Escambia County AlArchives Biographies.....Robbins, Charles W. October 9 1854 - June 25 1891
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Ann Anderson alabammygrammy@aol.com May 23, 2004, 12:12 am

Author: Brant & Fuller (1893)
   CHARLES W. ROBBINS. -Conspicuous among the successful self-made men of
southern Alabama is Charles W. Robbins, editor and proprietor of the Brewton
Banner, the official organ of Escambia county. Mr. Robbins's ancestors, bath
paternal and maternal, were eastern people, and early residents of Connecticut,
in the town of Rocky Hill, in which state his father, George W. Robbins, was
born in the year 1824. By occupation George W. Robbins, in early life, was a
tinner, which trade he followed for some years in his native state, and
afterward migrated to Alabama, Monroe county, where he was similarly engaged
until his death, which occurred in 1864. He served with distinction in the
Confederate army during the greater part of the Civil war, and while on the
field contracted the disease which ultimately culminated in his death. His wife,
whose maiden name was Ann M. Stanley, also a native of Connecticut, went south
some years before the war in response to a demand from Alabama for teachers, and
while engaged in educational work, met and married Mr. Robbins, about 1845, in
Monroe county. This marriage resulted in the birth of eight children, whose
names are as follows: Caroline W., wife of C. H. Flagg, of West Hartford, Conn.;
Georgia A., wife of F. W. Gilbert, of South Windsor, Conn.; Eunice A., widow of
A. D. Sampey, Evergreen, Ala.; Truman, died in childhood; Ida M., wife of John
W. Gridley, Southington, Conn.; Charles W., Edward S., of Evergreen, and Kate
G., who died in infancy. The family was raised in Monroe and Conecuh counties,
Ala., in the latter of which Mrs. Robbins is still living, her home being in the
town of Evergreen. Charles W. Robbins was born in the county of Conecuh, October
9, 1854, and at the early age of eleven, by reason of the death of his father,
was thrown largely upon his own resources, in consequence of which his
educational training was for some years considerably limited. In 1868, he
accompanied his mother to Connecticut, where better opportunities for
intellectual culture were offered, and there he completed the common school
course and afterward became a student at the Hartford high school, a superior
educational institution, from which he graduated in 1875, after an attendance of
four years. On entering the schools of Hartford he presented the spectacle of a
large boy in a small class, but by the closest kind of application he soon
surpassed his classmates, and at the time of his graduation had far outstripped
many larger and older pupils of the high school. After taking a business course
in the Osgood commercial college,, where he was for one session employed as
instructor, Mr. Robbins became principal of the West Hartford high school, where
he was engaged for two years, and for sometime thereafter taught at Bloomfield,
Windsor and other places, and earned the reputation of a very able and
successful instructor. In 1881 he gratified a long felt desire to return south,
and removing to his native state was for four years thereafter identified with
the educational work in the towns of Belleville, Castleberry, Pollard and
Brewton. Having had some experience in the field of journalism, Mr. Robbins, in
1887, in partnership with C. D. Henderson and J. E. Findley, established, at
Pollard, the Standard Gauge, a weekly paper of which, in a few months, he became
the sole proprietor. After issuing the paper for sometime at Pollard, he
concluded that the county seat afforded a more promising field. Accordingly he
removed his plant to the latter place, and puchasing the Brewton Banner, and
merging the two offices into one, soon succeeded in building up a large
circulation and remunerative advertising patronage. In 1888 a destructive
conflagration visited the town, and, among other buildings completely destroyed,
was the office of the competing paper, the Escambia Times, since which event,
Mr. Robbins has occupied the field alone, his paper being the only one in
Escambia county. Mr. Robbins is a commendable example of what energy, coupled
with a well formed determination to succeed, can accomplish in the face of
discouraging circumstances. He is, in the true sense of the word, a self-made
man, and in the field of journalism, as well as the teacher's work, has acquired
a reputation which places him in the front rank of both of those professions.
Mr. Robbins is by no means a place seeker, though frequently urged by the people
of Escambia county to accept official position. A democrat in politics, he is
not a partisan, and his paper is noted for the wise and moderate tone with which
it discusses all public questions. On the 14th day of February, 1889, Mr.
Robbins and Lillie A., daughter of H. T. and Sarah A. Parker, were united in the
bonds of wedlock, a union blessed with one child, Charles S. Mr. and Mr. Robbins
are members of the Presbyterian church of Brewton.



Additional Comments:
from "Memorial Record of Alabama", Vol. I, p. 996, 999
Published by
Brant & Fuller (1893)
Madison, WI

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