Francis “Frank” Robinson (a.k.a. Roberson) was born to unknown parents about 1776, probably in Frederick County, Virginia. His mother, clearly, was enslaved because he was born into this institution. His last enslaver was James Wood, an immigrant from Winchester, England, who obtained a large grant of land in the Northern Neck of Virginia from Thomas Lord Fairfax.

On Tuesday, Jan. 6, 1880, the Indianapolis Journal, published 4,500-word essay on prominent Black citizens living in the Circle City. Almost all of them have something in common with Robert Jefferson. For example, this first sketch tells us that Robert's friend and employer, Dr. W.C. Thompson, and Thompson's partner, Dr. J.A. Woodburn, helped Samuel A. Elbert become a medical doctor.

For about three years, I've had somewhat of a love affair with a man who has been dead nearly 140 years. And yes, my husband knows all about it. In fact, he has encouraged this relationship from the start. Robert Jefferson and I met when I first became involved with Historic Eleutherian College Inc., a nonprofit in Madison, Indiana, whose purpose is the preservation of a three-story stone building on a hill in nearby Lancaster. Built in the mid-1850s, the building consisted