Robinson, Charles, 1818-1894

Charles Robinson was born at Hardwick, Mass., July 21, 1818. He was educated at Hadley Academy, Amherst Academy, and Amherst College. For 8 years he studied medicine and in 1843 opened his own practice in Belchertown, Mass. He married Sarah Adams the same year, but she died in 1846. In 1849 he went to California for his health, and while there became a newspaper editor, was indicted for murder but acquitted, and was elected to the Legislature. He returned to Massachusetts in 1851, resumed his medical practice, and married Sara T.D. Lawrence. In 1854 he came to Kansas as an agent for the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Co. and quickly became a leader of the antislavery movement. He served as the 1st state governor, 1861-63; a University of Kansas regent, 1864-74 & 1893-94; a member of the Legislature; and superintendent of Haskell Institute (now Haskell Indian Nations University) (Lawrence, Kan.), 1887-88. He died Aug. 17, 1894.

Sara Tappan Doolittle Lawrence was born at Belchertown, Mass., July 12, 1827. She was educated in the classical school at Belchertown and at Salem Academy. Sara shared the antislavery fight in Kansas with her husband and in 1856 published a book about the struggle, "Kansas, Its Interior and Exterior Life." She spent much effort trying to correct untrue published accounts of Kansas history and prevent John Brown from achieving hero status. She died Nov. 15, 1911.

Charles Robinson (1818-1894) had a long and varied career. This collection relates to his interest in Kansas, and his eventual move there in 1854 as an agent of the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company. He became a leader in the movement to have Kansas admitted as a free state, and under the Topeka Constitution of 1855, Robinson was elected governor. This effort failed, and in 1861 when Kansas was finally admitted to the Union under the Wyandotte Constitution, Robinson was again elected governor and assumed office. From 1864-1874 he was a regent of the University of Kansas. He re-entered the political arena in 1882 and served in the State House of Representatives as well as the Senate. In 1893, he was again appointed a regent of the University of Kansas, which office he held until his death in 1894. Sara Tappan Doolittle Robinson (1827-1911) shared with her husband the fight for a free Kansas. She became a noted historian of that period of Kansas history.

Additional biographical information is available in the finding aid to LG 16.

Charles Robinson served as the first governor of Kansas. From 1864 to 1874 he was a regent of the University of Kansas and again in 1893 to 1894. He served two terms in the state Senate, one in 1874 and again in 1876. Later, from 1887 to 1889, he was superintendent of Haskell Institute in Lawrence. Under his superintendent a policy of industrial training was begun at Haskell. For additional biographical information see Dictionary of American Biography, vol. 16 and The Life of Charles Robinson, by F. W. Blackmar.

NOTE: The Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka, has the largest collection of private papers of Charles and Sara T. D. Robinson. See the Guide to the Microfilm Edition of the Private Papers of Charles and Sara T. D. Robinson, 1834-1911.