Rev. James Wesley Robinson of Clarksburg, West Virginia, one of the
leading educators and Baptist preachers of the State is a native of
North Carolina. He was born in Montgomery County, N. C., on
September 15, 1870. His father, Anthony Robinson was a farmer and
was the son of Amanda Robinson. The mother of our subject, before
her marriage, was Miss Sarah Woolley, daughter of Frank and Charity
Woolley. Growing up on the Montgomery County farm, young Robinson
attended the local public schools and later the Peabody Institute
at Troy, N. C. Speaking of those early days, he says, "I was left
an orphan at ten years of age and was left entirely to shift for
myself when I was seventeen. The greatest factor in shaping my life
was the repeated expressions of my father before his death, that he
wanted to make a man of me." Mr. Robinson was converted when about
fifteen years of age and joined the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church.
Soon after that he felt called to preach the Gospel, but was not
licensed till 1900. In that year he was licensed by the Olive
Branch Baptist Church of Elizabeth City, N. C., and was by the same
church ordained to the full work of the ministry the following
year. For his college course he attended Shaw University at
Raleigh, where he won his A.B. degree in 1898. In 1907 the same
institution conferred on him the A.B. degree. He also did special
work at Marietta College in Ohio and at Columbia University, New
York City. While at Shaw he began teaching, during his vacations,
in the public schools of his home county and kept that up for
several years, thus making his way in college. After his graduation
from Shaw in 1898, he went to Elizabeth City as Principal of
Roanoke Institute and remained with that institution for three
years. In the meantime a former teacher, Prof. A. W. Pegues of Shaw
had recommended him to the authorities at Clarksburg, W. Va., for
the Principalship of the Colored High School and he remained there
from 1901 to 1909. From 1909 to 1914 he was principal of the school
at St. Albans and pastor of St. Paul Baptist Church of St. Albans,
and the next two years he was principal of Kimball-Tidewater graded
high school at Kimball. From 1915 to 1922 he was principal of the
district high school of North Fork, W. Va. So it will be seen that
altogether he has been teaching for more than twenty-five years. He
was pastor of the Colored Baptist Church at Fairmont, W. Va., while
teaching at Clarksburg he was pastor of the First Baptist church of
Kimball from 1913 to 1922, when he accepted the call of the Baptist
church at Clarksburg. Rev. Robinson is a writer of recognized
ability and is the author of a book known as "Mile Stones in Negro
History." He is Statistical Secretary of the West Virginia Baptist
State Convention.
In politics he is a Republican and has served as member of the
Advisory Council to the State Board of Education. He is prominent
in the work of the secret and benevolent orders, being Past Grand
Master of the Masons, Past Grand Chancellor and Supreme
Representative of the K. P. and a member of the Endowment Board of
the I. O. Red Men.
On June 27, 1900, Mr. Robinson married McClinnie Leigh, daughter
of Isaac and Alice Leigh, of Elizabeth City, N. C. They have four
children, Katherine, Isaac, James and Alice Robinson. Mr.
Robinson's reading takes a rather wide range, including history,
biography, theology, science, mathematics and language.
He has had opportunity to make a rather comprehensive study of
conditions and believes that progress may be promoted through
education, race pride and self consciousness and a better
understanding between the races.
