1. Jane Robinson and her descendants, a 150 year journey
Presented by Ellen Wicker
Compiled & researched by Samantha Jones (2x great granddau. of Jane Robinson) and Terry Powell (3x great grandson of Jane Robinson). 1

2. Snapshot from Daniel Robinson’s death record.
Who is Jane Robinson?
Descendants of Jane found her name listed as the mother on one ancestors’ death record; we also found her on the 1870 census in Tishomingo, MS.
Snapshot from Daniel Robinson’s death record.
Neither Jane nor her children can be found by name on the 1850 and 1860 census records. Descendants of former enslaved ancestors are aware that this means the ancestors in question were likely enslaved.

3. Jane Robinson and her children in 1870
A closer look at the 1870 census revealed that Jane and her children resided with a Caucasian family in Tishomingo, MS in 1870.
Line Name
Nancy McDougal
Margaret McDougal
George Martin
Bailer Robertson
Melia Robertson
Jane Robertson
Dosh Robertson
Hannah Robertson
Further research shows that Nancy McDougal‘s maiden name was Vawter. She is the daughter of John Vawter & Rhoda McGuire.
Neither Nancy nor her husband owned slaves in 1850 or 1860.

4. Jane Robinson, her children’s descendants, and DNA testing…
Extensive research shows that she had 4 children in all. She possibly had a 5th child as well (Louis Robinson) though he may be a sibling or other relation to Jane rather than her child. On all the lines that have living descendants, a handfull of descendants have taken ancestry DNA tests. The tested descendants share DNA with one another in amounts depicting descendancy from Jane. Descendants of Louis appear slightly more distant.
Jane Robinson
Dan Robinson
(wife Polly Reed)
Bailer Robinson
(wife Amelia Smith)
Theodocia/Docia Robinson
(no known husband/kids)
Hannah ‘Tishie’ Robinson
(hus: Daniel Morrison)
Louis Robinson
(wife Willie Burgess)
Tested descendants:
Grandchild:
1. Annie Sykes
Great grands:
2. Gary Wicks
3. Rod Robinson
4. Bryant Holloway
2x greats or below:
5. India Holloway
6. Derrick Mitchell
Tested descendants:
Grandchild:
1. Anezia Duke
Great grands:
2. Dwayne Merriweather
3. Jimmy Cole
4. Eloise Cole
5. Effie Johnson
2x greats or below:
6. Tammi Johnson
7. Felicia Crump
8. Felicia’s Crump’s son
Tested descendants:
Grandchild:
Leonard Morrison
Diane Brasher
Great grands:
3. Samantha Jones
4. Daisy Morrison
5. Sammie Morrison
6. Bravies Morrison
7. Gary Morrison
8. Bobby Powell
2x greats or below:
20 total 2x greats/below
Tested descendants:
Great grand:
1. Linda Pickens
2x great grand:
2. Thurman Anderson Jr.

5. The ancestry & history of two of Jane Robinson’s children…
Family lore is that Bailer Robinson & Tishie Robinson were mixed race and Bailer was routinely mistaken for Caucasian. Photo evidence supports that....
Hannah (Tishie) Robinson-Morrison b. abt. 1860
Bailer Robinson pictured in a Tishomingo school/family photo in The man on the bottom right became his son-in-law.
Bailer Robinson
b. abt to 1855

6. The ancestry & history of two of Jane Robinson’s children…
Tishie Robinson likely passed away prior to death records being recorded. However, Bailer‘s death record lists his father as Will Robinson.

7. The ancestry & history of two of Jane Robinson’s children…
Triangulation of in-common cousin matches to Bailer’s descendants & Tishie’s descendants show an extremely high amount of Caucasian cousin matches who descend from Robinson, Rhea, Vawter, and McGuire ancestors.
In common cousin matches who share the most DNA with descendants of Jane are direct descendants of Joseph Ray Robinson and wife Cynthia Vawter.
Cynthia & Joseph were a married couple who resided in Tishomingo and owned slaves that matched the ages of Jane and her children. This couple also had a son named William Anderson Robinson.

8. The ancestry & history of two of Jane Robinson’s children…
1850 & 1860 Slave schedules for Joseph Ray Robinson show he owned slaves matching the gender and ages of Jane and her children.

9. The ancestry & history of two of Jane Robinson’s children…
The Southern claim record for Cynthia Vawter-Robinson shows that she called witnesses Dan Robinson and Jane Robinson (both ‘colored’) in her claim to recover money from the federal government on items taken by Union troops during the civil war.

10. Robinson/Vawter connection…
Cynthia & Nancy are daughters of John Vawter & Rhoda McGuire. Their marriage records show that Cynthia married Joseph Robinson and Nancy married John McDougal.
Bailer, his wife, his mother, and sisters resided with Nancy McDougal on the 1870 census. Cynthia‘s son, William, was the nephew of Nancy McDougal. Evidence shows that Bailer and at least one of his sisters are grand nephew & niece to Nancy McDougal.

11. Vawter ancestry of Willliam A. Robinson…
We researched William‘s family lines to identify several ancestors and couples:

12. Robinson ancestry of Willliam A. Robinson…
We did the same with his Robinson ancestors:

13. Extensive DNA evidence...
DNA connections to direct descendants of William Anderson Robinson
Matches who share the most DNA are:
Descendants of sibs Bailer and Tishie to descendants of William A. Robinson & wife Cansada
Relation to William & Cansada
Name of child (of William/Cansada)
Descendant Name
# of Bailer/Tishie descendant/matches
Range of cMs* of DNA shared
Great grandson
Ida May Robinson-Cole
Sam Cole Jr. 19
25 to 220 cMs
2x great grand
William W. Robinson
Ron Sledge
19 to 155 cMs
Joseph P. Robinson
Christy Martin 10
35 to 124 cMs
Rosa 'Raussie‘ Robinson-Arnold
Manda Freeman 7
12 to 90 cMs
3x great grand
Mary Rorie 6
21 to 120 cMs
*cMs = centimorgans – a unit of DNA measurement. (kinship sharing examples below)
Parent/children share 3500 cMs
Full 2nd cousins share range of 46 cMs to 515 cMs
1st cousins share range of 553 cMs to 1225 cMs
Half 2nd cousins share range of 9 cMs to 397 cMs

14. # of descendant matches to Tishie and/or Bailer’s descendants
Further DNA evidence...
There are also DNA connections (between Bailer/Tishie descendants) to direct descendants of the:
Siblings of William A. Robinson
Siblings of William A. Robinson’s parents
Siblings of the grandparents & great grands, etc. of William A. Robinson
Descendants of:
# of descendant matches to Tishie and/or Bailer’s descendants
William A. Robinson siblings 9
Cynthia Vawter’s siblings 15
Cynthia Vawter’s father’s siblings 6
Cynthia Vawter’s mother’s siblings 1
Double kin (Cynthia's father's brother wed Cynthia's mother's sister) 7
Cynthia Vawter’s grand & great grand’s siblings 18
Double kin (2 of Cynthia’s sibs wed 2 of Joseph’s sibs) 14
Joseph Ray Robinson’s siblings
Joseph Ray Robinson’s father’s siblings 3
Joseph Ray Robinson’s mother’s siblings 2
Joseph Ray Robinson’s grand & great grand’s siblings 16 98

15. Overwhelming DNA proof...
Over 100 descendants from almost all of William A. Robinson’s lines have been identified and are DNA matches to descendants of siblings: Bailer & Tishie.
There are many more in-common matches that have yet to be identified due to lack of a family tree linked to their results.
Hannah (Tishie) Robinson-Morrison b. abt. 1860
William A. Robinson
b. abt. 1828
Bailer Robinson
b. abt to 1855

16. Descendants meet...
Charlotte: (descendant of James Robinson and Mourning Vawter)
Daisy, Samantha+kids: (descendants of Tishie Robinson)
Charlotte & Samantha connected through the DNA testing!
Anezia (granddau. of Bailer Robinson) and Fred (descendant of Allegany Vawter & Mary Robinson)
Samantha (descendant of Tishie Robinson) and Ellen (descendant of Allegany Vawter & Mary Robinson)

17. Meet more of Jane’s descendants...
Terry Powell & Samantha Jones:
connected in 2011 and collaborated on research.
combined genealogy research w/ DNA testing in 2013
Traditional genealogy research combined with ancestry DNA testing is known as Genetic Genealogy.
Powell cousins 1976 in Chicago (descend from Tishie Robinson) began researching our family in the 1970’s

18. Meet more of Jane’s descendants...
Wendell Carter Jr. (pro basketball)
NBA 2018 draft: Chicago Bulls (Round: 1 / Pick: 7)
Current team: Chicago Bulls (#1 / Center)
2x Gold Medalist for FIBA
2016 Georgia class AA state Championship
Sonequa Martin-Green (actress)
Current show: Star Trek Discovery (lead role)
Past shows: The Walking Dead, Once Upon A Time, The Good Wife, Law & Order Criminal Intent

19. Meet more of Jane’s descendants...
Eric Powell
In 2008 won Senate seat of 4th District in the Mississippi State Legislature, was the first African- American elected to the Senate from a predominantly white district in Mississippi
(descendant of Tishie Robinson)
Sammie D. Morrison
Deputy Chief of Police (20 yrs)
Metropolitan Washington DC
Director of Finance Revenue and Personnel
(descendant of Tishie Robinson)
Donald Ray Thomas
Elected Constable of Tishomingo County South in 2015
(descendant of Tishie Robinson)

20. Bailer Robinson accomplishment...
Research on Bailer uncovered a patent that he filed in 1878

21. Conclusion...
The descendants of siblings Bailer and Tishie are ecstatic to have an expanded family tree on the discovery of William Robinson as an ancestor.
However, we also hope to find more information on Jane Robinson,was she brought into the marriage by Cynthia Vawter? Who are Jane’s parents? Does a photo exist of Jane? Did she possibly have Vawter ancestry as well?
We also hope to connect with more Vawter cousins!
Photo of Joseph Ray Robinson & Cynthia Vawter’s home in Iuka, MS in 1861.

22. Conclusion... Questions?