From These Roots

Benjamin Perry Robertson was born in Tigerville, SC on January 22, 1863, to parents William Robertson and Miranda Rachel Westmoreland. He attended Robertson School, a small public school, as a child, but it was only open 3 months out of the year. When he was saved at the age of 18, he decided to go to Greer to get a high school education before leaving South Carolina to attend Judson College in Hendersonville, NC. College was an important time in Benjamin’s life because he not only felt the call to become a minister and was ordained, but he also met his future wife, Mary Ida Osborne, who he would later marry in 1892. Throughout his time at Judson, he also preached and taught school.

Once he graduated with his bachelor’s degree, he attended Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. During his vacations from the seminary, he came home to Tigerville and did mission work with the North Greenville Baptist Association. It was during this time that he was tasked with writing the articles for North Greenville High School. He, along with the other founders of North Greenville, believed strongly in Christian education and he would continue this work throughout his life.

Dr. Robertson graduated from Southern Baptist Seminary in 1892 and came home to South Carolina to accept the pastorate at First Baptist Church of Gaffney. While pastoring FBC Gaffney, he organized the founding of The Second Baptist Church of Gaffney. He also taught at Limestone and helped the school transition into a college in 1898. Tragedy struck the family in 1901 when their 3-year-old daughter, Ruth, died suddenly. In 1899, the Robertson family moved to Baltimore, MD where he pastored Fuller Memorial Baptist Church for six years before moving to Florida to escape the harsh weather due to family health issues. In Florida, he pastored the First Baptist Church of Arcadia and then became the financial secretary for Columbia College in Lake City.

In 1906, Dr. Robertson felt called to return to the pastorate so he moved his family to Atlanta where he became the pastor of Central Baptist Church. In 1910, while vacationing in Brevard, his first wife passed away from tuberculosis and he was left a single father of three young children. A little over a year later, he married his second wife, Annie Lind Davis with whom he would have three more children. From 1912-1915 he served as the superintendent of the Baptist mission work in Atlanta for the Atlanta Baptist Association and helped to plant several churches including Druid Hills Baptist Church.

The Robertsons headed to New Orleans in 1915 where Dr. Robertson took on the role as pastor of Charles Avenue Baptist Church. While in New Orleans, Dr. Robertson became a founder and the first president of the board of trustees of The Baptist Bible Institute. The Baptist Bible Institute would later become New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

Over the next few years, Dr. Robertson had several pastorate positions including First Baptist Church Paducah in Kentucky and First Baptist Church Sanatobia in Mississippi. In 1925, the Robertsons moved to Maryland where he took a position as pastor of First Baptist Church Hyattsville. While living in Maryland in 1929, he wrote a book called “The Holy Spirit” and became the founder and first president of The Baptist Bible Training School in Washington, D.C. He retired from FBC Hyattsville in 1941 and moved to North Carolina.

During his 57 years of ministry work, Dr. Robertson was involved with the Baptist World Alliance and preached in Canada as well as in England. He toured the Holy Land, helped to plant at least 23 churches throughout the South, and was a founder of several schools. He passed away on January 7, 1949, at the age of 85 and is buried at Oakland Cemetary in Gaffney next to his first wife.

“Faithful, zealous, greatly beloved, had a long fruitful ministry. Still witnesses for Christ thru students of New Orleans Baptist Seminary, N. Greenville College, and other schools he founded, and thru countless Christians influenced by him.” – Dr. Robertson’s tombstone