J. D. Robson, owner and proprietor of the Robson Department Store, Augusta, Kans., is a progressive business man, and conducts one of the leading mercantile establishments of Butler county. Mr. Robson is a native of Scotland, born in Lin Lithgow in 1861, and is a son of Joshua Robson and Mary (Alice) Robson, both natives of Aberdeen, Scotland. They were the parents of nine children, seven of whom are living, as follows: Charles Edward, Washington, D. C.; Mathew, New York City; Mrs. Alice Carr, Middleborough, Scotland; Arthur Henry, John Thomas and Alexander St. Clair, all residing in Glasgow, Scotland, and J. D., the subject of this sketch.

J. D. Robson was reared to manhood in his native land and England and received a very good education, attending the North of England Agricultural College at Great Ayton. His father was a shoe manufacturer at Stockton, England, and young Robson learned the shoe maker's trade and was buyer for his father's factory and also worked in a retail store for a time. He then established a wholesale and retail business in which he was successful. While in Sunderland, England, buying leather one day he met Henry Conyers, a wholesale leatherman, who advised him to invest all he had in leather and also all he could borrow. Mr. Robson took his advice and made a handsome profit, enough to establish himself in business.

In 1884 he left England and came to America, locating at Pittsburgh, Pa., where he remained one year. He then went to St. Louis, Mo., and was in the employ of the J. G. Brandt Shoe Company as a retail salesman for three years, when he entered the employ of the Tenant Walker Shoe Company, afterwards the Tenant Stribling Shoe Company, as traveling salesman. Later he was employed by the Bradley and Metcalf Shoe Company, of Milwaukee, Wis., and in 1902 opened a racket store at Augusta, Kans., and a short time afterward installed a general stock of goods and opened a department store. His mercantile undertaking in Augusta was a success from the start, and he now carries an extensive stock of goods which compares favorably with department stores to be found in larger cities. Mr. Robson's varied experience as a manufacturer and wholesaler, is of inestimable value to him in the retail busnness.[sic] He knows the mercantile business from the beginning to the end. Since coming to Augusta he has taken an active part in the civil life of the town and has always been ready and willing to cooperate in any movement for the betterment or advancement of his adopted city.

J. D. Robson was married in 1901, to Miss Lillian B. Carter, of Emporia, Kans. Mrs. Robson comes from a prominent Kansas family, her parents having settled in Lyon county in the sixties. Her father, Simri Carter, is the oldest living member of the Emporia Masonic Lodge. He was born in Chatham county, North Carolina, January 29, 1838. He became a Mason in Monrovia, Ind., in 1862, by special dispensation receiving the three degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry in one evening on

account of the Civil war. He joined Emporia Lodge September 24, 1868. He became Master in 1901. On account of his skill and knowledge he was made "the official poster" of the lodge, and all candidates from 1902 to 1914 became his pupils. Mr. and Mrs. Robson have one child, Robert, aged twelve, a student in the Augusta schools. Mr. Robson is a Knights Templar Mason and a member of the Mystic Shrine; the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Woodmen of the World and the Anti-Horse Thief Association.

Mrs. Abner Hadley, an aunt of Mrs. Robson, was the first white woman to come to Emporia, Kans., after the town was laid out.

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