Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 1038 - 1040 

NEWTON H. ROBINSON, a leading farmer of Waco Township, is also engaged in the mercantile trade at Oatville. He carries at the latter place a stock of general merchandise, including coal and fresh meat, and is doing a lucrative and increasing business. His farm, which is situated upon section 11, contains some 140 acres and adjoins the village plat, he having donated some twenty acres of his original purchase for the site. His improvements are most excellent, and the land is under a state of admirable culture.

             Mr. Robinson was born in Franklin, Vt., May 28, 1827, and is the ninth child of Stephen and Betsey (Kimble) Robinson, both of whom were natives of the Green Mountain State. The father was a farmer by occupation, and removed to Washtenaw County, Mich., in 1836, among the pioneers of that portion of the Peninsular State, and died there in 1861. The mother of our subject preceded her husband in death some ten years. They were the parents of eleven children, as follows: Betsey, who married Granger Spaulding, a blacksmith in Vermont, but since deceased; Stephen, who married Pauline Gregory, and died in Michigan; Lucy, who married George Ansley, now deceased; Laura A., who married Reuben Fisk, a farmer, and is a resident of Calhoun County, Mich.; Irene G., who married A. Woodward, but is now a widow living in Minnesota; Warren married Mary Baughman, who died, when he again married, and is a resident of the Peninsular State; Charlotte, the widow of Samuel Goddard, and a resident of California; Orton; Newton, the subject of this sketch; Sophia, the deceased wife of Lawrence Spaulding, and one who died in infancy.

             The subject of this personal narrative came to Michigan with his parents in 1836, and remained a member of the family, living beneath the parental roof, until he had attained his majority. He received his education in the common schools, and completed it in the excellent academy at Grass Lake, Mich. Having thus well laid the foundations of his future life he removed to Jackson, Mich., and apprenticed himself to the trade of blacksmith. After having finished that he settled at Chelsea, Washtenaw County, in the same State, where, Nov. 13, 1850, he was united in marriage with Martha C. Beckwith, the daughter of Cyrus and Amarilla (Gorham) Beckwith, who were natives of New Hampshire and Vermont respectively.

             Mrs. Robinson is a native of Washtenaw County, Mich., and was born Jan. 30, 1828. Her parents were among the very earliest settlers of Washtenaw County, going there in the year 1830. Their house was for quite a time the only one between Ann Arbor and Grass Lake. They were the parents of four children besides Mrs. Robinson, as follows: Richard C., born in 1829, married Lucy Moore, and is a resident physician in his native State; Luther, born in 1821, the husband of Bessie Lymm, as a lawyer, now deceased, having died in 1882; Sidney, born in 1844, married Mrs. Minnie Perry, and is a resident of Port Huron; and Sarah, born in 1841, married Henry Pratt for her first and Colton Wines for her second husband, and is a resident of Michigan. Mrs. Robinson attended the common schools of her native county, and rounded her education at the High School at Jackson, Mich.

             After the subject of this sketch was married he went to housekeeping in Chelsea, Mich., whither he had removed, and for five years followed the trade of a blacksmith. At the expiration of that time, having accumulated some capital, he purchased a arm in the immediate vicinity of Jackson, where he carried on agricultural pursuits for about two years and a half. He then sold the farm and removed to Owasso, in the same State, where he resumed his trade, working at it for about five years. His next venture was in a mercantile line, entering into the furniture business, which he carried on for about sixteen years. Twice during this time he was unfortunate enough to have his establishment destroyed by fire, with a heavy pecuniary loss to himself. He returned to Chelsea, and located on a farm, the old Beckwith homestead, where he carried on stock and grain-raising for two years, at the conclusion of which, in April, 1875, he removed to Kansas, and settling in Sedgwick County on the farm where he now lives, has made it his residence ever since.

             Mr. and Mr. Robinson are the parents of eight children--Ida M., Inez A., Cyrus S., Charles R., Sarah L., Sydney N., Amy E. and Newton. Ida M. was born Oct. 3, 1852, and upon the 10th of August, 1877, married Charles H. Cartwright, now a resident of Wichita; they have a family of three children, and reside upon a farm in this State. Inez A. was born Aug. 18, 1854, and married Rev. Francis Rornine, and is the mother of three children, one of whom is deceased; they reside at Freeport, Kan. Cyrus S. was born Aug. 25, 1853, and March 10, 1880, married Cora Gray, and is the father of three children; he is a farmer in Waco Township. Charles R. was born June 15, 1856, and married Austa Bowmen, and has one child; he is a Methodist preacher and resides at Ashland in this State. Sarah L. died Oct. 31, 1867; Sydney N. was born Feb. 12, 1860, and died Jan. 8, 1863; Amy E. was born Jan. 18, 1866, and is at home; Newton was born May 10, 1871, and died Aug. 8, 1871.

             The family take a deep interest in all questions of a moral and religious character, Mr. Robinson, his wife and daughter Amy being all members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In his political affiliations Mr. Robinson is a stanch and inflexible adherent to the doctrines and principles of the Republican party, his vote having always been cast for the candidates of that political organization since its inception. Previous to the organization of the Republican party his sympathies and support were with the old-line Whigs.

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