John Hiram Robinson

Robinson, John Hiram, D.D. (Ballycassidy, Ireland, March 2, 1826--December 20, 1900). He joined the Wesleyan Methodist Church at the age of sixteen, graduated from the College of Dublin in 1847, and became an itinerant preacher. Coming to the United States in 1852 he stopped in Patterson, New Jersey, on his way to visit relatives in Canada, was invited to preach at the Primitive Methodist Church there, and was at once asked to take the pastorate of that church. He did so and remained there until his death forty-five years later. During the Civil War he served as a chaplain in the Union Army.

Robinson was the author of a number of poems and fugitive pieces. "In remembrance of the Saviour" first appeared in the Voice of Praise, 1872, in five four-line stanzas, then in the Tribute of Praise, 1882, considerably emended, in six stanzas, the additional one being the fourth. It was a very popular communion hymn with the Wesleyan Methodists.

Sources: National Cyclopedia of American Biography; correspondence with Research Division, New York City Public Library.

--Robert G. McCutchan, DNAH Archives