CAPTAIN THOMAS J. ROBINSON. Captain Thomas J. Robinson was born in Appleton, Me., July 28, 1818. His father and mother were, respectively, of English and German extraction, though both were natives of the state of Maine. Young Robinson's earlier years were spent on a farm, where his industry was proverbial, notwithstanding a life of that sort was uncongenial. While in his teens he learned the cooper's trade, at which he earned the money to school himself. Having finished the course of study at Kents Hill Academy, he immediately afterwards taught school in his home neighborhood, and with eminent success. In 1838 he came to Illinois. It required thirty days for him to make the journey. He settled at White Hall, where he taught school for three years, and with a success which won him an enviable reputation throughout Greene and adjoining counties. In the meantime, he was appointed, by Governor Carlin, assessor for Greene County, and made the first perfect list of property ever scheduled for its taxpayers; a list which, it is said, to this day, is referred to for its completeness and business-like classification. In coming to the West his journey, for the most part, was made by water. He was greatly interested in everything pertaining to his travels and the problem of water transportation proved to him an absorbing question. For a practical understanding of this subject, he engaged himself as a clerk on a Mississippi steamer, running between New Orleans and Memphis, at which post he remained for two seasons, after which he made a visit to his native state. Having spent a year at his old home, he returned to White Hall, by way of Chicago, in 1843. This city, at that time, had a population of but nine thousand, and its surroundings, coupled with its shifting population, were far from furnishing young Robinson with any data to warrant the conclusion that it could ever be made a permanent commercial centre, notwithstanding he lived to see it become one of the world's great cities. In commenting on this subject, in after years, he said: "The people there, during my first visit, seemed to be staying because they could not get away," adding, as an illustration of the then standard of values, "I could have bought, for $50, the ground, at the corner of Jackson and Clark Streets, now occupied by the Grand Pacific Hotel." On his return to White Hall, he acceded to the urgent request of its people to resume the office of teaching, and for another two years he engaged in that vocation. The four succeeding years he acted as deputy in the Treasurer's and County Clerk's office, where his obliging habits and careful business methods, as a public officer, won for him great popularity among the people of Greene County. |