Robinson, Peyton, 1826-1885

Peyton Robinson grew up as a slave and later served as justice of the peace in Mississippi during the Reconstruction era.

Born a slave in Cumberland, Virginia, in 1826, Robinson came to Mississippi—likely sold—before or around the early 1850s. He was owned by Judge George T. Swann, a notable Mississippi attorney and politician, in Jackson. After Robinson was emancipated, following the Civil War, he became a leading figure in the Mississippi African American community, in part due to his ability to read and write. By 1870 he was appointed justice of the peace in Jackson, a position he held for several years.

Robinson died of pneumonia in February 1885. He was married to a woman named Elizabeth (last name not known), and had at least one child. He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Jackson, Mississippi.

(Registers of Signatures of Depositers in Branches of the Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company, 1865-1875, RG 566522, Record Group 101, National Archives; 1880 U.S. Census for Jackson, Mississippi, Roll 648, page 49b; British and American Claims, Vol. XIX, 22-24; The Clarion-Ledger, Jackson, MS, November 19, 1874)

Peyton Robinson belonged to the following social groups: