john riley robinson; part 6

Sixth installment in a series about the man who built Oak Hill Cottage
Robinson left Mansfield Feb. 27, 1861 on his trip to purchase a nearly idle 200 year old silver mine in the Sierra Madre, reaching Batopilas, Mexico in early May. Back in Mansfield, a survey of the Oak Hill property dated May 14 drawn up by surveyor John Newman indicates a sale or transfer of the property was in the process at that time.

After inspection and negotiations, Robinson purchased the silver mine for $20,000 which was considerably less than the $50,000 in the conditional purchase contract. Robinson supervised mining operations for the next 18 years, returning great profits for the investors. The partners sold out in 1879 for $600,000.

Though immensely profitable, Robinson’s venture was tragic on a personal level. Hart writes in his book The Silver of the Sierra Madre; “His sons Asher and James Willshire Robinson both succumbed to typhoid fever at Batopilas in September 1861 and June 1862, respectively. Then the passing of his two grandchildren, Fred and Lena, victims of the same disease in the same place a little more than a decade later compounded his grief.”

Edward Wilkinson, who became the founding director of the Mansfield Memorial Museum, was the nephew of Robinson’s wife Jane. His brother Samuel worked for Robinson running the silver mine at Batopilas and later at Chihuahua. Edward’s two sojourns in Mexico c. 1875 and 1885, collecting specimens of flora and fauna while working for the mine, were occasioned by this family connection.