folder m Friends of Temperance: Reports from Goldsboro's Council No. 43; Appointment of District Vice President, 1869-1870
Box 1 Folder n Invitations related to Dr. M. Emmet Robinson, 1871-1886, undated
Box 1 Folder o Obituaries and funeral announcements, ca. 1844-1877
Box 1 Folder p Photographs and negatives
Box 1 Folder q Political Ephemera, 1884, undated
Box 1 Folder r Accounts (1851-1855) relating to building, furnishing, and advertising for Wayne Institute and Normal College. Documents (1864, 1875, 1879) related to other private schools
Box 1 Folder s Summonses, 1848-1867
Box 1 Folder t Promissory Notes, 1845-1873
Box 1 Folder u Receipts (most relate to William Robinson), 1845-1881
Box 1 Folder v Accounts (most relate to William Robinson), 1847-1869
Box 1 Folder w Speech, undated (perhaps 1850s) and author unknown. Delivered to North Carolinians and topic is patriotic and pleads to keep the Union. Massachusetts orator Edward Everett is quoted.
Box 1 Folder x Speech, undated (perhaps 1850s) and author unknown. The speech is being delivered to a Warsaw, Duplin County, North Carolina, audience on the occasion of the dedication of a girls educational institution. Topics are the importance of education, religion, and women.
Box 1 Folder y Speeches by unknown authors and undated. Topics are how bad Reconstruction is, especially in South Carolina; and the importance of using your God-given skills.
Box 2 Folder a Account book belonging to William Robinson containing listing of court dockets (1859-1861) for Lenoir, Duplin, and Wayne Counties, North Carolina, and financial accounts (1858, 1868-1869)
Box 2 Folder b By-laws (1869) for Neuse Lodge, No. 6, Independent Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.), Goldsboro, North Carolina; the 1848 Digest of the Laws of I.O.O.F. owned by the Neuse Lodge, No. 6; and the By-Laws (1883) of Ruffin Lodge, No. 6, Knights of Pythias, Goldsboro, North Carolina
Box 2 Folder c Manual of Subordinate Granges of the Patrons of Husbandry (1873) belonging to Union Grange, No. 199, Jones County, North Carolina; and a homemade booklet containing printed pages written in an unknown code (signature inside says Wm. Murdoch, Salisbury).
Box 2 Folder d Advertising circulars (farming; medicinal); Webb's Tours advertising Booklet; Expositions Advertising , 1872-1885, undated
Box 2 Folder e School cypher pages (1800s), poetry, ticket for passage on Steamer Isabel, and other items
Oversize Folder 1 Oversize Materials: ad for Handbook of the Medical Sciences; The Medical Bulletin (Dec. 1,1868); Waverly Magazine (March 5, 1870); Land Indenture (1865) for land in Wayne County, NC; Wayne County Association of Physicians: Listing of medical fees; Document (1858) making William G. Robinson an honorary member of Dialectic Society at West Point U.S. Military Academy; M. Emmet Robinson's diploma (1870) from Washington University of Baltimore (Medical College), Original Muster and Descriptive Roll of Captain David S. Davis' Company of North Carolina Volunteers known as Davis Partisan Rangers at Kinston, North Carolina, when they were mustered into Confederate States service (July 23, 1862); The Weekly Patriot newspaper of City of Washington (D.C.) on June 22, 1871.