Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/1009

NAME ROBINSON 987 ROBINSON In 1861 he joined the medical staff of the Army, and was appointed surgeon of the One Hundred and Fifty-ninth Regiment of New York volunteers. He served with distinction in that regiment until 1863, being for a por- tion of the time division-surgeon in General Grover's Division, at Port Hudson. Owing to ill health he resigned and returned north to resume practice in 1863, settling tempo- rarily at Poughkeepsie, then removing to Al- bany, where he remained in practice till the time of his death, being the first regular oculist in this section of the State. He was surgeon in charge of the department of dis- eases of the eye and ear at St. Peter's Hos- pital, and ophthalmic and aural surgeon of the Albany Hospital. For years he was at- tending oculist at the Troy Hospital, and af- terwards surgeon-in-chief of the Eye and Ear Relief. He held ever a leading place among Amer- ican oculists, and was one of the founders of the American Ophthalmological Society; was a member of the International Ophthalmo- logical Society, also of the American Otologi- cal Society, the Medical Society of the State of New York, and president of the Medical Society of the County of Albany. His liter- ary taste was marked and his style clear, vigorous and incisive. His method of thought was simple and direct and moved with in- dependence. His medical writings consisted of reports of cases and monographs. He died April 1, 1880, of chronic pleurisy, which had confined him to his house and bed for nearly a year. His death was not un- expected, although his remarkable vitality had so resisted disease that hope was not fully extinguished until near the last. His mind was unclouded and he gave his attention to all about him to the end. Dr. Robertson mar- ried Ellen A. Fuller, of Cambridge, Massachu- setts, in 1853. James S. Mosher. Med. Eec, New York, 1880. vol. :tvii. Trans. Med. Soc. County Albany (1870-80). 1883, vol. iii. T. S. Mosher. Portrait. Trans. Med. Soc, New York. Syracuse, 1S81. Robinson. Charles (1818-1894). Charles Robinson, physician, lawyer, Gov- ernor, was born in Hardwick, Massachusetts, July 21, 1818. His father was a farmer, a strong abolitionist, a descendant of John Robin- son of Plymouth Colony. Charles was educated at Hadley and at Am- herst College; his medical education was ob- tained at the Berkshire Medical Institution, where he took his M. D. in 1843, and at Wood- stock, Vermont. He practised at Belchertown and at Pittsfield, and opened a hospital at Springfield, Massachusetts. Dr. Robinson went to California by the overland route in 1849 and edited Settler's and Miner's Tribune in Sacramento in 1850. He took an active part ir. the riots of 1850 as an upholder of squatter sovereignty, was wounded, and "while under indictment for conspiracy and murder" was elected to the Legislature. He was subsequently discharged by the court without trial. On returning to Massachusetts in 1852 he conducted the Neivs in Fitchburg till June. 1854; then went to Kansas as con- fidential agent of the New England Emigrants' Aid Society, and settled in Lawrence, Kansas. He was a member of the Topeka convention that adopted a free-state constitution in 1855, and under it was elected Governor in 1856. He was arrested for treason and usurpation of office, tried on the latter charge and ac- quitted. He was elected Governor by the free-state party in 1858; the third time in 1859 under the Wyandotte constitution, and entered on his term of two years when Kansas became a state in 1861. While in office he organized most of the regiments for the Civil War and was known as the War Governor. He became superintendent of Haskell In- stitute, Lawrence, in 1887, and was instru- mental in founding the University of Kansas. Dr. Robinson married Sarah Tappan Doo- little, author, October 30, 1851, at Belcher- town. She was the author of "Kansas and Its Exterior and Interior Life." He died at his home near Leavenworth, Kansas, August 17. 1894. Appleton's Cyclop, of Amer. Biog.. 1889. Encvclop. Amer. Biog. of 19th Cent. T. W. Her- ringshaw. 1898. Robinson, Fred Byron (1854-1910). The parents of Byron Robinson, William and Mary, were of English stock. They came to America in 1845, settling on a farm near Hollandale, Wisconsin. Byron Robinson was born there in 1854 and lived the life of a son of a small Wisconsin farmer until he went away to enter the University of Wisconsin. His education began in the little red country school, except that in those days in central Wisconsin the house was built of logs and was free of paint. When the log school had taken him as far as it could he went to the Mineral Point Seminary, through which he worked his way. He next entered the University of Wis- consin, from the litera'ry department of which he was graduated with the degree of B. S. in 1878. During his senior year his application