Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens
Lawrence County Pennsylvania 1897
[p. 404] a leading citizen of New Castle, was born in Union township, Lawrence Co., July 5, 1832, and is a son of George and Jane (Paisley) Robinson, and grandson of George Robinson, Sr. The latter was a shoemaker by trade, and plied that trade in his younger days, but followed agricultural pursuits the greater portion of his life. Our subject's mother was born in Lancaster County, and was a daughter of Robert Paisley, also a native of Lancaster County, and of Scotch-Irish descent. After coming to Lawrence County he bought a farm, and interested himself in agricultural labors to good advantage, providing liberally in this way for his children, and being widely respected as a representative farmer. In his politics, he was a Democrat of the old school. In the Seceder Church, of which he was a devoted and faithful member, he held the office of elder.
Our subject's father was a citizen of Union township at the time of his marriage. When his parents came to Lawrence County, the country was still in its first stage of development; his mother's family crossed the mountains in what was known farther west at a later date as a prairie schooner, the members of the family walking the most of the time, as that was much less tiresome than riding in the rude conveyance, which was not provided with springs as are the wagons of to-day. When they came to the present site of New Castle, they found a clearing of no very great extent in the woods which covered mountains and valleys, and in the clearing there were less than a dozen houses, mostly built of logs. George Robinson was a carpenter by trade, and worked at it in New Castle and in the territory contiguous. He was a Republican in politics, and a member of the Seceders Church. He lived to be sixty years of age, dying about the year 1877. Two children were born to our subject's parents: Robert Paisley, and George, an insurance agent of the city of Pittsburg, Pa. George Robinson's second marriage was with Jane Best, but no children were added to the family.
Our subject was reared in Union township, and attended the schools of New Castle. When sixteen years of age, he began to work in the nail mill, and continued to be thus employed for ten years. Then for three or four years he kept a news and tobacco store in New Castle, which he at length disposed of and accepted a proffered position in the shoe department of one of the largest stores in the city, where he remained some seven years. The two following years he held a similar position in another establishment in the city. By his long connection with the shoe trade, he has thoroughly acquainted himself with all matters considered to pertain in the least to that business, and has shown himself to be a very capable, efficient, and valuable clerk, for he is very popular, and has his circle of patrons who will buy of none but him.
Mr. Robinson was married Dec. 16, 1855, to Jane Davis, daughter of Robert and Mary (Stewart) Davis. The father of Mary Stewart was a native of Scotland. The following seven children were born of our subject's first union: Robert H., deceased; George, deceased; Mary Jane, wife of J. H. Douglas, whose biography we have placed on another page; Annie, who married Joseph Harris, the proprietor of a meat market of New Castle; William, who married Esther McQuisten, and who is employed in the P. & W. R. R. freight office; Lizzie, deceased; and Charles, deceased. Mrs. Robinson died Sept. 24, 1879, aged forty-seven years. Our subject was again married Oct. 12, 1893, to Louise M. Connell, who was born in Franklin County, and who is a daughter of William T. and Rebecca (Turner) Connell, the former a son of Edward and Ruhama (Todd) Connell, and the latter a daughter of James and Nancy Turner. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson are members of the Central Presbyterian Church, and interest themselves in all the work of that organization. Mr. Robinson has been a member of the Royal Templars since 1887. He is a Republican in politics.
Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens Lawrence County Pennsylvania
Biographical Publishing Company, Buffalo, N.Y., 1897
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Updated: 5 Jun 2001