This is a last-ditch effort on my part. We have no idea where our James
Robinson, who is called "James
Robertson" on official documents, came from. On his grave in the old Piscataway burial grounds in
Edison,
New Jersey (now St. James Episcopal Church Cemetery) it states that he was born in 1744 and died in 1825.
He was married to
Catharine Provoost/Provost, the daughter of Jonathan
Provost of the influential
New York City
Provost family; and Adrianna
Springsteen.
Catherine was born circa 1750 and died in 1831 in Piscataway,
New Jersey. She is buried in the same cemetery as James.
Their children were James, Jonathan, Peter Praa, Aletta, Margaret, Sarah, Joel and Maria.
James was listed as a shipbuilder in colonial
New York City directories and may have also been a merchant. His sons were tobacco merchants.
They belonged to the
Dutch Reformed Church.
James and Catherine lived on George's Road in New
Brunswick, Middlesex,
New Jersey before the Revolution and in
New York City afterward until 1815 when they retired to Piscataway,
New Jersey.
***If you have a mystery James
Robinson or
Robertson (or a variant on these names) in your tree of whom nothing is known, who was born between 1735-1755, will you please let me know!
He could have come from anywhere, but in order to have married into the Provoost family, one would think that a fine pedigree would have been required.