George Robinson and his Family

[BettyO]

Found this old image of George Robinson and family circa 1901.

Robinson is sitting on the lower front step on the left -


   

[RJNorton]

Wonderful photo, Betty! The hairline looks like what I remember from another (younger, I think) photo I've seen of him. He's buried in Arlington, and Dave posted photos of his grave and his wife's grave here.

[L Verge]

And Blaine Houmes has a great biographical article on Robinson in the February issue of the Surratt Courier, which should come back from the printer this week.

[RJNorton]

Kudos to Dr. Blaine Houmes for his outstanding research. I just finished reading the article, and it is full of information about George Foster Robinson. From his photo I never realized Robinson only weighed approximately 100 pounds (at the time of Powell's attack). Dr. Houmes also included a photo of George's wife, Aurora Clark Robinson. I had never previously seen a photo of her. Great job, Blaine!

[BettyO]

Congratulations, Blaine!

A WONDERFUL article on George Robinson. Thanks so very much for this enlightening look at Seward's savior! It's really good to know so much about Robinson and his family. His wife was lovely (love the name - Aurora.) And it's nice to know that they both permanently "reside" at Arlington. Well done!

Folk, don't miss this one -

[Rsmyth]

Due to the weather, the mail here in PA has been slow. I just received my Courier and want to commend Blaine on a well researched and well written article. There was plenty I did not know about the man (Robinson). This also leads me to two questions; the first concerns the medal. Four were originally struck, one gold, one bronze and two silver. Robinson received the gold and bronze, Does anyone know why two silver medals were cast and what happened to them?
Secondly, George's mother, brothers and sister are buried in Poland Corner Cemetery in Hartford, Maine, where there is a cenotaph to him. I always thought this is where he was buried in Maine.
Lastly, George's mother, Deborah Thomas Robinson, died some 20 years before his father. When his father remarried, he named his first born Deborah Ann Robinson Thorn.

[Linda Anderson]

Fascinating article, Blaine! I didn't know that Robinson had such a hard time financially after Powell's attack.

His nemesis, Margaret Coleman, stayed with the Sewards until they went back to New York in 1869 then she worked as the housekeeper for Charles Sumner. After he died in 1874, Sumner's friends got her a job in the Treasury Department where she remained until 1901 when she could no longer work there due to ill health (she was in her eighties by then). She was replaced by her niece, another Margaret Coleman.

The University of Rochester has Robinson's bronze medal. I saw it when I was there last summer.

"A bronze medal in the collection bears the inscription "'Awarded to George E. Robinson by Act of Congress, March 1, 1871, for his heroic conduct on the 14th day of April, 1865, in saving the life of the Honorable William H. Seward, then Secretary of State.'"

http://www.lib.rochester.edu/index.cfm?PAGE=3363

[Rsmyth]

Well, now I wonder if there were additional medals minted as the curator (Olga Tsapina) of the Huntington told me that a bronze copy of the medal which was given to Robinson along with the gold medal was donated by Mrs. Myrtle D. Robinson on September 18th 1961 to the Huntington Library.

[Linda Anderson]

I found this in Archivegrid about the Papers of George Foster Robinson in the Huntington Library.

"included are...a duplicate copy of the Congressional gold medal. (The original gold medal was donated by Myrtle D. Robinson to the United States National Museum of History in 1947)."

http://beta.worldcat.org/archivegrid/rec...d=84653522

Here is some information on the gold medal.

"The original gold medal is in the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian, located "in a high security storage unit" (evidently never on exhibit) within the Division of Politics and Reform."

http://www.neocollect.com/item/1031/

Here's a link to a person who says he bought an 1871 silver medal.

http://www.cointalk.com/threads/1871-geo...al.222612/

[L Verge]

Hallam Webber is an Americana collector and dealer,who specializes in coins and medals. The last time I talked with him (about a year ago), he was tracking down the Robinson medals. I have heard nothing since.

[BettyO]

I own one of these medals. Used to be years ago that you could purchase a bronze one from the US Mint for only $15.00. John C. Brennan tracked them down. I don't believe that they make them any longer.

[Hess1865]

Great article Blaine!!

[Rsmyth]

Thanks for the links Linda. Evidently there was one gold, two silver, a few chocolate bronze and almost 100 bronze minted. I am not sure of the minting date of the regular bronze medals but they can fetch $300-400 when they come on the market.

[brtmchl]

I agree! Great job Blaine. Just got mine today in the mail right before dinner. I couldn't put it down and I burned the chicken.

[Rsmyth]

I was just looking at a closeup of the coin. Powell's gun is lying on the floor.