San Joaquin County
Biographies
WARREN ONLY ROBISON
WARREN ONLY ROBISON, a
rancher of Douglass Township, residing in Stockton, was born in Genessee
County, New York, November 14, 1822, a son of Joseph and Abigail (Strong)
Robison. The father, born in East Albany, New York, became a farmer, and in
1836 moved to Pennsylvania, settling in Crawford County, where he died in 1875,
aged about seventy-nine. The mother survived him one year, dying in the same
place at the age of seventy-three. Grandfather Robison, a native of Ireland,
was a soldier of the Revolution, and settled as a farmer near East Albany, New
York, where he died about 1848, aged about ninety. His wife was of Scotch
birth, and also lived to an advanced age. Of the grandparents Strong, one was
English and the other French. They kept a hotel for many years in Auburn, New
York, and also owned a farm near that city. They retired from the hotel
business with advancing years and lived to old age.
W. O. Robison learned farming quite early
in life. In 1844 he began to work on his own account, at five dollars a month,
and in 1849 he rented a farm in Pennsylvania, which he kept one year, when he
moved to Iowa and worked in the lead mines near Dubuque, where he stayed until
the spring of 1851. He then moved to Minnesota and worked three months in a
sawmill in Stillwater, after which he made two rafting trips to St. Louis, and
returned to the Dubuque mines, where he worked through the winter of 1851-’52.
In the spring of 1852 he joined “The Dubuque Train,” of about 100 men, with
sixty wagons, who crossed the Missouri river about the 8th of May on
their way to California and arrived in Volcano, August 24, 1852. There Mr.
Robison spent a few weeks engaged chiefly in prospecting, when he came to
Mokelumne Hill, where he mined during that winter. He worked a few months for
the ditch company, on flumes and aqueducts, on wages, and then went to making
shingles on his own account, earning about twelve dollars a day in that
industry. He then moved to Campo Seco and took up some mining claims, but water
not being yet available from the ditch company, he built a house there, at a
cost of $1,000 and rented it for fifty dollars a month. He then took a
prospecting trip to the Gosunences, and returning found the village of Campo
Seco burnt down, and his house with twenty-five others destroyed. He then went
to work on his claim, hiring water from the Mokelumne Hill Ditch Company, and
spent the winter of 1853-’54 engaged in mining. In the spring of 1854 he came
to French Camp, where he bought ten cows for about $1,200. These he drove to a
mountain range near Mokelumne Hill and established a dairy, which business he
sold in 1857, meanwhile working his mining claim. In May, 1858, he bought a
half interest in 680 acres on the Sonora road, about eleven miles east of
Stockton, and engaged in farming, raising chiefly grain. In the fall of 1860 he
bought his partner’s interest, and still holds the ranch. In 1870 he made a
three months’ visit in the East. In 1871 he bought 320 acres of farming land a
half mile east of the home ranch, which in 1877 he sold at $50 an acre. In 1876
he again visited the East, this time attending the great Centennial Exposition
at Philadelphia two weeks, and spending three weeks in New York City.
In 1872 he erected a house on his home
ranch, which cost nearly $5,000, and other outbuildings, which cost $4,000. In
1877 he purchased 725 acres west of Oakdale, San Joaquin County, and in five
years sold it for $9,000. In 1879 he bought 2,400 acres of land in Stanislaus
County five miles north of Oakdale, of which he cultivates 1,800 acres and
devotes the rest to pasture. During the year 1880 he purchased 2,600 acres of
land in Livingston, Merced County, all under cultivation. Also this year he
bought a city residence on the corner of California street and Mormon avenue. The
house lot is 100 feet square, and in the rear he owns another lot for barn and
outbuildings, all costing about $8,000.
Mr. Robison was married in Stockton in
November, 1858, to Miss Mary Flattery, born in Ireland in 1834, a daughter of
John and Mary (McHugh) Flattery. The father died in Canada in 1839,
comparatively young, and the mother in Ireland in 1890, aged ninety-six. Mrs.
Robison visited her in 1887. Mr. and Mrs. Robison have five children and lost
as many, their third child George being aged twenty at his death. The living
children are as follows: John Only, born August 1, 1867, received a good
education including a business course, and is engaged in farming 1,800 acres of
his father’s land in Stanislaus County; Margaret Theresa, born April 9, 1869;
Marie Abigail, May 9, 1871; Catherine Agnes, October 16, 1875; Anna Eva, June
16, 1877. The family took up residence in this city in 1880, chiefly for the
education of their children. Margaret T. spent two years in St. Agnes Academy,
Stockton, and four years in Norte Dame College in San Jose; Marie A. took a
course in the last named institution, beginning in 1883, and has followed by
her sister, the youngest entering that institution in 1889. All have learned
music and each has shown marked ability as a painter, and Margaret as an artist
in embroidery.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
An Illustrated History of San Joaquin County,
California, Pages 303-304. Lewis Pub.
Co. Chicago, Illinois 1890.
© 2008 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County
Biographies
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County
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