Robinson Genealogy

Nadene Goldfoot                                                  

The Big Y DNA test at FTDNA showed that our Robinson line had an Irish origin, belonging to the Fitzpatrick clan.  Robinson means 'the son of Robert."  Variants of the Irish Robinson has been Robison, Robbins, Robyn, Robson, Robeson, and just plain Robin.  It's been found to be of Anglo-Norman descent and spread not only to Ireland but also Scotland and Wales in early times and found in many mediaeval manuscripts in these countries.  The DNA test shows we have many distant Irish cousins.  Our grandfather had told us the family (which one-his father Robinson or mother's side of Tuller had come from Wales.) It's what he remembered as he had run away from home when about 16. 

Osraige or Osraighe, Osraí, anglicized as Ossory, was a medieval Irish kingdom comprising what is now County Kilkenny and western County Laois, corresponding to the Diocese of Ossory. The home of the Osraige people, it existed from around the first century until the Norman invasion of Ireland in the 12th century.  This could be the origins of my mother's Robinsons.  

Ossory,  an ancient kingdom of Ireland,   won for itself a semi-independent position as a state within the kingdom of Leinster, probably in the 1st century AD. In the 9th century it was ruled by an able king, Cerball, who allied himself with the Norse invaders and figured in later centuries as an ancestor of some important families in Iceland. When surnames were introduced, the dynasts descended from him in Ireland were known as Mac Gillápadraig, a name transformed under Norman influence into Fitzpatrick. In the 11th century they contended for the kingship of Leinster but were soon overwhelmed by the south Leinster family of MacMurrough.

Legend records that the Fitzpatrick clan descended from Milesius, King of Spain.  Milesius planned to go to Ireland, but died before he could make it.   Scota, wife of Milesius, and their three sons did make it Ireland.  Eireamhon, son of Miesius and Scota, is thought to be the ancestor for the Fitzpatrick family.                      

Milesius, in his youth and in his father's life-time, went into Scythia, where he was kindly received by the king of that country, who gave him his daughter in marriage, and appointed him General of his forces. In this capacity Milesius defeated the king's enemies, gained much fame, and the love of all the king's subjects. His growing greatness and popularity excited against him the jealousy of the king; who, fearing the worst, resolved on privately dispatching Milesius our of the way, for, openly, he dare not attempt it. 

Admonished of the king's intentions in his regard, Milesius slew him; and thereupon quitted Scythia and retired into Egypt with a fleet of sixty sail. Pharaoh Nectonibus, then king of Egypt, being informed of his arrival and of his great valour, wisdom, and conduct in arms, made him General of all his forces against the king of Ethiopia then invading his country. (Pharaoh Nectonibus was born on date, at birth place, to Sobekemsaf II Sekhemrewadjkhaw Of Thebes,Egypt 1566 Bc-1559 Bc 7 Years 17 Dynasty and Living 17 Dynasty. Sobekemsaf was born on 1685 B.C..

Here, as in Scythia, Milesius was victorious; he forced the enemy to submit to the conqueror's own terms of peace. By these exploits Milesius found great favour with Pharaoh, who gave him, being then a widower, his daughter Scota in marriage; and kept him eight years afterwards in Egypt. 

During the sojourn of Milesius in Egypt, he employed the most ingenious and able persons among his people to be instructed in the several trades, arts, and sciences used in Egypt; in order to have them taught to the rest of his people on his return to Spain. 

At length Milesius took leave of his father-in-law, and steered towards Spain; where he arrived to the great joy and comfort of his people; who were much harassed by the rebellion of the natives and by the intrusion of other foreign nations that forced in after his father's death, and during his own long absence from Spain. With these and those he often met; and, in fifty-four battles, victoriously fought, he routed, destroyed, and totally extirpated them out of the country, which he settled in peace and quietness. So according to this legend, Ireland was connected to Spain and before that to Egypt and before that to Scythia.  

I have always  thought of England's Sherwood forest and Robin Hood as the origin of this surname.   

All the possible Robinson men within New England at the time of Abiathar Smith Robinson (Frank's father) seemed to come from Massachusetts and when their genealogy was checked, originated in England.  Most went back to a John in the 1600s in England.  What happened to a distant Robert?  One traced back to a Robert born 1465 in Redriff, Surrey, England!   

Evidently the Irish Robinsons moved on and migrated to England.  Ireland during the period of 1536–1691 saw the first full conquest of the island by England and its colonization with mostly Protestant settlers from Great Britain. This would eventually establish two central themes in future Irish history: subordination of the country to London-based governments and sectarian animosity between Catholics and Protestants.

 "The period saw Irish society outside of the Pale transform from a locally driven, intertribal, clan-based Gaelic structure to a centralised, monarchical, state-governed society, similar to those found elsewhere in Europe. The period is bounded by the dates 1536, when King Henry VIII deposed the FitzGerald dynasty as Lords Deputies of Ireland (the new Kingdom of Ireland was declared by Henry VIII in 1541), and 1691, when the Catholic Jacobites surrendered at Limerick, thus confirming Protestant dominance in Ireland. This is sometimes called the early modern period."

• Western Scotland and Northern Ireland share genetic populations.
• Groups that we think of as ‘Celtic’ – Cornish, Welsh, Irish and Scottish – are genetically diverse.
• Grandpa Robinson had said that his ancestors were from Wales.  DNA says we are connected to the Fitzpatricks of Ireland.  
• The languages of Wales and Ireland belong to the same family; they are both classed as living Celtic languages, along with Breton and Scottish Gaelic. In Wales and Ireland, it's normal for schoolchildren to be taught their native language as part of the curriculum. Figures from Ireland’s 2016 Census show that 1.7 per cent of the population speak Irish Gaelic every day. In Wales, it’s 16.3 per cent of the population speaking Welsh every day. While both languages originate from the same source, the written and spoken forms are different. A Welsh speaker would find it hard to understand Irish Gaelic. The alphabets are slightly different too - the Irish alphabet uses 18 letters, while the Welsh alphabet has 29.  According to historical records, St Patrick could have been Welsh; as he was born into a Christian family and  at the time, Wales as it is now didn't exist; it was part of the land that made up Roman Britain. Records show that St Patrick was born back in AD 387 in a place called Bannavem Taburniae, which some people believe to be Banwen in Neath Port Talbot. and he lived in a villa. He went to school until he was abducted as a teenager and forced into slavery in Ireland, working as a shepherd. He eventually escaped and sailed home, where he trained as a missionary at the Church of Llantwit Major, South Wales, and became a priest before going back to Ireland as its first bishop. Whether this actually happened is unproven, but it's an interesting and romantic story to say the least, and one that binds Wales and Ireland together.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Ireland_(1536%E2%80%931691)

https://www.irishsurnames.com/cgi-bin/gallery.pl?name=robinson&capname=Robinson&letter=r

http://www.oum.ox.ac.uk/settlers/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scythia

• Add-on 7/7/2023:  
• https://www.wales.com/about/culture/links-between-wales-and-ireland#:~:text=Linguistic%20links,as%20part%20of%20the%20curriculum.

# posted by Nadene Goldfoot @ 2:34 AM