32 INDIANA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS 



tated a residence in New York. This situation had an 

 immediate and lasting effect upon his domestic affairs, 

 for when he announced his intention of moving to New 

 York, Mrs. Robinson refused to accompany him. She 

 urged that she had made a home for him at Rock Creek 

 Ford, at Madison, and, finally, at Crown Point, and 

 did not wish to undertake the establishment of a new 

 home. The responsibility of bringing up the children 

 had fallen chiefly upon her because of her husband's long 

 absences on agricultural tours; she had many friends 

 at Crown Point, and objected to leaving a community 

 where she was well and favorably known to begin 

 life anew in a large city like New York, where she knew 

 no one. Since she was then fifty-three years of age and 

 had undergone the privations of frontier life, her position 

 is understandable. 



Robinson, on the other hand, pointed out that the 

 rigorous winters of Crown Point were a detriment to his 

 health, which was none too good at best, that the com- 

 munity no longer offered scope for his talents, and that 

 only by living in New York could he take advantage of 

 the opportunity to become an agricultural editor on his 

 own behalf, a project which, if successful, might mean a 

 fortune for all of them. Mariah would not yield, and 

 Robinson, faced with a choice between abandoning an 

 editorial career or going on with it at the cost of separat- 

 ing from his wife, reluctantly chose the latter. From 

 the viewpoint of his capacity for service to agriculture at 

 large, there is no question but that he made a wise 

 decision, but from the standpoint of human relations, the 

 verdict is not so clear. 



By arrangement Mrs. Robinson kept the children with 

 her, and on October 20, 1852, her husband made out a 

 trust agreement assigning to her all his lands and prop- 

 erty in Lake and La Porte counties. 1 In addition to this 



1 Solon Robinson, trust agreement with Mariah Robinson and 

 David Turner, October 20, 1852; Ball, Lake County, from 1834 to 

 1872, 281. 



