Charles D. Robinson
3rd Secretary of State of Wisconsin
In office January 5, 1852 – January 2, 1854
Governor	Leonard J. Farwell
Preceded by	William A. Barstow
Succeeded by	Alexander T. Gray
11th and 15th Mayor ofGreen Bay, Wisconsin
In office April 1872 – April 1873
Preceded by	Alonzo Kimball
Succeeded by	Alonzo Kimball
In office April 1866 – April 1867
Preceded by	Myron P. Lindsley
Succeeded by	James S. Marshall
Member of theWisconsin State Assembly from theBrown County district
In office January 7, 1850 – January 6, 1851
Preceded by	John F. Meade
Succeeded by	John F. Lessey
Personal details
Born	(1822-10-22)October 22, 1822 Marcellus, New York, U.S.
Died	September 25, 1886(1886-09-25) (aged 63) Green Bay, Wisconsin, U.S.
Resting place	Woodlawn Cemetery,Green Bay, Wisconsin, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouses	Sarah A. Wilcox ​ ​ (m. 1846; died 1852)​ Abigail Colburn Ballou ​ ​ (m. 1854⁠–⁠1886)​
Children	with Sarah Wilcox Randall A. Robinson Virginia I. Robinson with Abigail Ballou George Ballou Robinson
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Volunteers Union Army
Years of service	1861–1864
Rank	Captain,USV Quartermaster
Unit	Army of the Potomac
Battles/wars	American Civil War

Charles Dayon Robinson (October 22, 1822 – September 25, 1886) was anAmerican businessman,Democratic politician, andWisconsin pioneer. He served as the 3rdSecretary of State of Wisconsin, and was the Mayor ofGreen Bay, Wisconsin, in 1866 and 1872.^[1][2]

Charles D. Robinson was born inMarcellus, New York. His father died when he was young, and he and his two siblings were raised by their mother. He was only formally educated until age twelve.^[3]

He arrived inGreen Bay, then part of theWisconsin Territory, on July 4, 1846. On August 13 of that year, he published the first edition ofThe Green Bay Advocate^[3]—he continued publishing this paper until his death.^[4]

In November 1849, Robinson was elected to his first public office as representative ofBrown County to theWisconsin State Assembly for the3rd Wisconsin Legislature. Two years later, in November 1851, he was elected as theDemocratic Party candidate for Wisconsin Secretary of State. He served for two years underWhig Party GovernorLeonard J. Farwell.

After leaving public office, he entered a partnership in the lumber business with futureUnited States SenatorTimothy O. Howe and Charles E. Tyler. His brother-in-law, David Ballou, bought out the business in 1855, after a fire. The business prospered until 1859, when it succumbed to the ongoing effects of thePanic of 1857.

In the summer of 1861, after the outbreak of theAmerican Civil War, Robinson enlisted for service with theUnion Army. He was appointed to the staff of GeneralRufus King with the rank ofCaptain and assistantQuartermaster. In this capacity, he supervised the raising of bridges to assist the movement of the army inVirginia.^[5] He became extremely ill while camped atFredericksburg, Virginia, and was sent to New York to recuperate. He ultimately resigned his commission on April 21, 1864, and returned to Green Bay.^[6] It was said his illness had so changed his appearance that his mother did not recognize him.^[3]

In 1864, after his resignation from the Army, Robinson sent a letter to PresidentAbraham Lincoln, delivered viaGovernor of WisconsinAlexander Randall. Lincoln read his letter and responded with a four-page response dated August 17, 1864. In his response, Lincoln defends his decision onemancipation as necessary for theUnion cause. From Lincoln's response, it can be inferred that Robinson had written in opposition toabolition.^[7]

Robinson returned to public office when he was elected Mayor of Green Bay, Wisconsin, in 1866. And, in 1869, he was nominated by the Democratic Party as their candidate for Governor of Wisconsin.^[3] He was defeated in theNovember general election by incumbent Republican GovernorLucius Fairchild, who earned his third term.

During his one-year term as Mayor in 1866, he proposed the construction of theGreen Bay & Lake Pepin Railway. In 1870, when the railroad was incorporated, Robinson was chosen as the first President of the company.^[8]

He was re-elected Mayor of Green Bay in 1872. During this term, he advocated for the construction of theSturgeon Bay Canal and supported the extension of the Milwaukee & Northern Railroad to Green Bay.^[3]

In the summer of 1876, he was again struck by near-fatal illness and left Wisconsin to recuperate in New York.^[3]

Charles D. Robinson was married twice. His first wife was Sarah A. Wilcox, a daughter ofDe Pere, Wisconsin, pioneer and prominent local DemocratRandall Wilcox. Robinson married Sarah Wilcox on December 30, 1846, just a few months after his arrival in the Wisconsin Territory. They had two children together before her death in 1852.^[3] A year after Sarah's death, Charles's younger brother, Albert C. Robinson, married Martha Ann Wilcox, a sister of Sarah.

On July 12, 1854, Charles Robinson married for the second time, this time withAbigail "Abbie" Colburn Ballou. Robinson was financially involved with Abbie's brother, David Ballou.^[3] They had one child, in 1864, who died in infancy.

Abbie was active in the management of Robinson's paper, theAdvocate, and took over as publisher of the paper when his health began to fail in 1881. She continued running the paper for two years after his death.^[4]

Robinson died in Green Bay, September 25, 1886.^[3]

• Robinson, Charles D. (1873).The Birth-Places of Americanism. Atwood & Culver.

• Secretaries of state of Wisconsin
• Democratic Party members of the Wisconsin State Assembly
• Mayors of Green Bay, Wisconsin
• People of Wisconsin in the American Civil War
• 1822 births
• 1886 deaths
• 19th-century mayors of places in Wisconsin
• Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Green Bay, Wisconsin)
• 19th-century members of the Wisconsin Legislature

• Source attribution
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata