Thomas Richardson (1761-1851)
and Jemima Fish Robinson (1761-1846)
Thomas and Jemima Robinson were raised in wealthy and well-established Quaker families in Newport Rhode Island. They moved their young family to the wilds of Ferrisburgh, Vermont in 1793 and purchased the property that would be home to their descendents into the twentieth century. Thomas opened saw and grist mills on the Lewis Creek and in 1810 purchased some of the first Merino sheep to be imported into the United States, setting Rokeby on the path to distinction as one of the largest sheep farms in the region.