40 INDIANA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS 



visited Crown Point for the first time in twenty-five 

 years and was warmly greeted by his relatives and the 

 populace in general. News of his arrival spread rapidly, 

 and over three hundred residents of the county called to 

 see the founder of Crown Point in the few days he re- 

 mained there. 1 



By 1880 Robinson's hold on life had become precarious. 

 In August of that year, however, he was able to make a 

 visit to Parkersville, Pennsylvania, and a short tour of 

 the southern states. 2 The presidential campaign of the 

 fall aroused his interest, and, although his health was 

 failing, he expressed the hope that he would live to see 

 Garfield and Arthur elected to office. This wish was not 

 fulfilled, for he died about three o'clock on the morning 

 of November 3, 1880. 3 Thus came the end of a long 

 career. Solon was buried in the old city cemetery in 

 Jacksonville, and there he rests from his labors. 4 



Mrs. Robinson and her sister, Louise Johnson, con- 

 tinued to live in the Florida home. 5 Robinson's estate 

 was divided between his second wife and his descendants 

 by his first wife. 6 The most valuable portion of his prop- 

 erty, although his relatives were probably not aware of 

 this fact, was a library of some sixty thousand volumes 



'Invitation to reception for Solon Robinson, August 21, 1876; 

 clipping from Crown Point newspaper [August, 1876]. 



2 Robinson to W. A. Clark, August 22, 1880; "The Political Situa- 

 tion South," New-York Tribune, October 30, 1880. 



8 Shortly before his death he remarked that if Garfield and 

 Arthur were successful at the polls, he wished the nation's flag 

 to be raised in front of his dwelling, even though he was ill. In 

 accordance with this last request, his wife, when news of the 

 Republican victory was assured, put up the American flag with a 

 notice, "Solon Robinson is dead: 'being dead, he yet speaketh'." 

 Jacksonville Sun and Press, November 4, 1880; New-York Tribune, 

 November 5, 1880. 



4 Robinson was buried on lot 17, section 3. Statement of A. F. 

 Knotts, 1921. 



s Ball, Lake Cotinty, 18.84, 403. 



6 Robinson to Josephine S. Strait, March 5, 1876; Knotts, "Solon 

 Robinson." 



