136. ASA⁶ SEYMOUR (Daniel⁵, Daniel⁴, John³, John², Richard^l), born at Hartford. Conn., 5 Feb. 1760, died there 28 Oct. 1810 aged 51; married 17 Dec. 1786. ELIZABETH⁶ DENISON, born at New London, Conn., 7 Mar. 1766, died 26 May 1846, daughter of Thomas⁵ (Daniel⁴, George³, John², George¹) and Catharine (Starr), and a descendant of Capt. George Denison, Capt. Daniel Wetherell, and Elder William Brewster.

He served as a private in Capt. Selah Benton's Co., Col. Isaac Sherman's Regt., for three years and eight months, in the Revolutionary War.

Administration on his estate was granted to James Wells of Hartford. 2 Feb. 1811; estate insolvent. Dower of the widow Elizabeth was set off. 27 Apr. 1812. William Seymour, a minor, aged about 15, son of Asa, chose his mother Elizabeth Seymour as his guardian, 4 Sept 1813.

ANNE⁷ (SEYMOUR) ROBINSON (1801-1892) was well known in Hartford, and notable for retention of her strength of intellect up to the last week of her life. She responded to wisdom and wit and sentiment to the end, and died of no disease, but sank peacefully to sleep. The portrait is reproduced herein.

HON. HENRY CORNELIUS⁸ ROBINSON (1832-1900), son of David Franklin and Anne⁷ (Seymour) Robinson, was born in Hartford, Conn., and was graduated from Yale College with high honors in 1853. He begun the study of law in the office of his elder brother, Lucius Franklin Robinson, and after admission to the bar practiced alone and later in partnership with his brother until the latter's death in 1861. Thereafter he managed the business until 1888, and in that year took his eldest son, Lucius F., into the firm, which enjoyed a high repute.

In 1866 he was appointed Fish Commissioner of the State. The breeding and propagation of fish was a field of study in which he felt great interest, and he did all in his power to preserve and develop the fish industry of Connecticut. He received in 1872 the Republican nomination for Mayor of Hartford, and although the city was usually Democratic, was elected by a wide margin. His administration was efficient, and during it Hartford became the sole capital of the state, largely through his influence. In 1879 he was a member of the General Assembly, and chairman of the judiciary committee.

Mr. Robinson was an active member of the Republican party, and thrice received the nomination by acclamation for the office of Governor, but his large legal practice prevented acceptance of a number of appointments which came to him unsolicited, including that of U.S. Minister to Spain under President Harrison. In 1880 he was a member of the Republican National Convention at Chicago, and was the author of a large part of its platform; and in 1887 he was Commissioner for Connecticut at the Constitutional Centennial celebration in Philadelphia.

He was a director in the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company: the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company; the Pratt & Whitney Company: the Connecticut Fire Insurance Company; and the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company; trustee of the Connecticut Trust and Safe Deposit Company, the Wadsworth Athenaeum of Hartford, and of the Hartford Grammar School.

He stood among the foremost members of the Connecticut Bar, and in 1888 received from Yale College the honorary degree of LL.D. He did an immense amount of work in behalf of various charitable institutions of Hartford, and served as a trustee or director of several ecclesiastical associations in the city and state. He was a man of high character and finished scholarship, and was a gifted orator.

HON. LUCIUS FRANKLIN⁹ ROBINSON (1863- ), son of the above, and grandson of Anne⁷ (Seymour) Robinson, was a native of Hartford, Conn., and a graduate of Yale University (A.B., 1885), which honored him with the degree of LL.D. in 1926. He entered upon the practice of law in Hartford, after admission to the Connecticut Bar in 1887; and attained a position of prominence among the lawyers of the State, being President of the Connecticut State Bar Association. 1924 to 1926. He is senior member of the firm of Robinson, Robinson & Cole, and like his father a director of several industrial and insurance companies; also a director of the First National Bank of Hartford and of the Hartford Public Library, and a trustee of the Watkinson Library. Republican; Congregationalist.

Mr. Robinson's chief public service has been as Chairman of the Connecticut State Park and Forest Commission, a position he has held since 1917, and to which he has devoted an executive talent of high order. In 1932 he was president of the Connecticut Constitutional Convention.

Appended is the public oration delivered when Mr. Robinson received his honorary degree.

LUCIUS FRANKLIN ROBINSON, '85, LL.D.

Mr. Robinson belongs to a family long eminent in the annals of Yale, every member of whom has done good service to his town, state, and country. Taking his B.A. at Yale in 1885, he entered the law office of his distinguished father, and advanced by native ability plus conscientious work. He is to-day recognized as one of the leading lawyers of Connecticut, and became president of the State Bar Association. His Presidential address attracted wide attention, both by its definite conclusions and by the sincerity and earnestness with which they were set forth. He has helped to restore Connecticut to the position she held a hundred years ago, as champion of state rights. Apart from his special services and successes in his chosen profession, Mr. Robinson will long be remembered for the permanent results he achieved as Chairman of the State Park and Forest Commission. Thousands of acres of woodland and mountain are, by his supervision, coming under state control, which will be of inestimable value to future generations. A certain incurable modesty has made Lucius Robinson ambitious for the welfare of everyone except himself, and to-day it is fitting that such success and such unselfishness should receive public recognition.

HON. JOHN TRUMBULL⁹ ROBINSON (1871-1937), B.A. (Yale, 1893), a younger son of Henry Comelius⁸ Robinson, was a prominent lawyer of Hartford, Conn. In 1903, he became Town Chairman of the Republican Party, serving till 1906. From 1901 to 1903, he had served as Secretary to Gov. George P. McLean. In 1904, he was a delegate-at-large to the Republican National Convention. He was elected President of the Hartford County Bar Association in 1930. A daughter is wife of Prof. John H. G. Pierson, of Yale University.

HON. NATHANIEL SHIPMAN (1828-1906), son of Rev. Thomas Leffingwell and Mary Thompson (Deming) Shipman, was a native of Southbury, Conn., prepared for college at Plainfield (Conn.) Academy, and was graduated from Yale College in 1848. He first studied law in the office of Judge Thomas B. Osborne (Yale, 1817) at Fairfield, and later in the Yale Law School. He settled in Hartford, Conn., was admitted to the bar, and became prominent in his profession.

He served in the Connecticut General Assembly in 1857, and was Executive Secretary to Governor William A. Buckingham during the critical period from 1858 to 1862. In 1875, he was appointed Judge of the United States District Court, and in 1892 to the United States Circuit Court of Appeals, where he served with conspicuous ability until his retirement in 1902. In 1884 he received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Yale University.

His wife was Mary Caroline⁸ Robinson, daughter of Anne⁷ (Seymour) Robinson. They had five children, one of whom, Thomas, died in infancy. The others were: Rev. Frank Robinson Shipman (1863-1934), B.A. (Yale, 1885), B.D. (1889); Arthur Leffingwell Shipman, below; Mary Deming (Shipman) Penrose (1868- ); and Henry Robinson Shipman (1877-1935).

HON. ARTHUR LEFFINGWELL⁹ SHIPMAN (1864-1937), son of the above, and grandson of Anne⁷ (Seymour) Robinson, was born at Hartford, Conn., 19 Nov. 1864, graduated from Hartford Public High School in 1882, and from Yale University (B.A., 1886, LL.B., 1888). While in college he was editor of the Yale Literary Magazine, and a member of Skull and Bones. He worked for two years in New York in the office of Seward, DaCosta & Guthrie. In 1890, he formed a pa,rtnership with William F. Henney. He joined, in 1894, the firm of Hyde, Gross & Hyde, whith became Gross, Hyde & Shipman. In 1919, Shipman & Goodwin was formed. He was a member of the Hartford Common Council in 1891, and served three terms as Corporation Counsel, from 1904 to 1908, and from 1910 to 1912. He was a member of the City Plan Commission in 1935.

He was married, 27 June 1901, to Melvina, Van Kleeck, and had children: Mrs. Natalie (Shipman) Worcester; Anne V. K. Shipman (deceased); Arthur Leffingwell Shipman. Jr.; and Mrs. Mary C. (Shipman) Howard.

For many years he was one of the first, most useful and influential citizens of Hartford, and delivered many addresses on historic occasions. From the time of its creation, he was secretary of the State Commission of Sculpture, and rendered invaluable services in that connection for a period of thirty-five years. He was much interested in matters of family history and very proud of his Seymour blood, as well as of the Shipman and Leffingwell strains. He was devoted to the memory of his father, Judge Shipman.

He was succeeded as secretary of the Commission of Sculpture by his son and namesake. Arthur L. Shipman, Jr., B.A. (Yale, 1928), LL.B. (1931).

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