Reverend William Robinson

William Robinson was born 15 August 1754 in Lebanon, Connecticut. He was the son of Lydia Brown Robinson and Ichabod Robinson, and the grandson of Reverend John Robinson. He was tutored by Master Nathan Tisdale (Harvard 1749); he entered the sophomore class at Yale College in 1770. After university, William Robinson taught in Windsor, Connecticut, for two years. He then returned to New Haven as a resident Berkeley Scholar, while studying theology. On 28 May 1776, William Robinson was licensed to preach by the New Haven County Association of Ministers. He ws elected to a Tutorship in College in September 1777, and entered that office in June 1778. After preaching occasionally in Southington, Connecticut, he received an informal call to settle there in December 1778. On 13 January 1780, William Robinson was ordained as Pastor in Southington, where he served for over forty years.

Reverend Robinson married four times. On 8 February 1781, he married Naomi Wolcott (d. 1782 age 28) of East Windsor, Connecticut. He married Sophia Mosely (d. 1784 age 25) of Westfield, Massachusetts, on 16 September 1783. He married Anne Mills (d. 1789 age 29) of Simsbury, Connecticut, on 13 August 1787. He married his fourth wife, Elisabeth Norton (d. 1824 age 64), of Farmington, Connecticut, on 10 August 1790. Reverend Robinson had one daughter (died in infancy) with his first wife, one daughter with his third wife, and five sons (two died in infancy) and one daughter with his fourth wife. His oldest surviving son was Reverend Dr. Edward Robinson.

Due to declining health, Reverend William Robinson was granted a dismissal by the Southington church council on 24 April 1821. He continued residence in Southington, where he died on his 71st birthday, on 15 August 1825.