Month: November 2015

The Young Man

Archibald Thomas Robertson was born to John and Ella Robertson on November 6^th, 1863 in Chatham, Virginia.[1] He would only spend twelve years of his childhood there, but having a deep sense of place would always consider himself a “Virginian.”[2] His family was as one might expect for the antebellum South. Like most rural families at the time the Robertson’s operated a plantation and their way of life was dependent upon such business. However, as Robertson was coming of age he saw the transition of the South right before his eyes. Recalling the state of the South after Emancipation Robertson lamented, “As I came to notice life about me I found myself in a home of beauty and sadness. My earliest memories of my Father are associated with financial struggle.”[3] Many of the slaves would go on their way and who could…