GEORGE W. ROBINSON,
of Garrison, Iowa, who has practically retired from active life, was
born in Warren township, Jennings county, Indiana, February 6, 1836,
and is a son of H. M. and Martha (Brandon) Robinson, both probably born
in Kentucky. His paternal grandfather emigrated from Scotland. The
Brandon family had lived many years in Pennsylvania, but moved to
Kentucky and later to Indiana; George Robinson's maternal grandmother
was a cousin of the famous Kit Carson.
H. M. Robinson died when George was seven years of age, on June 18,
1843, aged about thirty-three years, and his mother married (second) in
October 1848, John Buckles; they removed to a farm just west of South
Bend, and later went to southern Michigan, where Mr. Buckles died in
January, about 1891. Mrs. Buckles died in Smyrna, Nebraska, October 21,
1891, in her eighty-fourth year. H. M. Robinson and his wife had one
son and three daughters; two daughters are deceased, and the youngest
one now lives in Los Angeles, California. By her second marriage, Mrs.
Buckles had but one child, who died in infancy.
George W. Robinson was reared in Indiana. He was seven years old when
his father died; his mother married again when he was about twelve
years of age, but as he couldn't get along with his step father he in
the fall at the age of fifteen left home and worked on a farm for his
board during the winter and attended country school. In the following
spring he hired to work on a farm for seven dollars a month, the next
year receiving nine dollars a month and the third year he got ten
dollars. He saved his money and after he married rented land in Indiana
for about three years, and then came to Benton county, Iowa, September
18, 1863; his guardian had previously on October 30, 1855, secured four
hundred and eighty acres of land for him and his two sisters and this
land remained in their possession until 1887, when one-half of it was
sold to George Reiss. But the guardian had failed and neglected paying
the taxes on the land in this county and it had been sold for taxes.
Mr. Robinson paid them and only had three dollars and fifty cents left
after redeeming the land. He chopped wood, husked corn and did anything
to make a living. Mr. Robinson has followed farming most of his life,
although he spent one year in a mill in Vinton when a young man, and
spent two years, 1878-80, in Colorado. For several years he has leased
his farm, and formerly raised fine graded stock; he was one of the
first farmers of the vicinity to tile his land, and now has some four
thousand rods of tiling. He has resided in Garrison some twelve years
past, but still owns two fine farms in Big Grove township, one of two
hundred and eighty acres and one of one hundred and sixty acres, both
well improved and containing good buildings. He was an industrious and
enterprising farmer, and has spent most of his life in this occupation.
Before coming to Benton county he had done some farming, also operated
a threshing machine, and also spent one fall with a threshing machine
on first coming to Benton county. In the latter place he has made his
fortune, and is one of the most successful farmers in the county.
Politically he has always been a Republican, and he has served as
trustee of Big Grove township and in various other offices. He belongs
to the Masonic order, including the Knights Templars and Vinton Cyrus
Commandery, and his wife attends the Methodist Episcopal church.
Mr. Robinson married, September 9, 1880, Mrs. Lucy E. Anderson, nee
Shattuck, a native of Vermont, who came to Iowa in 1855 when a child of
about twelve years, and they have children as follows: Stella, wife of
E. J. Barkdoll, of Big Grove township; and Wilbur R., operating a farm
in Big Grove township. Mr. Barkdoll was born and reared in Jackson
township; he and his wife have one son, Gerald. Wilbur R. Robinson
married Dora, daughter of Levi Eggleston, of Eden township, who died
April 30, 1909, leaving one daughter, Ada Marie.
Picture of George W. Robinson
