Vintage

JUDGE WILLIAM CARLISLE ROBINSON

BIOGRAPHY and GENEALOGY

(1839 AL - aft. 1904)

CHAMBERS, LEE, MACON COUNTIES, ALABAMA

JUDGE WILLIAM CARLISLE ROBINSON, of Opelika, Ala., was born November 27, 1839, in Chambers county, Ala.

His father was JESSE B. ROBINSON and his mother MARTHA A. (CARLISLE) ROBINSON. His grandparents were THOMAS ROBINSON and W. W. CARLISLE. On December 9, 1857, JUDGE ROBINSON led to the altar GEORGIAN V. TURNER of Chambers county, Alabama. By this marriage two sons were born, viz.: MACK ROBINSON and GEORGE SANFORD ROBINSON, both of whom were progressive citizens of Opelika.

From this period until 1862 was passed by W. C. ROBINSON in farming, when in response to the call for troops to preserve the Confederacy he entered the army as a lieutenant in Company I of the Forty-seventh Alabama regiment. He was compelled finally on account of ill health to leave the army and recuperate; in 1864 he re-enlisted and served until the surrender. JUDGE ROBINSON'S early education in the public schools, enlarged by study and close observation fitted him for life's duties. He re-assumed farming and merchandising until 1869, when he removed to Macon county, Alabama. Then engaging in farming and milling.

In 1872 he moved to Lee county and engaged in farming and school teaching. In 1880 he was elected clerk of the circuit court of Lee county, Ala., serving six years. In 1886 he was elected judge of probate of Lee county for six years and in 1892 was re-elected to the same office. He was also ex-officio judge of the county court, trying all misdemeanor cases. In 1894 he was nominated for Congress by the Populist party of the third Congressional district and thinks he was elected, but was debarred from office by the Democratic party. As an evidence of the progressive spirit of the judge it was largely through his instrumentality that a substantial modern jail was erected for the county, having steel cells and strong furnishings; likewise the beautiful county court house, the pride of Lee county.

After the expiration of his term of office he pursued farming and merchandising. He was in 1904, the superintendent of the Opelika Sewer Company. JUDGE ROBINSON endeared himself by a life free from ostentation to a host of friends. He was honest and upright in his daily life. He was a Mason and a member of the Baptist church of Opelika.ⁱ