WI BIO - Kenosha Co - ROBINSON, Frederick

History of Racine and Kenosha Counties, Wisconsin. Chicago: Western 
Historical, 1879, pp 698-699

Hon. Frederick ROBINSON, Kenosha, Kenosha County, Wisconsin, was born 11 
March 1844 in Church Stretton, Shropshire, England, the ninth and youngest 
child of John and Elizabeth TAYLOR ROBINSON, and was educated at a private 
school, but delicate health prevented very arduous application to study. At 
the age of 16 he [Frederick ROBINSON] was apprenticed to the drug business, 
and after five years devoted to acquiring his profession, he came to the 
United States, landing in New York in the spring of 1845.

The following year [1846] he [Frederick ROBINSON] removed Chicago [Cook 
County, Illinois], remained there a short time, and then came to Kenosha, 
where he passed the winter. [The city of Kenosha was officially called 
Southport until 07 February 1850, and was in Racine County before Kenosha 
County was formed on 26 January 1850; the State of Wisconsin was created 29 
May 1848.] The following spring he made a tour of investigation with a view 
of establishing himself, but found no place he liked so well as Kenosha 
[Southport], where in the autumn of 1847 he finally began business. [Racine 
County, created in 1836, was then in the Territory of Wisconsin, formed on 20 
April 1836.]

Mr. [Frederick] ROBINSON is a public-spirited citizen, and is honored with 
the respect and confidence of the people. He served as Alderman of the City 
of Kenosha in 1852, 1858 and 1868, was Chief Engineer of the Fire Department 
in 1850, 1860 and 1872, Chairman of the [Kenosha] County Board in 1868. Mayor 
of the city [of Kenosha] in 1862, 1863 and 1869, a member of the [Wisconsin] 
State Legislature in 1872 and 1876, and President of the [Kenosha] County 
Agricultural Society in 1877. In 1867 he [Frederick ROBINSON] purchased a 
one-third interest in the Whitaker Engine and Skein Company of Kenosha, and 
he is the owner of a farm of 160 acres adjoining the city [of Kenosha], to 
which he gives a good deal of personal attention.

On 03 October 1852 he [Frederick ROBINSON] married Miss Ann BERTHOLF, who was 
born in Illinois. They [Frederick and Ann (BERTHOLF) ROBINSON] have had 
fourteen children, seven of whom are living: Alma Elizabeth, Richard Taylor, 
Ida Ann, Emma Eliza, Maria Louisa, Frederick Jr., and Harry Bertholf. [Note 
that the middle names of the sons, Richard and Harry, are the same as the 
maiden names of females of previous generations, not an uncommon practice at 
that time.]

Submitted by Cathy Kubly