INTRODUCTION 33 



settlement, he continued to give financial support to his 

 family. It is a tribute to the urbanity of spirit of these 

 two people that they continued to be friends. 



In 1871 Mariah Robinson was persuaded to bring 

 divorce proceedings against her husband. According to 

 one of her granddaughters, this action was taken simply 

 to clarify the status of certain property. 1 Not long after 

 this, on February 28, 1872, Mariah Robinson died at 

 Crown Point. 



Enforced separation from his family following his re- 

 moval to New York in 1852, did not prevent cordial 

 relations between Robinson and his children; in fact, as 

 the years elapsed, his friendly feeling toward them in- 

 creased rather than otherwise. 2 



Solon and Mariah Robinson had five children — Solon 

 Oscar, born in 1831; Josephine Salinda, 1833; Charles 

 Tracy, 1836; Leila Gertrude, 1838; and Allen Downing, 

 1842. 3 Allen Downing died during a scarlet fever epi- 

 demic in 1843. 4 Solon Oscar, who married Sarah J. 

 Evans, died at Crown Point in 1858, and left no children. 

 Charles Tracy died unmarried in New York City, in 1861. 

 Josephine Salinda, who married in turn Janna S. Holton, 

 Charles G. McDuffie, and George F. Strait, and left de- 

 scendants by each marriage, died in 1910. 5 Leila Ger- 

 trude, who married F. S. Bedell, later became a promi- 

 nent physician of Chicago. She died in 1914 without 

 issue. 6 



Robinson's life in New York City from 1852 to 1868 

 was devoted chiefly to writing. A series of short stories 



1 Statement of Mrs. J. J. Wheeler, Crown Point, April 8, 1929 ; 

 Knotts, "Solon Robinson." 



'Letters: to Leila Robinson, October 16, 1857; to Charles T. 

 Robinson, April 4, 1859; to Josephine S. McDuffie, July 25, 1860; 

 verses, 1868-1879. Mss. in private possession. 



'Robinson Genealogy, 1:182-83; Ball, Lake County, 1884, 402-3. 



* Prairie Farmer, 3:118 (May, 1843). 



8 Statements of Mrs. J. J. Wheeler and Mrs. Cora Lincoln, of 

 Crown Point, September, 1935. 



e Ibid.; Ball, op. cit., 402; A. O. Luther Scrapbook. 



