Taylor County, West Virginia Biography of Jedediah Waldo ROBINSON ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: Material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor. Submitted by Valerie Crook, , March 1999 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 83 JEDEDIAH WALDO ROBINSON, member of the Grafton law firm of Warder & Robinson, has practiced law in his native county sixteen years, and in his capacity as a good lawyer and public-spirited citizen has achieved no little prominence in the communitv and its affairs. Mr. Robinson was born in the county, near Grafton, June 11. 1881, and he bears a family name that has enjoyed honor- able standing for many years. His grandfather, William Robinson, was born in Barbour County, was a farmer and shoemaker, was routed out of his native community by Con- federate raiders at the time of the Civil war, and remained in Taylor County until gome time in the seventies, when he re- turned to Barbour County where he died in 1897. when about seventy years of age, and is buried at the Taylor's Drain Cemetery. His wife was Mary Sayre, and their children were: Frank P., whose record follows; Mrs. Isaac Means, of Evans- ville, West Virginia; Rev. John S., of Fairmont; Mrs. T. A. Wilson, who died in Barbour County; Mrs. Thomas Allen, who died in Iowa; Charles W., of Fairmont; Miss Mary, who died at Charleston; Mrs. S. H. White, of Clarksburg; and Judge Ira E., former judge of the Supreme Court of Appeals, and now commissioner of war minerals in the Department of the Interior at Washington. Frank Pierce Robinson, father of the Grafton attorney, was born in Barbour County November 5. 1852, had a common school education, and having been trained to farming he has followed it as a permanent career. His home has been near Grafton for over forty years. While without professional interest in politics, he served on the county text-book board and the district board of education, and in 1912 was elected as a republican to the County Court, serving six years, and during the last two years was president of the Court. His father's farm was the environment of J. W. Robinson for a number of years. He attended country schools, grad- uated from the Grafton High School at eighteen, and then entered West Virginia University, where he pursued both the literary and law courses, receiving his A. B. degree in 1905 and the LL. B. degree in 1906. While in Morgantown he was chosen editor of the University weekly paper, and was a member of the "Mountain," (the English club), the only scholarship and honor society of the University at that time. He was also a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity. He was admitted to the bar in Taylor County in 1906 and to the bars of other counties later, then to the Supreme Court of Appeals of the state and also the Federal District and Circuit Courts and the Circuit Courts of Appeal for the third and fourth circuits. He had the good fortune to begin prac- tice with the distinguished lawyer, his uncle, Hon. Ira E. Robinson, and when the latter, in October, 1907. began his long service on the bench, his practice remained with his nephew and Hugh Warder, the firm of Warder & Robinson. This firm has an extensive general practice in all the state and federal courts and are attorneys for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. The work done by Mr. Robinson as a citizen is indicated by mentioning the fact that he served as president of the Grafton Chamber of Commerce, of which he is a director; is director and former president of the Y. M. C. A.; is a member of the good roads advisory committee of Taylor County, delegated with the duty of assuring the wisp expenditure of the proceeds of the million dollar bond issue for the construction of good roads; and is secretary of the Grafton Rotary Club. He gave his first presidential vote to Roosevelt in 1904, and has been steadfastly a republican, though hardly in politics at all. He is a member of the Official Board of the Methodist Episcopal Church. During the war he found opportunity to render some useful service in connection with the various drives and auxiliary organizations. In Taylor County, September 1, 1909, he married Miss Sarah Poe. She was born in this county June 21,1879, daugh- ter of Ed M. and Amelia (Williams) Poe. Mrs. Robinson ac- quired a commercial education, and is active in the D. A. R., in the Chamber of Commerce and other community movements. Their three children are: William, born in 1910; James, born in 1914; and Charles, born in 1917.