Joe Biden’s middle name, Robinette, is enough to make any Huguenot researcher’s ears twitch; and, quick as a flash on his victory, Facebook group Huguenot Heritage claimed him.
Biden himself has been self-effacing about his ancestry: “It’s my grandmother Biden’s maiden name. It’s French. And it goes back a long, long way. Allegedly the Robinettes came over with Lafayette and never went home. I don’t know that. We can’t guarantee that.”
Yet according to the Protestant publishing house Editions Ampelos the American Robinettes didn’t arrive with Lafayette, but with the Quakers.
Joe Biden, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
In 2008, when Biden became Vice President to Barak Obama, the publishing house asserted the following claim. Allen Robinett was a Huguenot who fled France for England, converted to Quakerism and married his wife, Margaret Symm, in London in 1653. The couple sailed for the New World with the followers of William Penn - the Quaker who founded Pennsylvania - arriving in 1682. Allen and Margaret had at least four children: Allen, Susanna, Samuel and Sarah. From these four children, Ampelos claims, the US families Robinette, Robinett and Robnett take their descent.
Doubtless there will be much poring over Biden’s pedigree over the coming four years. As Mark Twain said, “Why waste your money looking up your family tree? Just go into politics and your opponents will do it for you.” Tragically for Biden’s critics, this particular ancestry – assuming it’s true – is impeccably virtuous.
There’s a whole world of organisations who will be very proud to claim him, and it’s interesting to see Huguenot Heritage so fast out of the blocks.
Fascinating how everyone looks for connections and then builds into those connections a personal story. Here the local press have gone to town on his great-uncle’s service both in the First World War and then as a Peckham Bus Driver. In London to have any sort of respectable political pedigree it’s vital to have a bus driver or bus conductor in the family, just witness our current mayor. Joe’s distant cousin who still lives locally commented that he wasn’t really that bothered just relieved the link wasn’t to Trump.
Quite right! No bus drivers in our family as far as I know!
Thank you Jo for your blog, and the fascinating discussion you have sparked off.
Google translate isn’t bad if you need help with the French article – it has improved quite a bit since it first started.
Good to know Google Translate has improved! Thank you!
A very timely blog Jo. What a history linking Biden to the Founding Fathers of Pennsylvania: a pedigree straddling US Aristocracy and the Irish Catholic diaspora.
Loved your Mark Twain quote. So true.
I also appreciated the links- thank you. Have you got a copy of the 1853 book by Charles Weiss quoted in the Editions Ampelos? http://editionsampelos.com/histoire-du-refuge-charles-weiss/ Looks like a fascinating source.
I haven’t got a copy of it yet, but I’ll see about getting one. As you say, such a useful source to stumble upon.
I wish I had concentrated on French at school. Is there a translation of the editorial?
I haven’t got a translation of all of the editorial to hand, but I have summarised the main points in what I’ve written. If I get time, I’ll do a full translation and post it! I was very pleased to discover the publishing house, which I hadn’t encountered before. I love the way that links on social media make such discoveries so easy, especially across international boundaries. Wonderful.
So, if I remember previous blogs correctly, Nixon, Obama, and other US presidents can claim Huguenot ancestry, right? Indeed Trump may have been the only one who couldn’t. So maybe for future elections we can just check the Huguenot DNA before voting.
There is the irony that Biden’s strong Catholic beliefs would have put him on the wrong side when Allen Robinett fled Catholic France for Protestant England But Joe’s stated mission to heal divisions (good luck to him!) suggests he might not have sided with the persecutors.
Yes! Huguenot ancestry as the test for everyone seeking offices of state! Of course America was founded by small groups of Pilgrims, so it’s not surprising that all roads lead back to Rome, or in this case to Wittenberg. I do agree – very interesting that Biden has the support of the strong Irish Catholic lobby in America, whereas Trump had the support of the evangelical Protestants. What a strange thing for those lines to be drawn in the modern age. Agreed, everyone is saying how Biden, moulded by personal tragedy, is a genial and empathetic man.