agriculturist columnist county clerk farmer journalist justice of the peace pioneer postmaster writer author register of claims
Solon Robinson was born at Tolland, Connecticut, United States, on 21. 10. 1803. He was the fourth child of Jacob and Salinda (Ladd) Robinson and a descendant of the Rev. John Robinson, pastor of the Pilgrims at Leyden. He was the first American to settle on land that eventually would be named Crown Point, Indiana, United States.
An orphan at the age of ten, a carpenter's apprentice at fourteen, and a Yankee peddler at eighteen, he made his way alone in the world.
In 1828 he had become a cashier for a theatre in Cincinnati. Two years later, at Madison, Indiana, United States, the young man was writing for the local press and interested in the promotion of an urban land site near North Vernon. In the fall of 1834, because of a dearth of buyers, he disposed of most of his land and traveled to northern Indiana.
Here, in the wilderness, he opened a general store and soon built up a large trade with the Potawatomi Indians and incoming settlers. To preserve his own holdings and those of others, in the area then known as Robinson's Prairie, he formed a Squatters' Union in 1836 for protection against speculators and made it possible for some five hundred members to secure their land at government prices. After Lake County was organized in 1837, he served at various times as county clerk, justice of the peace, register of claims, and postmaster. At the county seat, Crown Point, on the first printing press in the region he published intermittently a small news sheet. Active in politics, he took a prominent part in the Log Cabin Convention at LaFayette in 1840. In 1847 he delivered a detailed address, later published under the title, History of Lake County. As early as 1837 Robinson began to contribute articles on various aspects of the frontier to the Albany Cultivator and other agricultural periodicals. Before 1840, in company with James Mercer Garnett, Henry L. Ellsworth, and others, he advocated the formation of a national agricultural society (Cultivator, May 1838) and in 1841 presided at a preliminary meeting held for that purpose in Washington.
The society had hoped to establish a national agricultural school and journal, but failure to receive an anticipated bequest made by James Smithson to the United States defeated this plan and was largely responsible for the premature dissolution of the organization.
Robinson's descriptions of rural life observed on his journey to and from Washington in 1841 were the first of his discerning travel sketches. During the next decade he made a number of tours, covering practically every state in the Union, and regularly reported his observations in the Cultivator, Prairie Farmer, and American Agriculturist, from which they were reprinted in the Southern Cultivator and other periodicals. These travel sketches today form an invaluable historical record of rural society of that period (see especially American Agriculturist, 1849-51). In 1852 at New York City he published a periodical called The Plow, and the following year became agricultural editor of the New York Tribune. His editorial work, combined with visits to various parts of the country, was largely responsible for the widespread circulation of the weekly edition of the Tribune and the subsequent national influence of that publication.
At Westchester, New York, Robinson conducted an experimental farm which provided the basis for many of his articles. He was the author of novels, short stories, and poetry, in addition to his travel sketches and agricultural articles. Illness in 1868--he suffered nearly all his life with tubercular tendencies--forced him to retire to Florida. Residing at Jacksonville, he published the Florida Republican, wrote for the New York Tribune, and carried on other literary work. He was the author of novels, short stories, and poetry, in addition to his travel sketches and agricultural articles.
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Active in politics, he took a prominent part in the Log Cabin Convention at LaFayette in 1840.
Residing at Jacksonville, he published the Florida Republican, wrote for the New York Tribune, and carried on other literary work.
Not one to let grass grow under his feet - literally - Robinson built a log cabin for his family in four days. He was the town's first postmaster and justice of the peace, and Lake County's first clerk, mapmaker and claims agent. He also was the first to develop a squatters union and built the first courthouse with $500 of his own money. The courthouse was used for more than just trials. It was used as a school, church, Sunday school and for elections. This community building was used until 1851. Robinson also was a writer and a serious journalist.
The simple, homely, and often humorous style of his essays, signed "Solon Robinson of Indiana, " reflected the personality of the author, and they soon won a large following. His enthusiasm and spirit carried conviction.
in October 1828, Solon Robinson married Mariah Evans of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. After the death of his first wife, by whom he had five children, he married, on 30. 06. 1872, Mary Johnson of Barton, Vermont, United States.
