Therefore, the biography of William G. Robinson belongs more properly perhaps to the history of Fayette Township than any other in the county since, as an early county officer, he naturally had to spend much of his time at Burlington, then the County Seat. Some time ago, his granddaughter,
Mrs. W. D. Hambleton, near Ironton, informed us that she had evidence that he first resided near Haskellville, now Athalia, in Rome Township. And thus, we have another example of how some of these pioneers moved about and how their history may be considered a part of several communities, towns, townships, and, frequently, counties and states.
But to return to Providence M. Robinson, father of Mrs. Hambleton. According to Hardesty’s record, he was born on 5 December 1824 in Fayette Township. And this agrees with the information furnished by Mrs. Hambleton to the effect that her father was born in 1824 in the stone building in Burlington, which served as the county jail and the home of the sheriff while his father was serving as County Sheriff.
Providence M. Robinson, thus apparently by both heredity and environment, was perhaps somewhat more fortunate than the average pioneer boy. Even at that early date, Burlington offered some educational advantages, and young Robinson must have taken advantage of them. We find that, in 1845, he entered Symmes Township as a schoolteacher.
Enlisted in the War
According to our best available information, Symmes Township and Lawrence County, Ohio, owe a great deal to the Robinsons. And Symmes Township, in particular, owes much to Providence M. Robinson. Not only did he teach one of the first schools in that part of the country, but he is accredited with organizing the first Sunday School in the township in 1855.
Like a great deal of other pioneer work, that of Mr. Robinson was interrupted by the Civil War. He enlisted on 11 May 1864 in Company D, 126 Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served in the Army of the Potomac during the final campaigns of the war under General Grant. Although not in the service so long as some, it is probable that few others saw any harder service.
Those familiar with the history of the Civil War know that few military campaigns in history have been more arduous, for both sides, than around Richmond, Virginia. During the final year of the conflict, Mr. Robinson sustained injuries. However, of a rather peculiar kind, it appears. A shot or shell did not hurt him, but due to the almost incessant marching to which his company was subjected, he became lame in his left leg. He was finally discharged, although not until the conflict was practically over and the victory won for his country.
As we have noted, Mr. Robinson had already married Luanna Stewart on 2 March 1848. They had several children before he left his home to fight for “liberty and union.” After spending some time in Symmes Township as a teacher, he also became a farmer and settled down for a time near the hamlet of Sherritt’s, which became his post office address.
Had Large Family
Mr. and Mrs. Providence M. Robinson were the parents of the following named children: John S., Gerald C., Rachel M., Perry S., Sarah L., Mary A. F., Elizabeth V., and Rufus Robinson.
And so, we see that this son-in-law of the pioneers’ John C. and Sarah McCartney Stewart had a career in public service, and his private life appears to have been similar to those of several of their sons.
They all had, what today would be considered large families, and considering each of half a dozen such families to have had half a dozen children each, who married and raised similarly sized families, one can easily imagine how numerous and widespread much be the descendants of but one pioneer couple.
Another interesting thing about many of these pioneers was their versatility. They appear to have been equally capable with a hoe and a gun, in the cornfield and on the battlefield, in politics and the church, while those who had education enough to read, write and solve a few mathematical problems frequently put in a few months of the year as teachers.
Thus we read in an old account of Providence M. Robinson that he was a teacher, solder, farmer, and preacher, and no doubt during his career, in a time and region which might be considered rather primitive at its best, he found time and opportunity to turn his hand to many jobs now considered quite unrelated to any of the professions just mentioned.
Of all the townships of Lawrence County, Ohio demanding the best of its early settlers, Symmes Township was perhaps the most exacting due to its remoteness from the Ohio River and being off the beaten trail of civilization, so to speak.
Its fine forests, which also indicate the soil’s fertility, had to be cleared for farmers to have ground on which they might raise crops. And the hilly surface also proved a handicap to farming. But despite all this, these early settlers and their immediate descendants transformed it into one of the best known, perhaps, of the agricultural regions of the county. However, it also lies partly, at least, within the old iron and coal section of Southern Ohio.
Source: The Herald-Advertiser 8 January 1939
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