Robinson, H. W.

ROBINSON, TAYLOR, JACK

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 8/15/2009 at 07:42:05

H. W. Robinson

A successful newspaper is generally representative of the people of the place in which it is located, and its value to a community is beyond estimate. In Colfax there have been a number of papers, which have aided in no small measure in promoting the interests of the place in every useful way. Prominent among these is the Colfax Clipper, which is in every respect a wide-awake and progressive journal, and exerts a potent influence in all matters pertaining to the welfare of the people of Jasper County. Its zealous advocacy of local interests has made it popular with the citizens of Colfax, whose progress it has materially aided. Its success is largely due to the editor and publisher, the subject of this sketch, who is an interesting writer and an intelligent advocate of all progressive measures, and whose journalistic religion is to treat all political parties with impartial candor and give every man a fair show.

A native of Franklin County, Ind., the subject of this notice was born January 13, 1845. He is a son of Rev. Richard S. Robinson, a native of Pennsylvania, who was reared in that state and in Indiana. He was for many years a prominent minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church. Coming to Iowa in 1854, he located in Keokuk, where he remained for a time. His death occurred at Oskaloosa, this state, at the age of seventy-nine. He was a man of honorable life, strict integrity and high piety. From his Scotch ancestors he inherited qualities of thrift and perseverance while his Irish forefathers bequeathed to him the qualities of facility and eloquence, which contributed to the success in his ministry. His wife, whose maiden name was Jane Taylor, was a native of Indiana and died at the age of sixty-six years.

H. W. Robinson was the eldest of ten children, six sons and four daughters, nine of whom grew to manhood and womanhood and are now living. His rudimentary education was gained in the common schools of Carlisle, Ind., and at about nine years of age he accompanied his parents to Keokuk, Iowa, where he conducted his studies in the public schools. When in his seventeenth year he enlisted, in 1862, as a member of Company K, Thirty-ninth Iowa Infantry, in which he served as a private. He was twice wounded, but not seriously in either instance. In 1865, at the close of the war, he was mustered out at Washington, D. C.

Returning to Iowa, Mr. Robinson engaged in the newspaper business in Knoxville. In 1866, in partnership with B. F. Williams, he published the Republican, which one year afterward they sold. Later he worked at the printer's trade in Little Rock, Ark., Peoria, Ill., and Des Moines, Iowa, as well as various other places. In 1879 he founded the Colfax Clipper, which has been successful from its inception, and receives from the people abundant evidence of its popularity and worth. It is truth to say that the Clipper is a credit to journalism, to Colfax and Jasper County.

In Geneseo, Ill., October 8, 1876, Mr. Robinson was united in marriage with Miss Flora A. Jack, a native of Illinois. They are the parents of two sons, Frank and Edward. The family occupies a position of social prominence in Colfax. They have a comfortable home, where numerous personal friends are warmly welcomed. In his political affiliations, Mr. Robinson is a firm adherent of the principles of the Republican Party, in which he is one of the leaders in this community. He is identified with the E. D. Duncan Post No. 253, G. A. R. Portrait and Biographical Record, Jasper, Marshall and Grundy Counties, IA Page 280.