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Stephen Eddy Robinson, M.D.

Stephen Eddy Robinson M. D., whose portrait appears on the opposite page, the oldest physician in continuous years of practice in West Union and a prominent member of the profession in Northeastern Iowa, was born in Clinton, La Porte County, Ind., May 7, 1838. His father, a native of Bracken County, Ky., born December 23, 1797, removed with his parents to Champaign County, Ohio, in his youth and in the Buckeye State met and married Anna Jones. With his family he removed to La Porte County, Ind., where he resided until 1846, when he emigrated to the Territory of Wisconsin, locating on a farm near Evansville, Rock County. Mr. Robinson was engaged in agricultural pursuits all his life and continued his residence near Evansville until 1873, when he came to West Union where his death occurred in September, 1888, at the age of ninety-one years. His wife was born in Urbana, Ohio, in 1805, and died in West Union, January 2, 1881, aged seventy-five years. The family of this venerable couple consisted of one son and six daughters. The son is the subject of this sketch. The daughters are Sarah Jane, widow of Curtis R. Bent; Henrietta W., wife of Leander Quivey, of Boise City, Idaho; Eleanora D., wife of C. R. Bent, died in 1856; Charlotte A., wife of D. W. Twitchell, died in January, 1873; Mary I., is the wife of William Burgess, of Hancock County, Iowa; and one died in infancy.

The Doctor was educated in the Evansville Seminary and at the Lawrence University at Appleton, Wis. He took two medical courses in the Rush Medical College of Chicago, belonging to the class of 1858-59-60, but left school before his graduation. On the 28th of April of that year, he arrived in West Union, and opening an office, embarked upon the practice of his profession. At the breaking out of the late war, he was among the first to offer his services in defense of the Union, enlisting on the 20th of May as a member of Company F, Third Iowa Infantry. He participated in the battle of Shiloh and immediately after that engagement was, by special order of Gen. Halleck, appointed surgeon in the field, and assigned to the duty of inspecting hospitals in his department. He was also made surgeon of the General Field Hospital and was employed professionally in various places; was for a time on Gen. John Pope's staff and was at one time surgeon in charge of a battery. He was commissioned surgeon of the Third Iowa Infantry and of the Thirty-eighth Iowa Infantry, but did not act under either commission, continuing to serve as surgeon until December, 1863, when he retired from the service and resumed practice in West Union.

Dr. Robinson was married in Waterloo, Iowa, September 25, 1867, to Miss Sarah Elizabeth Artman, a daughter of Reuben and Clarissa (Piatt) Artman, of Angelica, N. Y., and a native of Livingston Co. N. Y. Her father was a native of Pennsylvania and her mother was born in the Empire State. Three children, two sons and a daughter grace their union: Reuben Artman, the eldest, the eldest, is a pharmacist and druggist of Bonanzo, Wyo.; Anna Eleanora is now studying in the Northwestern University of Evanston, Ill., and will graduated in the class of June, 1891. She is a thorough student, possesses superior talent as an elocutionist and is esteemed a young lady of rare promise. Richard Eddy, the youngest, is a student and resides at home.

Mrs. Robinson is a member of the Episcopal Church, while the Doctor belongs to the Methodist Church. In politics, he is a Republican and for years has taken an active part in political campaigns in Iowa. He is at present chairman of the Fayette County Republican Committee, and a member of the Congressional Republican Committee of this district. He was the candidate of his party for State Senator in 1885 and while unsuccessful in the election received the complimentary home indorsement of nearly three hundred more votes than his party ticket. The Doctor aided in the organization of the Fayette County Medical Association some twenty-two years ago and has served as President of that body five times. He is a member of the Iowa State Medical Association, of which he was President in 1884, and has also been a member of the American Medical Association since 1872. He was elected to a professorship in the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Chicago but declined to accept. He is Division Surgeon for the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railroad, for the division between Independence and Decorah, and of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, for the Volga Valley Branch. He is also a member of the National Association of Railway Surgeons. He takes considerable interest in civic societies and aided in the organization of Abernethy Post, No. 48, G. A. R., of which he served as Commander during the first and second terms and once since. He is a prominent Mason, belonging to West Union Lodge No. 69, A. F. & A. M., of which he has served as Worshipful Master; to Clermont Chapter, No. 62, R. A. M.; to Langridge Commandery, No. 47, K. T., of which he is now serving his third term as Eminent Commander and is also a member of Orient Consistory of Lyons, he having attained the thirty-second degree.

The Doctor has been identified with the care of the insane of the State for several years. He was appointed a Trustee of the Iowa Hospital for the Insane, at Independence and served in that position from 1883 to 1886 inclusive. It is now nearly thirty-one years since the Doctor entered upon his profession in West Union and during this long period he has been known to the people of Northeastern Iowa as a physician and surgeon of superior ability and skill and is now ripe in experience, though only in the prime of life. He is a close student and has kept well up with the progress and advanced thought in his profession, while his superior ability has won for him a flattering prominence in the councils of the Medical Associations of the State and Nation, while as a citizen and neighbor he enjoys the confidence and respect of a wide circle of friends and acquaintances.