Allegheny County PA Archives Obituaries.....Robson, Thomas January 13, 1917
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Judy West judyrw@sbcglobal.net October 19, 2009, 6:24 pm

Pittsburgh Press January 15, 1917
Obit in the Pittsburgh Press - January 15, 1917

FUNERAL OF THOMAS ROBSON

Funeral services of Thomas Robson aged 81, picturesque Pittsburger, who died 
Saturday evening, will be held at the home of his son, John Robson, 148 
Woodlawn Ave., Carrick late this afternoon.  Internment will be in the 
Southside Cemetery.  With his death Pittsburgh has lost one of her unique 
characters.  He was the man who five years ago was described as being the 
double of Andrew Carnegie, "except in summer, when he shaves clean".  He was 
born in Sunderland, England, and when 19 ran away from home and enlisted in 
the British navy.  He was in the thick of things at Sebastopol (jrw’s note 
Sevastopol, Russia  Crimean War), and later was one of Florence Nightingale’s 
aids in Constantinople (jrw’s note - Crimean War 1854). In 1855 he 
participated in the bombardment of Sweburg (jrw’s note - Sveaborg, Finland 9 
Aug. 1855 Crimean War).  He was once put on watered grog for 10 days for 
inadvertently shouldering a prince, whom he did not recognize.  At the 
outbreak of the Civil War, for a petty misdemeanor he lost his shoulder 
stripes in the British navy, and coming to America "enlisted with the 
Yankees".  He was aboard the St. Lawrence in Hampton Roads when the Merrimac 
made her unsuccessful attempt to sink it.  Robson was detailed as a nurse when 
yellow fever broke out on the St Lawrence when the ship went to Key West as 
the flagship.  He returned from the war to Pittsburg with $1900 navy prize 
money, met Rachel Little, who was then "in the service of William Thaw’s 
father & mother in Smithfield St., and married her in February 1867."  He was 
retired from the employ of Jones & Laughlin (jrw’s note - Steel Works Company) 
20 years ago.


Additional Comments:
Served in U. S. Navy under an alias.  Born in Bishopwearmouth,Durham,England 
on October 18, 1835 to John and Jane Campbell Robson.

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