Robert A. Robinson

Robert A. Robinson, engineer of the fire-boat J.M. Hutchinson, was born at Buffalo, August 19, 1859, and was educated at the Brothers school in Buffalo. His parents are William J. and Katherine (Pendergrass) Robinson, the former of whom was a native of Genesee, N.Y., and the latter of Tipperary, Ireland.

Mr. Robinson began life on Buffalo creek as engineer of the yacht Kate Sutton, an excursion boat, in 1877, and from that year until 1891 he was wheelsman, engineer and master of the following tugs in Buffalo harbor: Stella, Dave Sutton, Newsboy, Arrow, Allington, Huntress, George M. Donaldson, John Howell, Ella B., Leo Lennox, Armstrong, Oneida, Annie M. Sloan and Lone Star. During this time, in the first part of the year 1881, he also ran a stationary engine for Saxton & Amethon at Buffalo, and in 1888 he was master of the tug Charles Henry, owned by Patrick Smith, of Cleveland, part of that season. Mr. Robinson was for two seasons, in about 1881 and '82, in steam canal-boats on the Erie canal. On February 25, 1891, he was appointed engineer of the fire-boat City of Buffalo, now the George R. Potter, where he worked three years, and on July 22, 1894, he was transferred to the J.M. Hutchinson, where he is now employed.

Mr. Robinson has been a member of the I.O.O.F. for five years, and has also been a member of the Firemens Beneficial Association since September 24, 1891. He is a single man.

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Volume I

This version of Volume II is based, with permission, on the work of the great volunteers at the Marine Captains Biographies site. To them goes the credit for reorganizing the content into some coherent order. The biographies in the original volume are in essentially random order.

Some of the transcription work was also done by Brendon Baillod, who maintains an excellent guide to Great Lakes Shipwreck Research.