The Bustill family is a prominent

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

family of largely

African African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

and

Lenape The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory includ ...

Native American descent. The family has included artists, educators, journalists and activists, both against slavery and against

Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...

.Woodson, C.G.
The Bustill Family
" in
Negro History Bulletin," Vol. 11, No. 7
pp. 147-148, p. 167. Washington, D.C.: The Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH).

History

Born in

Burlington, New Jersey Burlington is a city in Burlington County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a suburb of Philadelphia. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 9,743. Burlington was first incorporated on October 24, 1693, and was r ...

on February 2, 1732,

Cyrus Bustill Cyrus Bustill (February 2, 1732 1806) was an African-American brewer and baker, abolitionist and community leader. A notable business owner in the African-American community in Philadelphia, he also became a founding member of the Free African ...

was a son of the Quaker lawyer Samuel Bustill and Parthenia, a woman of African descent who was held in bondage by him. When Samuel Bustill died in 1742, his legal widow, Grace Bustill, subsequently arranged for the sale of Cyrus Bustill to fellow Quaker Thomas Prior (or "Pryor") with the understanding that Prior would allow Cyrus to train and earn enough money as an apprentice baker in order to purchase his freedom. Cyrus would go on to either purchase his freedom or receive

manumission Manumission, or enfranchisement, is the act of freeing enslaved people by their enslavers. Different approaches to manumission were developed, each specific to the time and place of a particular society. Historian Verene Shepherd states that t ...

at an indeterminate date, then become a businessman and landowner in his own right thereafter. At the time of his death in 1806, he was a leading member of the

African-American upper class The African-American upper class is a social class that consists of African-American individuals who have high disposable incomes and high net worth. The group may include highly paid white-collar professionals such as academics, engineers, law ...

of Philadelphia. Cyrus and his wife, the

mixed race Mixed race people are people of more than one race or ethnicity. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mixed race people in a variety of contexts, including ''multiethnic'', ''polyethnic'', occasionally ''bi-ethn ...

Elizabeth Morey (1746-1827, of Native American and European descent), had eight children. One of them was the abolitionist and feminist advocate

Grace Douglass Grace Bustill Douglass (1782 – March 9, 1842) was an African-American abolitionist and women's rights advocate. Her family was one of the first prominent free black families in the United States. Her family's history is one of the best documented ...

. Other notable descendants of Cyrus and Elizabeth Morey Bustill include the performer and activist

Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, stage and film actor, professional football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his p ...

, the artist

David Bustill Bowser David Bustill Bowser (January 16, 1820, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – June 30, 1900, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was a 19th-century African-American ornamental artist and portraitist. As the designer of battle flags for eleven African-American ...

, the educator, abolitionist and writer

Sarah Mapps Douglass Sarah Mapps Douglass (September 9, 1806 – September 8, 1882) was an American educator, Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist, writer, and public lecturer. Her painted images on her written letters may be the first or earliest survivi ...

, the journalist and activist

Gertrude Bustill Mossell Gertrude Emily Hicks Bustill Mossell (July 3, 1855 – January 21, 1948) was an African-American journalist, author, teacher, and activist. She served as the women's editor of the ''New York Age'' from 1885 to 1889, and of the '' Indianapolis World ...

, and the artist and activist

Robert Douglass Jr. Robert Douglass Jr. (1809 – October 26, 1887) was an African-American artist and leading activist from Philadelphia. Biography Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1809, Robert Douglass Jr. was the son of the abolitionist and community lead ...

Family tree

* Samuel Bustill (d. 1742) m. Parthenia **

(1732-1806) m. Elizabeth Morey (1746–1827) ***

(1782 – March 9, 1842) m. Robert Douglass ****

(1806-1882) **** Elizabeth Douglass ****

(1809–1887) **** three other children *** David Bustill m. Elizabeth W. Hicks ****

Charles Hicks Bustill Charles Hicks Bustill (c.1815–1890) was an African-American abolitionist and conductor in the Underground Railroad in Philadelphia before the American Civil War. He made a living as a plasterer. Bustill's grandfather was Cyrus Bustill and he ...

(1816–1890) m. Emily Robinson *****

(1855–1948) m.

Nathan Francis Mossell Nathan Francis Mossell (July 27, 1856 – October 27, 1946) was the first African-American graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1882. He did post-graduate training at hospitals in Philadelphia and London. In 1888, ...

****** Florence Mossell ******

Mary Mossell Griffin Mary Campbell Mossell Griffin (October 11, 1882 – June 4, 1968) was an American writer, clubwoman, and suffragist based in Philadelphia. She led successful efforts to pass Pennsylvania's anti-lynching law. She co-founded a summer camp with Anna J ...

(c. 1885 — after January 1963) m. Joshua R. Griffin Jr. *****

Maria Louisa Bustill Maria Louisa Bustill Robeson (November 8, 1853 – January 20, 1904) was a Quaker schoolteacher; the wife of the Reverend William Drew Robeson of Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church in Princeton, New Jersey and the mother of Paul Robeson ...

William Drew Robeson I William Drew Robeson I (July 27, 1844 – May 17, 1918) was the minister of Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church in Princeton, New Jersey from 1880 to 1901 and the father of Paul Robeson. The Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church had been ...

****** William Drew Jr. (born 1881) ****** Reeve (born c. 1887) ****** Ben (born c. 1893) ****** Marian (born c. 1895) ******

(1898–1976) m. Eslanda Goode *******

Paul Robeson Jr. Paul Leroy Robeson Jr. (November 2, 1927 – April 26, 2014) was an American author, archivist and historian. Biography Robeson was born in Brooklyn to lawyer, activist and singer Paul Robeson and Eslanda Goode Robeson. As his family moved ...

(1927–2014) m. Marilyn Paula Greenberg ******** David (died 1998) ******** Susan ****

Joseph Cassey Bustill Joseph Cassey Bustill (September 29, 1822–August 19, 1895) was an African American conductor in the Underground Railroad, operating primarily in Philadelphia to aid refugee slaves. Birth and marriage Joseph Cassey Bustill was born in Philadelphi ...

(1822–1895) m. Sarah Humphreys (1829–?) ***** Anna Amelia Bustill (1862–?) m. James Humphery Smith ******Humphery J. Smith ******Virginia Bustill Smith (1893–1978) m. Joseph Walter Rhetta *******Carldon Walter Rhetta m. Wilhelmina Chapman *******James Curtis Rhetta m. Ruth A. Washington ********James Curtis Rhetta II m. Emma F. Johnson *********Mark Rhetta **********Zoey Rhetta *********James C. Rhetta III m. Yolanda Causey **********James C. RhettaIV **********Jacob C. Rhetta ******Curtis L. Smith ******George J. Smith ******John R. Smith ******Anna E. Smith *** Mary Bustill Miller m. John Miller **** Cyrus Bustill Miller *** Ruth *** Rachael Bustill Bowser (1780-1848) m. Jeremiah Bowser (1766–1856) ****

(1820–1900) m. Elizabeth Harriet Stevens Gray (June 13, 1831 – November 29, 1908) ***** Raphael Bowser ***** Ida Elizabeth Bowser Asbury (1870–1955) *** Leah *** Charles *** Cyrus, Jr.

References

{{reflist Robeson-Bustill family African-American families

History

Family tree

See also

References