Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/150

 KOBINSON

ROBINSON

ROBINSON, William Erigena, journalist, was born in Unagli, cnuniy T} i 'iio, Irolaiul. May 6, 1S14. Uis parents were north of Irolaiul Presby- terians. He attended the classical school at Cookstown, and entered Belfast college in 1834, but was forced by ill health to abandon his studies, and in August, 18;W. sailed for the United States in the Gcui'/cs, arriving in New York city about the first of the following November. He supported himself l)y odds and ends of newspaper work and continued his studies at the school of the Rev. John J. Owen until 1837, when he ma- triculated at Yale. He was graduated, A.B., 1841, A.M., 1844, and was for two years a student in the Yale Law school. During his college course he took the stump for General Harrison in 1840; became a regular contributor to Horace Greeley's Log Cabin, advocating both in prose and poetry, Harrison's election; founded the Yale Banner and the Beta Cliapter of the Psi Upsilon society in 1841; contributed editorial articles to the New Haven Daily Herald, and lectured before literary associations in many cities. He was an ac- tive speaker during Clay's candidacy for Presi- dent; was "Washington correspondent of the TVibmie. 1844-48, using the pen name "Riche- lieu," and of other publications nortli and south under different signatures. He was also edi- torially connected with the Buffalo E.iyress, the Tribune, the People, an Irish weekly, of which he was one of the founders, and the Mercury, New- ark, N.J. Meanwiiile lack of funds prevented him from becoming one of the proprietors of the Tribune, an opportunitj' offered him by Mr. Greeley. In 1850 he was offered the consulate to Belfast by Daniel Webster, and in 1852 he sup- ported the candidacy of General Scott. He was married in 1853. to Helen A., daughter of George Dougherty of Newark, N.J. She died in 1875, leaving two sons and three daughters, of whom John E. Robinson was a journalist of note. Mr. Robinson was admitted to the New York bar, 1854; revisited Ireland in 1859; removed to Brooklyn, 1862; was assessor of internal revenue by appointment from President Lincoln, 18G2-G7; was the defeated candidate for collector of taxes, 1865, and a Democratic representative from the second New York district in the 40th, 47th and 48th congresses, 1867-69 and 1881-65, being influ- ential in his first term in changing the law as to perpetual allegiance, and in 1880 introduced and secured the passage of a bill compelling foreign nations to give American citizens on arrest an immediate hearing or discharge. He was editor of the Irish World in 1871, and continued a regu- lar contributor to several publications until his death. He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from St. John's college, Fordham, N.Y., in 1890. His loyalty to his native country was his most

marked characteristic, taking the form of many generous efforts, such as the securing by act of congress the sending of the relief-ship .1/«ec(io?i2an. to Ireland during the famine of 1847. In 1848 he was a member of the Irish directory, organized to aid the Young Ireland Revolutionary party, and also in 1856 of the Friends of Civil and Religious Liberty. In addition to his congressional and political speeches, he delivered before a collegiate convention at Hamilton college. July 30. 1851, an oration on " The Celt and the Saxon." uliich was published in the Tribune, and called fortli much criticism in Great Britain and Europe. He died in Brooklyn, N.Y., Jan. 23, 1892.

ROBINSON, William Stevens, journalist and parliamentarian, was born in Concord. Mass., Dec. 7, 1818; son of William (1776-1837) and Martha (Cogswell) Robinson; grandson of Jere- miah and Susannah (Cogswell) Robinson and of Emerson and Eunice (Robinson) Cogswell, and a descendant of John (1671-1749) and Mehitable Robinson of Exeter, N.H.. and of Joiin Cogswell who sailed from Bristol, England. May 23. 1635, in the Angel Gabriel, went first to Ipswich. Ma.ss., and afterward settled in Chebacco (now Essex). William S. Robinson attended the public schools; served an apprenticeship in the office of The Yeo- man's Gazette, Concord, Mass., 1835-39; was edi- tor and publisher of the same, 1839-42; assistant editor of the Lowell Journal and Courier, 1842- 48, a Whig publication, and editor of the Boston Daily \Miig (afterward The Republican), 1848-49. He was married, Nov. 30, 1848, to Harriet Jane Hanson of Lowell, Mass. He edited and pub- lished the Lowell American, a Free-soil Demo- cratic newspaper, 1849-54; was a member of the Massachusetts legislature, 1852-53. and secretary of the state constitutional convention. 1853. He contributed to the Springfield Republican under the pen-name " WaiTington," 1856-76, and to the New York Tribune. 1857-69. his letters on public men and events during the civil war period earn- ing for him the title of the " famous war corre- spondent." He was clerk of the committee on the revision of the statutes, 1859; of the Massa- chusetts house of representatives, 1862-73, the journals of that body being first published under his supervision, and in 1871 and 1873 opposed by his writings the gubernatorial candidacy of Gen. B. F. Butler. His numerous legislative pam- phlets, reports and memorials include: Memorial and Rejiort on the Personal Liberty B/// (1861-67); T7ie Salary Grab, an Expose of the Million Dollar Congressional Tlieft (1873). He also published: Warrington's Manual of Parliamentary Law (1875). He was buried in Sleepy Hollow ceme- tery. Concord, Mass. See: "'Warrington' Pen Portraits " (1877), edited by Harriet H. Robinson (q.v.). He died in Maiden, Mass., March 11,1876.