A Genealogical History of the Robertson Family

Our Robertsons, like typical genealogical works, traces our Robertson ancestors for almost 300 years, going back to our roots in Scotland. However, Reuben went far beyond such usual works and also included long, magnificent biographical profiles of some our significant ancestors: specifically, our paternal great-grandfather Charles Dumbreck Robertson, who emigrated from the Shetland Islands in the 1850s and ended up in Cincinnati, Ohio becoming a prominent lawyer and judge; Charles Dumbreck’s son Reuben Buck Robertson, Sr., our paternal grandfather, who followed his father into law but then was persuaded by his father-in-law Peter Gibson Thomson, the founder of a huge paper making enterprise, to join that company and worked there for most of his professional life and ended up running it; and our father Reuben B. Robertson, Jr., who followed his father into the paper company founded by Peter Thomson and succeeded him as president, taking time off to be the Deputy Secretary of Defense under President Eisenhower. I have included Reuben’s profiles of these men in a website I recently created entitled ThreeReubens.com (https://threereubens.com). ThreeReubens.com is named for the Reuben Buck Robertsons, and it also includes pieces about Peter G. Thomson and longer pieces about our grandfather and father that expand on what Reuben wrote in Our Robertsons. I spent the last four years digging deeply into the backgrounds, careers, and lives of these enormously accomplished and successful men, along with some other relatives. A major inspiration for my research and writing (as well as being the inspiration for my becoming a lawyer) was what Reuben had done with our family history, in the same way I think that Reuben was inspired by our grandfather to dig deeply into our Robertson genealogical records. Our grandfather was taken with our Robertson roots, causing to him not only to visit in the 1930s the Shetland island from which his father had emigrated but also to have a book written and published about his father’s and his mother’s roots entitled Leaves from a Family Tree. Some have commented about the fact that the family trail in Our Robertsons ends in October 1999. That is because that was when Reuben learned about his cancer diagnosis. It will be up to someone younger to take up where he left off. When Reuben was deep in his research, he would call me late in the evening about a new relative he had found. At the time, I was indifferent to that roots journey. However, over time I got much more interested in the value of his work. Reuben sent a September 1998 version of Our Robertsons, and I found myself looking into it often to find how some relative of ours is connected. Like a lot in my life, I am deeply indebted to Reuben for inspiring me to learn more about our heritage. I am also indebted to Vicky Robertson for taking Reuben’s work to the next stage by having it published. I think it took her the better part of year to get it finished, and I know there were numerous headaches along the way. Thank you, Vicky for all your hard work and for commemorating Reuben in this wonderful way.

Below you will find links to the three parts of Our Robertsons. The entire book is presented here in PDF format for you to read, print or download (printing directly from this site is only available from your desktop or laptop). In order to make the book more accessible, a Contents page with links to all the listings has been added to each of the three parts. Just mouse over and click and you will be sent to that page. The Contents button at the bottom of each page will return you to the Contents page. I hope you enjoy Our Robertsons as much as I have!