GAYLORD ROBINSON

GAYLORD ROBINSON, highly regarded among the business men of Iola, and universally respected as a citizen, came to Allen county March 1, 1870. He came out of Illinois, his native state, being born in Peoria county, November 21, 1841. His father, George Robinson, was a farmer who located in Peoria county in 1835 and opened up a pre-emption claim upon which he reared his family. He was born in Otsego county, New York, and the son of an Irishman. His birth occurred in 1794 and his death on his Illinois farm in 1872. He was a plain quiet citizen, without fuss or show or desire for place. He was reasonably successful in his vocation and brought up his children to be useful men and women. His brothers were: Thomas, John, David, Matthew and Charles. Thomas, David and Charles left no families.

George Robinson married Maria Gaylord who died in 1873, leaving the following children: William, of Brimfield, Illinois; Thomas, deceased; Abigail, deceased, wife of C. C. Cady; Eliza, wife of N. Dunlap, resides in Dunlap, Illinois; Harriet, now Mrs. J. M. Miller, of Galva, Illinois; Charles, of Memphis, Tennessee; Lucy, wife of J. A. Nelson, of Benton, Iowa; Fannie, of Webb City, Missouri, wife of R. Loeb; David Robinson, of Iola; George, of Webb City, Missouri; M. Gaylord; Emeline, deceased, married the late James L. Woodin, of Iola.

Until his entering the volunteer army Gaylord Robinson was a farmer. He enlisted August 11, 1862, at Peoria, Illinois, in Company G, Seventy-seventh Illinois Infantry. Captain John D. Rouse, Colonel D. P. Greer, 13th Army Corps. His regiment was in the Army of the Tennessee till the surrender of Vicksburg when it was placed in the department of the Gulf.

His division was the first to cross the Mississippi river when Grant's army was getting into the rear of Vicksburg. His first battle was at Arkansas Post, then followed Port Gibson and the other bloody ones leading up to the capture of Vicksburg. The Seventy-Seventh went to Matagorda Bay, Texas, late in the summer of 1863 but returned east in time to take part in Banks Expedition. At the battle of Sabine Cross Roads in this campaign our subject was captured and was confined in the Confederate military stockade at Tyler, Texas, till the end of the war. He was turned over to the Federal authorities in May and was mustered out July 6, 1865. He returned to civil pursuits in Illinois at once. He took up the trade of wagon-maker at Galva, with his brother and left the shop there to come to Kansas. He reached Iola with a capital of about thirty-five dollars. He did some building that summer but in the fall went into the wagon shop of Winans & Naylor. He was associated with L. H. Gorrell for a time in shop work and was joined by Weith & Cozine some years latter.[sic] The next five years Mr. Robinson spent on a farm near Iola which he traded, in 1885, for his Iola residence. He owns the west half of block 59, some of the most valuable property in the city.

Mr. Robinson was married in Iola March 1, 1876, to Elnora I. Proctor. Their children are: Agnes, wife John Thompson, and Theo P.

Mr. Robinson has taken a prominent and sincere interest in public affairs in Iola, having served on both the City Council and the Board of Education. He is a reliable and conservative business man and it is well for Iola that his lot has been cast with her.

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