William B. Robinson Biography


	This biography appears on pages 635-636 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				WILLIAM B. ROBINSON. 

	William B. Robinson is a traveling salesman residing at Scotland, 
South Dakota, and for many years has lived in this state. He was born 
in Jersey City, New Jersey, on the 19th of September, 1854, a son of 
John and Jane (Norris) Robinson, natives of Yorkshire, England, and the 
Scottish highlands respectively. They continued to reside in Jersey 
City until their deaths. In 1872 William B. Robinson came west, 
locating in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where for seven years he clerked in a 
store. At the end of that time he was sent out by the Oshkosh Lumber 
Company to establish yards in the new territory then being opened for 
settlement in the Dakotas. It was on the 1st of September, 1879, that 
he first came to this territory and he soon after established his 
residence in Scotland. The branch yards which he opened besides the one 
in Scotland were those at Parker, Marion Junction, Sioux Falls, Freeman 
and Running Water. 

	After spending seven years in the employ of the Oshkosh Lumber 
Company Mr. Robinson opened a meat market in Scotland, which he 
conducted until 1891, when he was appointed postmaster by President 
Harrison. At the expiration of his term of four years he was elected 
auditor and served in that capacity for the same length of time, after 
which he again entered the lumber trade, this time in the employ of the 
Fullerton Lumber Company, and he remained with them for seven years. 
Since 1906 he has been traveling in the interest of the Haley & Lang 
Company of Sioux City, Iowa, dealers in fruits and produce. He is a 
valued representative of this firm, as he is enterprising and 
aggressive and brings in a considerable volume of business annually. 

	Mr. Robinson was married in Oshkosh on the 3d of June, 1883, to 
Miss Amanda Sophia Cowham, a daughter of John and Johanna (Melgren) 
Cowham, natives of England and Sweden respectively. Five children were 
born to Mr. and Mrs. Robinson, namely: Charles Arthur, who has charge 
of the Scotland Telephone Exchange, in which he is interested; Carrie 
Lillian, the wife of William Wilson, a merchant of Audubon, Iowa; Mary 
Elnora, deceased; and John Kenneth and Helen Lucile, at home. 

	Mr. Robinson is a republican in politics and has served in most 
of the local offices. He was a member of the last legislature that met 
at Yankton and did not support the bill that moved the capital to 
Pierre. He is identified with the Masons at Scotland, holding 
membership in the blue lodge and chapter. He and his family are very 
fond of outdoor life and enjoy to the utmost their cottage and boat 
house which are at the site of Scotland Mills on Jim river, spending 
much of the summertime there. They enjoy boating, bathing and fishing, 
surrounded by nature's landscape garden in one of the most beautiful 
river valleys of the west.