Roberson-Pool House before restoration Click image to enlarge and open photo viewer |
Roberson-Pool House after restoration |
The house at 211 Turner Street was built between 1880 and 1885.
Since the western side of the 200 block belonged to the Roberson family, except for the Jacob Gibble House on lot 103 (217 Turner Street), and only one deed of sale has been found (for the southern portion of lot 93), it stands to reason that Joseph Pigott Roberson, the carpenter, built the house, the lot perhaps willed to Joseph and his sister Cinderella Pigott Roberson Pool. Nephew Russell Manson was head of household in 1930. Therefore, the home was owned by descendants of the Roberson family for at least fifty years, the lot for perhaps 80 years.
Since the western side of the 200 block belonged to the Roberson family, except for the Jacob Gibble House on lot 103 (217 Turner Street), and only one deed of sale has been found (for the southern portion of lot 93), it stands to reason that Joseph Pigott Roberson, the carpenter, built the house, the lot perhaps willed to Joseph and his sister Cinderella Pigott Roberson Pool. Nephew Russell Manson was head of household in 1930. Therefore, the home was owned by descendants of the Roberson family for at least fifty years, the lot for perhaps 80 years.
ROBERSON FAMILY
Malachi
Bell Roberson, son of Joseph Roberson and Sarah Bell, was born January 1, 1802 in North Carolina,
and died February 14, 1855. On January 20, 1827 Malachi married Sarah Ann Pigott (c.1800‒1878),
daughter of Jechonias Pigott (1774‒1856) and Cinderella Chadwick
(1782‒1818). This was Sarah Ann Pigott’s second marriage; her first was
to Elijah Bell in 1818. (Malachi Roberson’s headstone in the Old Burying Ground
is inscribed Malachi Robinson.) Malachi Roberson 1802-1855 Old Burying Ground |
1. Eliza Roberson was born about 1828.
2. Joseph Pigott Roberson, born in 1829, married Mary Ann Walker in 1854.
3. Sarah A. Roberson (1832‒1885) married William Charles King.
4. Henrietta Roberson was born in 1835.
5. Mary Roberson was born in 1836.
6. Minerva Roberson was born about 1838; she married William Vernon Geffroy – their son Malachi
Old Burying Ground |
7. Susan Pigott Roberson (1842‒1916) married Levi Clark Howland.
8. Cinderella Pigott Roberson (1844‒1888) married James Harrell Pool in 1866; both were buried in the Old Burying Ground.
Born about1830 and died after 1900
- Joseph Pigott Roberson married Mary Ann Walker on November 17, 1854.
- 1860 census: Malachi’s son “mechanic” (carpenter) Joseph 30, wife Mary 21 and 2-year-old son Claudius were on Front Street near G.W. Taylor’s “Ocean House” hotel.
- 1880 census: Joseph was living near the corner of Turner Street and Ann with wife Mary A. and children, Claudius V. 22, Robert R. 19, Margaret E. 13 and Mary 5.
- 1900 census: (200 block of Turner) widower Joseph 70, with daughters Mamie 25 and Maggie 30 with husband Richard Felton and their four children.
Born in 1844 and died December 11, 1888
- Cinderella married Lieutenant James Harrell Pool (1843‒1879) on April 4, 1866; they had been friends since childhood, when James' parents, Stephen Decatur Pool and Caroline Lockwood came to Beaufort to teach at Roberson's home/school.
- Cinderella and James Pool had three daughters and four sons: Sallie C. 1867, Jane 1871, Stephen D. 1873, Susan H. 1875, James M. 1878, and twins David S. and William V. born 1880.
- Cinderella and Lieut. James H. Pool were buried in Old Burying Ground.
- 1880 Federal Mortality Schedule recorded Nov 1879 as death date for J.H. Pool.
- J.H. Pool has a CSA marker in the Old Burying Ground which is now partially submerged, reported to show 1877 as year of death.
POOL FAMILY
Stephen
Decatur Pool was born 23 March 1819 in Pasquotank County to Joshua A.
Pool
and Ann (Nancy) Lowry and died December 21, 1901, buried Osyka, Pike
County, Mississippi. He married Caroline Sydney Lockwood in 1842. James Harrell Pool 1843-1879 |
- 1850: S.D. Pool was a teacher in Pasquotank County, with wife Caroline and five children.
- 1860 Beaufort Census: S.D. Pool 41, a teacher at a female seminary.
- 1870: S.D. Pool was editor of newspaper in New Bern with wife Caroline and seven children.1872 principal of Male and Female Academy in Elizabeth City, Pasquotank County.
- Son James Harrell
Pool and Cinderella P. Roberson Pool’s daughter Jane Pigott Pool (1872-1951) married
James Pool Clawson (1900‒1980), son of Charles Alfred Clawson Jr.___________________________
Lots, Maps & Sally Roberson's Will
1816 Jonathan Price Map |
Carteret County Commissioners to Joseph Borden (1769-1825), son of Quaker William Borden (William Borden House at 305 Front Street).
Joseph Borden was husband of Esther Wallace Easton, widow of Capt. John Easton.
In 1823, Borden willed the lot to his daughter Mary Borden. At some point, Malachi Bell Roberson purchased this and other properties in this block.
In her 1878 Will, Sarah Ann "Sally" Roberson, widow of Malachi Roberson, left three of four lots on the west side of this block to her children; lot 93 Old Town was left to son Joseph Pigott Roberson and daughter Cinderella Pigott Roberson Pool.
My son Joseph and son-in-law William V. Geffroy executors
Witnessed: Belcher Fuller, Lewis Forlaw
Sally Roberson (seal)
Gray's 1880 Map of Beaufort |
- Lot 73: northwest corner of Ann and Turner
- Lot 82: Seminary building on east side of Turner.
- Lot 83: behind lot 73, between lot 73 and 93 on Turner.
- Thus…Sally Pigott Roberson owned all of the west side of 200 block except lot 103 (Gibble-Delamar House).
- “Roberson” began to be referred to as “Robinson.” I.E., Gray’s 1880 Map noting “Miss Robinson” (Sally Roberson deceased, so someone may have given Chase (drafted map) that ID because she had owned it for so long.
1997 Ruth Little Survey description of house at 211 Turner Street: Gothic Revival house with three projecting gabled wall dormers, 2 interior brick chimneys and 6/6 sash. The porch projects around the central dormer and has chamfered posts and traditional railing. Not on Gray's 1880 map but appears on 1885 Sanborn map.
1885 Sanborn Map |
1893 Sanborn |
1898 Sanborn |
1904 Sanborn |
1913 Sanborn |
1913 Close-up |
Censuses:
Until 1930‒40, it is difficult to tell exactly who lived where; census takers did not designate house numbers and may have also zig-zagged from east to west sides.1870: Roberson family was in the general area of 200 block of Turner
- Widow Sally Roberson 70 (Malachi died 1855), with Elvira, Henrietta and Mary - possibly on northwest corner of Ann and Turner streets.
- Nearby William Geffroy, wife Minerva (Roberson), Malachi and Willie.
- Also nearby Jacob Gibble family and Dr. Benjamin Davis family.
- Widow Cinderella Roberson Pool, 36, on Ann (perhaps home of her mother Sally on corner of Ann/Turner) with seven small children (husband Lt. James H. Pool died 1877‒79).
- Joseph Roberson near corner of Turner and Ann with wife Mary A. and children: Claudius V. 22, Robert R. 19, Margaret E. 13 and Mary 5.
Residents in order taken by census taker (if actually side by side), Joseph's son Claudius Roberson would be in 211 Turner Street, next to Jacob Gibble:
- James S. Caffrey
- Widower Joseph Roberson carpenter 70, born Nov 1829, with daughters Mamie 25, and Maggie 30, with husband Richard Felton and their four children: Susie born Oct. 1884, Maggie born Dec. 1893, Claudius born Aug. 1898 and Mary born Nov. 1899.
- Claudius Roberson born April 1858, dry goods merchant 42, with wife Sarah and nephew Russell Manson born Aug 1887.
- Jacob Gibble born May 1835, with wife Julia, daughter Helen and two servants.
Russell Manson 43 dry goods merchant, evidently inherited the house or became the male head of household. In the household: Aunt Sarah Roberson 65 (Sarah Ireland, daughter of David Ireland and Mary Frances Davis, 1864‒1936), Aunt Carrie R. Ireland 61 and Mamie Roberson 55 (Russell Manson, born 1886, was the son of Edward Manson and Mary J. Ireland.)
1940: 211 Turner was rented by Martin L. Willis and family - book keeper for sales and service automobile company
Of Note:
When "Sally" Roberson died in 1878, she was living at the NW corner of Ann and Turner Streets. Part of her Will referred to "the Seminary building" across Turner Street. In 1908, the Roberson home burned and took the life of Henrietta Roberson (see NOTE below). After the fire, Winfield Scott Chadwick purchased the property and built a Queen Anne-Colonial Revival house about 1910 (now 315 Ann).
NOTE: On April 10, 1908, a few days before the Robert E. Lee Fire Company was 11 months old, the call of “Fire!” at three o’clock in the morning brought the company to what the old “Lookout” described as “the most horrible fire in Beaufort’s history—the Roberson house on the northwest corner of Ann and Turner street in which 72-year-old Miss Henrietta Roberson was burned to death. Quoting further from the old Lookout, “The Robert E. Lee Fire Company and the Colored Fire Department arrived on the scene in short order. The new fire engine was connected to the fire plug on the corner, but as the water did not come promptly, the engine was taken to the waterfront at the end of Turner Street, and the hose thrown overboard.”
Ruins of Roberson home. |