Robert Kelser

Robert Kelser (1857- April 1, 1914, aged 57) was a longtime Charlottesville resident, educator, and president of the Piedmont Industrial and Land Improvement Company

Robert and Mary Lewis Kelser's headstone in the Daughters of Zion Cemetery

Biography

Kelser was born in Farmville, Prince Edward County, Virginia to Daniel and Amanda Kelser in 1857. Not much is known about Kelser's early life, but he would go on to attend the Hampton Institute alongside Booker T. Washington in 1874-75. Following his move to Charlottesville, Kelser began teaching at the Jefferson School, and married his wife, Mary Lewis Kelser in 1885.

In the midst of his tenure as an educator, Kelser was one of the founding members of the Piedmont Industrial and Land Improvement Company in 1889. The group was an all-Black development company meant to assist in growing and maintaining Black landownership in Charlottesville.

In 1891, Kelser purchased the home at 223 4th St. SW in Vinegar Hill, though he sold it just two years later to Mrs. Burkley Bullock.

In 1894, Kelser partnered with James Barcus to form an undertaking business, providing hearse services for funerals in the Black community.

Kelser served as the secretary of the Jamestown Exposition in 1907, meaning he spent several months in 1906 traveling the South and speaking to crowds of Black people in several states, including Mississippi.

Kelser passed away April 1, 1914, at the age of 57. He was buried in the Daughters of Zion Cemetery, where his wife would join him when she died 30 years later.

Robert Kelser's name, as transcribed, is commonly misspelled or miswritten as Robert Keller and Robert Kelsor.