Charles L. Robinson

Charles Lawrence Robinson (July 21, 1818 – August 17, 1894) was the first Governor of Kansas. He was very important in creating Lawrence, Kansas.

Life
Massachusetts
Robinson was studied at Hadley and Amherst academies. He also studied at Amherst College. He studied medicine in Woodstock, Vermont, and later in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He got his medical degree at the Berkshire Medical College in Pittsfield in 1843.  He practiced medicine in Belchertown,  Springfield, and Fitchburg.

California
He traveled to California in 1850. In Sacramento, he edited a daily paper called the Settler's and Miner's Tribune. He participated in the riots of 1850 as a supporter of squatter sovereignty. He was seriously wounded. While under indictment for conspiracy and murder, was elected to the California legislature. He was discharged by the court without trial. He represented California's 12th State Assembly district from 1851 to 1852. He married Sara Tappan Doolittle Lawrence in 1851, and they had two children.

Kansas
During Bleeding Kansas, Robinson made many people mad because he supported anti-slavery people. In 1861, he became the first Governor of Kansas. 

He was elected to the Kansas State Senate. He served from 1873 to 1881.  He was Superintendent of the Haskell Institute from 1887 to 1889. He was regent of the University of Kansas for twelve years.

He died on August 17, 1894. He is buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in Lawrence.

References

Other websites


Kansas State Historical Society
Impeachment of State Officials
Publications concerning Kansas Governor Robinson's administration available via the KGI Online Library

National Governors Association
The Political Graveyard

Category:1818 births
Category:1894 deaths
Category:Governors of Kansas
Category:19th-century American politicians
Category:Kansas Republicans
Category:Politicians from Lawrence, Kansas
Category:People from Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Category:Politicians from Massachusetts