Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/309

Rh ner, attorney-general of New Jersey, d. at Wistlorpe House, Marlow. England, in 1843.

ROBINSON, Charles, governor of Kansas, b. in Hardwick, Mass., 21 July, 1818; d. in Lawrence, Kansas, 17 Aug., 1894. He was educated at Amherst college, but was compelled by illness to leave in his second year. He studied medicine at Woodstock, Vt., and at Pittsfield, Mass., where he received his degree in 1843, and practised at Belchertown, Springfield, and Fitchburg, Mass., till 1849, when he went to California by the overland route. He edited a daily paper in Sacramento called the &ldquo;Settler's and Miner's Tribune&rdquo; in 1850, took an active part in the riots of 1850 as an upholder of squatter sovereignty, was seriously wounded, and, while under indictment for conspiracy and murder, was elected to the legislature. He was subsequently discharged by the court without trial. On his return to Massachusetts in 1852 he conducted in Fitchburg a weekly paper called the &ldquo;News&rdquo; till June, 1854, when he went to Kansas as confidential agent of the New England emigrants' aid society, and settled in Lawrence. He became the leader of the Free-state party, and was made chairman of its executive committee and commander-in-chief of the Kansas volunteers. 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, and on his trial on the latter charge was acquitted by the jury. He was elected again by the Free-state party in 1858, and for the third time in 1859, under the Wyandotte constitution, and entered on his term of two years on the admission of Kansas to the Union in January, 1861. He organized most of the Kansas regiments for the civil war. He afterward served one term as representative and two terms as senator in the legislature, and in 1882 was again a candidate for governor. In 1887 he became superintendent of Haskell institute in Lawrence.—His wife, Sarah Tappan Doolittle, author, b. in Belchertown, Mass., 12 July, 1827, was educated at the New Salem academy, and married Dr. Robinson at Belchertown on 30 Oct., 1851. Her maiden name was Lawrence. She has published &ldquo;Kansas, its Exterior and Interior Life&rdquo; (Boston, 1856), in which she describes the scenes, actors, and events of the struggle between the friends and foes of slavery in Kansas, during which her house was plundered and burned, and her husband was imprisoned for four months.

ROBINSON, Charles Seymour, clergyman, b. in Bennington, Vt,, 31 March, 1829: d. in New York city, 1 Feb., 1899. He was graduated at Williams, studied theology at Union seminary, and in 1852-'3 at Princeton, and on 19 April, 1855, was ordained pastor of a Presbyterian church in Troy. N. Y. In 1860 he took charge of a church in Brooklyn. In 1868-'70 he had charge of the Ameri- can chapel in Paris. In 1870 he became pastor of a congregation in New York city, which soon afterward erected the Madison avenue Presbyte- rian church, resigning in 1887. He received the degree of D. D. from Hamilton in 1867 and that of LL. D. from Lafayette in 1885. Dr. Robinson has published volumes of sermons and other works t hat have passed through several editions, and collections of hymns and tunes that are extensively used. The titles of his publications are " Songs of the Church " (New York, 1802) : " Songs for the Sanctuary " (1865); "Short Studies for Sunday-School Teachers" (1868); "Bethel and Penuel" (1873); "Church Work " (1873) ; " Psalms and Hymns " (1875) ; " Cal- vary Songs for Sunday-Schools " (1875) ; " Spiritual Songs for Church and Choir" (1878) : "Studies in l lie New Testament" (1880); "Spiritual Songs for Social Meetings" (1881); "Spiritual Songs for Sunday-Schools" (1881); "Studies of Neglected Texts" (1883); "Laudes Domini" (1884); "Ser- mons in Songs" (1885); "Sabbath Evening Ser- mons" (1887) ; "The Pharaohs of the Bondage and the Exodus " (1887) ; and " Simon Peter, his Life and Times "(2 vols., 1888).

'''ROBINSON. Christopher''', soldier, b. in West- moreland county, Va., in 1760; d. in York (now Toronto), Upper Canada, in 1798. He was a de- scendant of Christopher Robinson (1645-'90). elder brother of Dr. John Robinson, bishop of Bn~tnl and London, who came to America in 1660 and was afterward secretary of the colony of Virginia. The younger Christopher was educated at William and Mary, and early in the Revolution fled to New York, where he received a commission in the Loyal American regiment under his relative, Bev- erly Robinson. He served at the south, and was wounded, and at the peace went to Nova Scotia and received a grant of land at Wilmot. He soon removed to Upper Canada, was appointed inspector of the reserves of the crown, and finally settled in York. In 1796 he represented the counties of Len- nox and Addington in the assembly. His son. Sir John Beverly, bart., b. in Berthier, Lower Can- ada, 26 July, 1791 ; d. in Toronto, 30 Jan., 1863, studied law, meanwhile serving as a clerk of the assembly, and, on being admitted to the bar in 1812, was appointed attorney-general of Upper Canada, which office he held till 1815. He was solicitor-general in 1815-'18, attorney-general in 1818-'29, and chief justice of Upper Canada from 15 July, 1829, till his death. He was for eighteen years a member of the legislature, serving about an equal length of time in each chamber. When the war of 1812 began he was one of a company of 100 volunteers that followed Sir Isaac Brock in the ex- pedition that led to the capture of Detroit, and he was present at the battle of Queenstown Heights. In November, 1850, he was appointed a companion (civil division) of the order of the Bath, and he was created a baronet, by patent, 21 Sept., 1854. He was chancellor of Trinity college, Toronto, and the author of several works on Canada. John Bev- erly's son. Sir James Liikin, of Toronto, suc- ceeded him as second baronet, 30 Jan., 1803. An- other son, John Beverly, Canadian lawyer, b. at Beverly house, Toronto, 21 Feb., 1820 ; d. 18 June, 1896, was educated at Upper Canada college, studied Itnv, and was admitted to the bar of Upper Canada in 1844. He served during the rebellion of 1837 as aide-de-camp to Sir Francis Bond Head, and part iciptited in the engagement near Toronto. He began the practice of law at Toronto, was president of its city council, and was elected mayor in 1857. Mr. Robinson represented Toronto in the legisla- tive assembly of Canada from 1857 till 1861, and West Toronto from the latter date till 1863. He was elected for Algoma to the Dominion parlia- ment in 1872, and sat until the dissolution in 1874. Mr. Robinson was also a member of the executive council of Canada, and president of that body in the Cartier-Macdonald administration from 27 March till 21 May, 1862. He was lieutenant-gov- ernor of Ontario in 1880-'7.

ROBINSON, Christopher Blackett, Canadian publisher, b. in Thorah, Ont,, 2 Nov., 1837. He was educated at the public schools and by private tuition, engaged in journalism in 1857, and edited the " Canadian Post" in Beaverton. In 1861 he removed this paper to Lindsay, where he. published it for ten years. In 1871 he sold his interest in the