Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Robinson, William Stevens

ROBINSON, William Stevens, journalist, b. in Concord, Mass., 7 Dec., 1818; d. in Malden, Mass., 11 March, 1876. He was educated in the public schools of Concord, learned the printer's trade, at the age of twenty became the editor and publisher of the “Yeoman's Gazette” in Concord, and was afterward assistant editor of the Lowell “Courier.” He was an opponent of slavery while he adhered to the Whig party, and when the Free-soil party was organized he left the “Courier,” and in July, 1848, took charge of the Boston “Daily Whig.” His vigorous and sarcastic editorials increased the circulation of the paper, the name of which was changed to the “Republican”; yet, after the presidential canvass was ended, Henry Wilson, the proprietor, decided to assume the editorial management and moderate the tone of his journal. Robinson next edited the Lowell “American,” a Free-soil Democratic paper, till it died for lack of support in 1853. He was a member of the legislature in 1852 and 1853. In 1856 he began to write letters for the Springfield “Republican” over the signature “Warrington,” in which questions of the day and public men were discussed with such boldness and wit that the correspondence attracted wide popular attention. This connection was continued until his death. From 1862 till 1873 he was clerk of the Massachusetts house of representatives. “Warrington,” by his articles in the newspapers and magazines, was instrumental in defeating Benjamin F. Butler's effort to obtain the Republican nomination for governor in 1871, and in 1873 he was Butler's strongest opponent. Besides pamphlets and addresses, he published a “Manual of Parliamentary Law” (Boston, 1875). His widow published personal reminiscences from his writings entitled “Warrington Pen-Portraits,” with a memoir (Boston, 1877).—His wife, Harriet Hanson, b. in Boston, Mass., 8 Feb., 1825, was one of the intellectual circle of factory-girls that composed the staff of the “Lowell Offering.” She is a sister of John W. Hanson. She contributed poems to the Lowell “Courier” while Mr. Robinson was its editor, and from this introduction sprang a friendship that resulted in their marriage on 30 Nov., 1848. She was his assistant in his editorial work, and was as devoted as himself to the anti-slavery cause. She has also taken an active part in the woman's-rights movement, and in 1888 was a member of the International council of women at Washington, D. C. Her works include “Massachusetts in the Woman Suffrage Movement” (Boston, 1881); “Early Factory Labor in New England” (1883); and “Captain Mary Miller,” a drama (1887).