Person:James Robison (12)

HON. J. B. ROBISON.

The agricultural class of Decatur county has no better or more progressive representative than the Hon. J. B. Robison, who is now living retired in Greensburg, after a very busy, and useful career. His family has been actively associated with the development of this county for almost four-score years, during which period they have strongly upheld all measures for improvement and advancement, and from a wilderness they witnessed the transformation of the country into a fertile farmland, aiding materially in the grand work.

The father of our subject, Andrew Robison, of Franklin county, Pennsylvania, came to this state in 1821, a young man, and took up his abode in Fugit township. There he improved a farm and devoted himself to its cultivation until his death, in 1853. In his youth he had learned the trade of a tanner, and he followed that calling for a year or two after his arrival in this county. Politically he was a man of strong convictions, and, as a stanch Whig, was one of the first men in this section to agitate the suppression of slavery. For many years he was a ruling elder in the Presbyterian church, and his daily life was in full accord with the noble faith which was his anchor in the storms and trials which he encountered. He married Mary Donnell and two of their children grew to maturity: Mrs. Hanna McCoy and J. B., subject of this review.

The birth of the Hon. J. B. Robison took place on the old family homestead in Fugit township, July 11, 1834. There he lived as boy and man, and this property, comprising two hundred and forty acres, now belongs to him. He continued to carry on the farm, long ago considered one of the best in the county, until 1896, when he retired to enjoy a well earned rest. To the original homestead he added other land until it now comprises five hundred acres. For years he was an extensive dealer in and shipper of live stock, and in this branch of business made a snug little fortune.

Mr. Robison was a soldier in the war of the Rebellion for a short time. As a citizen he has been known as a true patriot, eager to promote the interests of the people. He has given his political allegiance to the Republican party, and in 1880 was honored by being elected to the state legislature. Again, in 1888, and in the sessions of 1889- 90 and 1891-2, he represented this county in the general assembly. He has been a member of the Presbyterian church for many years and has long acted as an elder in the congregation.

The marriage of Mr. Robison and Margaret Meek, of this county, was solemnized May 19, 1863. A son and two daughters bless this union, namely: William E., an enterprising young farmer, now managing the family homestead; Stella, who is the wife of A. M. Reed, of Sandusky, Indiana; Clara, who is living at home with her parents.

Hon. James B. Robison - Ex-Member of the Legislature, City Councilman And a Retired Farmer

Twice a member of the state legislature, a successful stock shipper for the past half century, an extensive land owner. James B. Robison is an unassuming, quiet citizen of the city, wearing easily the honors of councilman-at-large, and enjoying the comforts of life that belong to the retired farmer. Mr. Robison came from Franklin county, Pennsylvania.

His father, Andrew Robison. Jr., located in Fugit township in 1821. He was then twenty-one years old, and a tanner by trade. He opened up a tan-yard one and a half miles south of Clarksburg, on a farm now owned by Everett Hamilton. He operated the tan-yard about two years. In 1824 he married Miss Mary Donnell, a daughter of Squire Samuel Donnell, and soon afterwards bought a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, then in the woods, near the present site of Kingston. This farm was the home place, and it is still owned by J. B. Robison. He afterwards bought one hundred and twenty acres in the neighborhood, making two hundred and eighty acres, which he owned at the time of his death, which occurred July 23, 1852, from an attack of pneumonia. The mother, Mary Donnell, was born July 5, 1803. She died in this city in 1890, at the advanced age of eighty-seven. She had for some time made her home with her daughter, Mrs. Austin McCoy. The family of Andrew and Mary Robison consisted of four children, two of whom died in early years. The two who lived to maturity and still survive, are
- James Buchannan Robison, the subject of this article, and
- Elizabeth Hanna, who married Joseph Austin McCoy. Mr. McCoy was a well known famrer and local politician. He died in this city in 1892. His widow lives in St. Louis, Missouri, with her daughter, Mrs. Cole, whose husband is a ticket agent for the Big Four railroad at that place.

James B., though a Pennsylvania extraction, was not named in honor for President James Buchannon, but for Dr. James Buchannan, a distinguished physician from Pennsylvania, who visited the Robison's here about the time a new name was needed in the family. Mr. Robison continued to live on the farm until sixty years of his life had been passed. From the age of nineteen he had been a stock shipper, and in connection with a scientific farming and the raising of fine stock, he made of it all a profitable business. He and his
son, William E. Robison, jointly own six hundred acres of the best farming land in the county. Four hundred acres (including the old home farm) are in Fugit township, and managed by the son. Two hundred acres lie east of Greensburg, a part of it being the Bracken farm, formerly cultivated by John L. Bracken as a fruit farm.

James B. Robison was born in Fugit township, July 11, 1823. He was married to Miss Margaret E. Meek, May 19, 1863. To them were born three children, all of whom are living.
- The oldest, William E., is a farmer in Fugit township;
- Stella married A. M. Reed.,and they live on the old David Patton farm, one and a half miles west of the city, on the Columbus road;
- Clara married George B. Davis, and they live in this city, on Central avenue, near the Carnegie Library.
Both of Mr. Robison's sons-in-law are energetic men, but Mr. Reed has a more especial political prominence. Among the legislative notes in a city paper recently appeared the following, which is apropos to this mention: "it would be hard to find a busier man around the halls of the Indiana Legislature than A. M. Reed, chief of the journal force in the Senate. Mr. Reed 'takes his pen in hand' and works just like the rest of the clerks. He is at his desk early and late. He lives at Greensburg, where he takes an active part in everything that looks like politics. That's how he happened to be at the head of the journal force of the Senate.

Mr. Robison has always been a Republican. His father was, from the earliest days of the anti-slavery agitation, an abolitionist. He had voted for James G. Birney for President in the campaign in 1844, when the presidential tickets were, James K. Polk, Democrat; Henry Clay, Whig, and James 0. Birney, Anti-slavery.: In 1881 he served a term as representative from Decatur county in the state legislature. in 1891 he again representated Decatur county. Mr. Robison claims no individual credit, neither does he seek to evade any criticism for acts connected with his legislative service. True, the "dog law"-the law that provided that "dogs should wear collars," was roundly abused for a time, but the same law that was criticised as "Buck Robison's dog law," is in a slightly modified form, the present popular dog law. These positions, with the exception of the one he now holds-councilman-at-large for the city-constitute the sum of his political preferments. He belongs to the Presbyterian church, as did his parents, and as do also his children. He was a soldier in the war of the rebellion for a short period. Mr. Robison partially retired from the activities of life when he removed to this city in 1896, the day after the election of McKinley, and now lives in a commodious home at 405 North Broadway.