W. H. ROBINSON, lawyer, Fairfield, was born in Lawrence County, Ill., on January 31, 1837, and is a son of I. B. and Elizabeth (Curry) Robinson.
The grandfather of our subject, Squire Robinson, was a native of Virginia, and was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church for forty-eight years. He emigrated to Lexington County, Ky., and there the father of our subject was born. The former moved afterward to Lawrence County, Ill., where he died at the age of eighty-four. The father, who was a farmer. came to this State in 1834, and settled in Lawrence County. He is now living at the age of seventy-nine, in Marion County.
The mother of our subject was a daughter of James T. and Anna (Mounte) Curry, and was born in Indiana in 1812. The father was a native of Ireland, and Anna Mounts a native of Kentucky, and a daughter of Thomas Mounts, a native of Virginia, and a soldier of the Revolution. The old gentleman lived to be about one hundred years old, and one of the heirlooms of the family is a gold headed cane presented to him by Gen. Crawford, for some signal act of bravery performed in that sanguinary conflict.
The mother of our subject was the mother of nine children, of whom three are now living.
Mr. Robinson received a slight education from the common schools of Southeastern Illinois, but is mainly what may be called a self made man. In early life, he worked on a farm, until he was eighteen, and then commenced the study of law in the office of Charles A. Beecher, of Fairfield, he having come to Wayne County with his parents in 1843. He was admitted to the bar in 1860, and immediately began the practice of his profession in this circuit.
In January, 1861, he was elected Journal Clerk, of the Illinois Legislature, but resigned the position in April of the same year.
He enlisted in Company G, of the Eighteenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He was immediately elected Second Lieutenant, but upon reaching camp was detailed by Capt. U. S. Grant to act as Adjutant of the regiment. This position he occupied until November, 1861, when he was honorably discharged by the regimental surgeon on account of disability. Upon him return home, he resumed the practice of law, and ever since has devoted his entire time to that profession, except when called upon by the people to accept some office of trust and profit.
In 1864, he was a delegate from the Eleventh Congressional District, of Illinois, to National Republican Convention, held at Baltimore, and assisted in the nomination of Lincoln. He was also a delegate to the Republican Convention at Chicago, in 1868, which nominated Grant. In 1870, he was nominated for Congress in the Thirteenth District, against Judge S. S. Marshall. In 1872, he acted as Presidential Elector, and was a delegate in 1876 to the Cincinnati Convention.
He served as railroad and warehouse Commissioner of the State from February, 1881, until March, 1883.
Subject has done quite a good deal for the improvement of this county. In Fairfield, he owns several valuable pieces of property, and has erected the finest residence in the city. He was the first proprietor of the land upon which the town of Cisne now stands, and by his direction the village was platted off. and the town named from an old citizen. In the county he also owns some 1,600 acres. At present, he is the senior member of the firm of Robinson, Boggs & John (established in 1871).
Mr. Robinson was married, in Fairfield, Ill., on November 20, 1864, to Miss Eliza Julia Smith, who was born in Albion, Ill., in 1845. This lady is the daughter of Moses and Anna (Stone) Smith, natives of England, and the mother of five children, viz.,
Mrs. Robinson is a member of the Episcopal Church.
Subject is a member of the Royal Arch Masons and the 1. 0. 0. F. fraternities of Fairfield. It is needless to say that Mr. Robinson is a stalwart of the stalwarts in the Republican party, and his devotion to his party is well known throughout Southern Illinois.
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