Robinson, Ralph

Robinson, Ralph, a Presbyterian minister, was born in Scotland, Windham Co., Conn., March 12, 1780. His father and family removed to Dorset, Vt., where Ralph spent the earlier part of his life at agriculture. He pursued his preparatory studies under the care of Rev. William Jackson, of Dorset, paying his board and tuition by his labor; graduated at Middlebury College in 1808; studied theology with Rev. Holland Weeks, of Pittsford; was licensed to preach by the Rutland Association in 1809, and for about a year acted as home missionary, preaching in Malone, N.Y., and in two or three towns in Vermont. In 1810 he was ordained and installed as pastor of two churches, viz. the Congregational Church in Granville, Vt., and the First Congregational Church in Hartford, N.Y. In 1822 he was settled as pastor of the Congregational Church, Marshal, Oneida Co.; in 1828 of the Church in New Haven; in 1830 of the Church in Pulaski, where he remained sixteen years; in 1846 he returned to the New Haven Church and remained seven years; in 1854 he went to the Church in East Mexico, and in 1858 to the Presbyterian Church in Constantia. Thus we have fifty years of uninterrupted ministerial labor — a life itself, which, from its nature, must have made a mark for eternity on hundreds of souls. He died May 14, 1863. Mr. Robinson was an intelligent and earnest preacher and defender of the New England or Edwardian theology, a pioneer in temperance and anti-slavery reform, and an earnest promoter of all the benevolent causes of the Church. See Wilson, Presb. Hist. Almanac, 1864, p. 317; also The Congregational Quarterly, Boston, July, 1863; Allibone, Dict. of Brit. and Amer. Authors, s.v.; Darling, Cyclop. Bibliog. s.v. (J.L.S.)