William Lavaille Robinson was born on Valentine’s Day 1845 to Thomas L. Robinson, a physician, and Martha Anne Isbell. The family appears to have resided in Cumberland and Chesterfield Counties for generations. William pursued medicine as well and in the fall of 1862 he entered the University of Virginia’s medical program. With the outbreak of war, however, he enlisted as a private in Company G of the Third Virginia cavalry. Though he engaged in several major battles, he was never wounded. During the battle at Stevensburg, a shell struck so close that it whipped his hat off his head, cut his bridle rein in two, and left his blanket riddled with holes. In May of 1864, his horse was shot out from under him, and he was captured.
William was held prisoner at Point Lookout for three months until a plan was formed to break out. The plan failed, and he was subsequently moved to Elmira, New York where he was held for seven months. Eventually he succeeded in escaping, having bribed a guard with a pail of tobacco which he had received from Virginia. In receipt of the tobacco, the guard was to put his name in among those being considered for parole (a consideration, due to short supplies, made for those soldiers who were either wounded or who resided in neutral states). Private Robinson put his arm in a sling and was thereby examined and found qualified for release. He returned to Richmond in time to surrender at Appomattox.
With the war at an end, William Lavaille Robinson returned to medical school and graduated from the University of Virginia in 1867. Soon after, he arrived in Danville to set up practice. It appears he had family here as in the 1870 census he was residing in the Danville home of another William Robinson, a prosperous merchant. In 1872, William Lavaille Robinson married the daughter of the other William Robinson, a young lady named Juliet L. Robinson.
In 1874, Juliet’s father transferred a lot of land on Main Street to his daughter “in consideration of the love and affection which the said William Robinson hath and beareth for his daughter”, this being “the same lot of land conveyed to William Robinson by William T. Sutherlin” just six months prior. Juliet and her husband, William Lavaille Robinson, built a house on that land soon thereafter, now known as 753 Main Street, where he set up practice and they raised their family. There were five children: Julian McGruder, Louisa, Marie Louise, India Mabel, and William Leonard.
Dr. Robinson held many honors in his profession, including stints as president of the Danville Board of Health and president of the Medical Society of Virginia. He was widely known and continued to add to his initial education by taking post-graduate courses at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Baltimore and in New York, becoming a specialist in surgery and in gynecology.
In 1895, Juliet passed away, leaving behind nine-year-old India Mabel and four-year-old William Leonard. Dr. Robinson survived his wife by nearly twenty years, but he began to suffer from a heart ailment in 1911, which took his life in March of 1914. He was 69.
After William’s death, the house passed to the couple’s children. It was son Julian who took over the home and the practice. Julian studied medicine at the Medical College of Virginia and completed his internships in New York City. He married Bessie Holland, daughter of Christopher Grant Holland and Mary Catherine Holland in 1904. Julian practiced medicine out of the Main Street house for 45 years before succumbing in 1948 to heart disease, as his father had done before him.
After Dr. Julian Robinson’s death, his wife Bessie rented the medical office space for a time to Dr. Allen L. Byrd. She remained in the house until 1951 when the home was sold to James W. Jennings who rented out the office spaces to medical practitioners including Dr. Clifford G. Gaddy. By 1960, other professionals were using the space, including a beauty salon. In 1963 the building officially became the Professional Building of Danville and became the home of architects and engineers, Calvert, Lewis & Smith. Big Brothers of Danville had a home here in 1976. It is presently the location of AB Counseling Services and several other businesses.
The elder William Robinson, Juliet’s father, was born in Charlton, England on the 29th of December 1816. It’s unclear when exactly he immigrated to the United States, but we know he was in Virginia by 1840 when he married his first wife, Amanda Bowles, in Chesterfield County. Together, the couple had five children: George Edward, William Pleasant, James Thomas, Mary Edmonia, and Amanda. In May of 1846, 17 month old James died, followed three weeks later by George who was just five. Mrs. Robinson passed away in 1850, possibly as a result of childbed fever as infant Amanda died around the same time. In 1853, Mr. Robinson remarried. His second wife, Indiana McGruder, was also from Chesterfield, Virginia. The couple had two children, Juliet Louise and Victor who died in infancy. As one of two surviving children for William (and the only daughter) and the only child of India, as she was called. Juliet was adored, thus the gift of land that is now 753 Main Street.
Sources:
Census and Vital records found at Familysearch.org
Images and vital information, including biographical sketches found at FindaGrave.com
Death notices and other information found in the Danville Register, Danville Bee and other newspaper archives at Newspapers.com and GenealogyBank.com
Confederate Military History, Vol 3, 1899 found at WikiSource
Census, Directory, Newspaper, and other information compiled by Paul Liepe
