Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 1017 - 1019 

JASON J. ROBINSON, the leading livery-man of the little city of Goddard, and noticeable for his excellent business capacity and enterprise, is a product of the Buckeye State, and was born in Lenox Township, Ashtabula County, Jan. 26, 1836. He came to this county in 1876, during its early settlement, and when there were but two houses west of the spot where he located, in Afton Township, for a distance of six miles. He secured 160 acres of good land, and at once set about its improvement and cultivation, which he prosecuted with such industry that he has now one of the finest farms in the township, fitted up with all the little embellishments that serve to enhance both the beauty and value of a homestead.

            The buildings appertaining to the Robinson homestead are neat and substantial in character, and adjacent to them are fine orchards of apple, peach and pear trees, while grapes and the smaller fruits are cultivated in abundance. The farm is watered by two streams, which have their source in a never-failing spring, and the conveniences for utilizing this indispensable adjunct of the farm are everything that the agriculturist of this latter day could desire. This farm serves as the nucleus of an extended business, and upon which is held in reserve the magnificent animals for breeding purposes, and which have made of the estate and its proprietor a subject of much attention in this part of the country. At the stables in Goddard are two of the finest specimens of horseflesh to be found in Southern Kansas, one a full-blooded Percheron, sired in the spring of 1880, and the other of Percheron and French-Canadian blood combined, a year younger. Mr. Robinson proposes to give to these his especial care and attention the coming season, and is regarded as a man peculiarly adapted to his present calling.

            In noting the success and enterprise of a prominent citizen, the wish to learn something of his antecedents is naturally formed in the mind of those whose attention has been attracted to his career. The subject of this history comes of an old and excellent family, being the son of Daniel G. and Louisa (House) Robinson, who were natives of the Empire State, and spent their last years in Van Buren County, Mich. Daniel G. Robinson was born Jan. 22,1808, and followed the occupation of a lumberman the greater portion of his life. He did not live to be an aged man, but died when forty-seven years old, on the 15th of April, 1855. The mother was born June 23, 1810, in Oneida County, N. Y., and survived her husband for a period of seventeen years, her death taking place in October, 1873. Their eldest son, Joseph J., was born in Ashtabula County, Ohio, June 15, 1832, and married Miss Mary Ann Abbott, of New York State, by whom he became the father of two daughters; he died in Pulaski, Tenn., in 1862; in the meantime his first wife had died in Michigan, in March, 1858, and he was the second time married, and became the father of a son, who is now dead. Jason J., of this sketch, was the second-born; the next child, also a son, died in infancy; Fidelia A. became the wife of Robert Clark, a well-to-do farmer of Almena Township, Van Buren Co., Mich., and is the mother of four children.

            Mr. Robinson left his native State with his parents when a child of eighteen months, they removing to White Pigeon, Mich., only staying one winter. They then moved to Van Buren County, Clinch Township, the name of which was subsequently changed to Bloomingdale. Here the boy developed into manhood, receiving a common-school education, and here also he formed matrimonial ties, being married, Feb. 25, 1857, to Miss Harriet E. Miller, a native of New York State. Edwin Miller, the father of Mrs. Robinson, was a shoemaker by trade, and, dying in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, his remains were laid to rest in the old Indian burying-ground near the ancient stone church, which is of historic interest in that vicinity. The mother subsequently crossed the Mississippi, and spent her last years with her second husband, Daniel Miller, in Iowa, her death taking place about 1864. Mr. and Mrs. Miller were the parents of three children. Their eldest daughter, Isabelle, first became the wife of John Martin, who died in the army, leaving three children; she was subsequently married to Daniel Martin, a brother of her first husband, and of this union there were born two children: Harriet E., Mrs. Robinson, was the second child; George also served in the Union army, and before leaving the ranks was married; beyond this little has been known of him for many years. Mr. Miller died in middle life, and his widow was subsequently married to Daniel Miller, of which union there were born six children.

            Daniel Robinson, the paternal grandfather of our subject, and a native of the Empire State, sought the West in the fall of 1838, and spent the winter following in Michigan. In the spring of 1839 he settled on a farm six miles from White Pigeon, where he continued to live until 1850, in which year his death took place. On the maternal side, Grandfather House, also a native of the Empire State, selected Ohio as the scene of his future operations, and there carried on farming and dairying for a number of years. His daughter Louisa, the mother of our subject, was the eldest of thirteen children, and died in Van Buren County, Mich., about 1873.

            Mr. Robinson continued in the Wolverine State until reaching his majority, and on the 25th of February, 1857, one day less than a month later, occurred the most important event of his life-is marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson resided in Van Buren County, Mich., for the following nineteen years, and there their five children were born. Edwin, the eldest, whose birth took place Feb. 10, 1859, died in Bloomingdale, in 1863; Alberta Fidelia was born Aug. 5, 1860, and married Charles A. Bullard, one of the prosperous farmers of Afton Township, this county, by whom she has become the mother of six children; Amy Louisa was born March 26, 1865, and with the younger children remains at home with her parents; William D. was born Oct. 15, 1867, and Edgar J., June 26, 1871.

            While in Michigan Mr. Robinson engaged quite extensively in farming and lumbering, and upon coming to this county, in March, 1876, purchased a tract of Government land, occupying a part of sections 10 and 11, in Afton Township, where he gave his close attention to farming and stock-raising until the spring of 1887. He then determined to invest some of his surplus capital in real estate at Goddard, and purchased first five lots within the town limits. This ground is now occupied by his extensive business, and is inclosed with neat and substantial fencing, within which are the various stables, sheds and coal-bins indispensable to his calling. In all undertakings he exhibits the careful and conscientious business man, and his clean record has made him a general favorite, both in social and financial circles. He gives little attention to politics, but endorses the principles of the Prohibition party. He and his wife and daughter Amy and son William are members and regular attendants of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in the I. O. O. F. Mr. Robinson is Treasurer of Lodge No. 266, at Goddard.

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