Robinson, Sara T. L. (Sara Tappan Lawrence), 1827-1911

Sara Robinson was the wife of Charles Robinson, the first governor of Kansas. She wrote a history of Kansas; Frank Wilson Blackmar wrote biographies of her husband. (See the Kansas Collection card catalog for these items.)

From the guide to the Letters, 1850-1909, (University of Kansas Kenneth Spencer Research Library Kansas Collection)

From the guide to the Scrapbooks, 1857-1894, (University of Kansas Kenneth Spencer Research Library Kansas Collection)

Sara Tappan Doolittle (Lawrence) Robinson was born on July 12, 1827 at Belchertown, Massachusetts to Myron and Clarissa (Dwight) Lawrence. On October 30, 1851, she married Charles Robinson. They emigrated to Kansas Territory in 1854, where her husband was elected governor under the Topeka Constitution of 1855, arrested for treason in 1856, and later acquitted. Sara Robinson's book titled Kansas; its interior and exterior life was published in 1856. When Kansas achieved statehood, Charles Robinson was again elected governor and served one term. His book titled The Kansas Conflict was published in 1892. Charles Robinson died in 1894. Sara Robinson died at their family home of Oakridge, near Lawrence, Kansas, on November 15, 1911.

From the guide to the Letter from Sara T. D. Robinson, Oakridge (Lawrence, Kansas), to Professor and Mrs. Charles G. Dunlap, March 5, 1902, (University of Kansas Kenneth Spencer Research Library Kansas Collection)