It's been reported that Yankee is the first settler in McHenry County probably before McHenry County was established in 1873. He is not in any official records until 1885 Dakota Territory Census and a few years later in the Bureau of Land Management records. However, there are many recorded stories of him and we will provide what we have below. In research he went by Yankee extensively but his given name is referenced as Lewis, Louis, and Luman. There is one article which indicated he served in the Civil War but no official record could be found. Sadly, this writer could not find out what happened to him or any of his family and confusing the research is that there is a man called Yankee Robinson who created a circus in the early 1900's who is heavily documented in pioneer newspapers and other articles.
In 1885 he is recorded in the Dakota Territory in McHenry County as Lewis, 40 years of age along with his wife Sophia, 19 years of age and daughter Ida, 2 years of age. He is in the 1900 Federal Census as Lewis born in February 1845 in Ohio [Note: Ashtabula County] with both parents born in New York. Living with him in Township 154, Range 78, is Emma born in February 1886 in Minnesota with father born in Ohio and mother born in Pennsylvania.
From "MCHENRY COUNTY: Its History and Its People 1885-1985" (Author Unknown):
"The first white settler to establish a permanent residence in McHenry County was Lewis Robinson who, before the survey, squatted on a quarter of land in Section 22 [Note: In 1889 he is recorded in Sections 22/23, Township 154, Range 78] of what is now Falsen Township. Robinson was a hunter and trapper for the Hudson's
Bay Company and was probably in the Mouse River country for some twenty years before the other settlers came. Quite likely he had built his cabin before 1881 for he seemed well established when the first settlers came in 1882. His wife was Indian, or at least part Indian, and their oldest daughter, Ida, was born in 1882.
According to the U.S. Census for 1900, he was born in Ohio in February, 1845 and his parents had been born in New York. He could read and write and speak English well and according to the Census, owned his land free and clear.
How he received the name "Yankee" is a matter of speculation. Perhaps the Norwegian settlers called him that to distinguish between him and Norwegian settlers of the same name, or perhaps the French-Canadian hunters and trappers in the Mouse River country had given him the name long before. In any event, he was known as "Yankee" and was a generous and helpful neighbor to the early arrivals.
One early record mentions that Ivar Gjellstad met him in the early summer of 1882 while in the Minot area and that Robinson told him of the better land farther downstream. The Pendroys met him in
Bismarck in August, 1882, after they had explored along the James and Knife Rivers looking for suitable land and, not finding what they were looking for, were preparing to return to Iowa. Robinson and his wife were in Bismarck for supplies when the men chanced to meet in the camp and after asking what the Pendroys were looking for he said, "You are describing the Mouse River valley where we live. We are leaving in the morning. Follow my wagon tracks and I will show you the valley."
Robinson was described as being about six feet tall, well built with black hair and black moustache and a gentleman who was always welcome in the settler's home. He continued to hunt and trap and was often joined by one or more men from the settlement. When John E. Chamberlain was lost and presumed frozen to death in the March blizzard of 1885, Robinson was in the party of eight men who spent three days searching the Dogdens for him.
But he was a solitary man. The only record of him and his family joining in a community event was this entry in J.M. Pendroy's diary for July 4, 1884: "We all drove out to Fish Lake about four and a half miles from our place together with J. A. Pendroy and family, T. S. Donnel and family, J. L. Robinson and family, Lewis Robinson and family, T. F. Berry, J. Kindle and Frank Marlenee. We had two boats, plenty of grub and cooking utensils. Caught a fine lot of fish, 85 all together. Cooked up a mess for
dinner and had a splendid time. All seemed to enjoy themselves".
At some time after this Mrs. Robinson became disenchanted with her lot, put strychnine in Mr. Robinson's pancakes so the story went, and departed from the Mouse River leaving two little girls behind. Emma who was born in 1886 would have been about eight years old when this entry was made in J. M. Pendroy's diary: "Emma
Robinson came today to stop with us a while until her father comes to look after her and find a place where she can board." Ida remained with the Pendroy family for four or five years and attended the Oak Valley school. Apparently Emma went to live with the H. B. Johnson family in Minot where she, too attended school.
With his daughters being cared for and educated, Yankee must have found the influx of settlers too confining and once again he struck out for the wilderness, this time going to the Missouri and then to the Yellowstone River in Montana. He returned to see his daughters, often bringing Emma from Minot to visit Ida.
Their last visit was on June 30, 1899 when Yankee and Emma attended the funeral of J. M. Pendroy. By this time Mrs. Pendroy had lost her eyesight due to injuries sustained in a fall and after the funeral of her husband she gave up her home and went to live with her son, Johnnie, and granddaughter, Fannie. It was the end of an era. Ida was now a teenageer, lonesome for her own family and ready to try her wings. She left with her father and sister after the funeral and sometime the following year they moved from the valley.
Lewis Robinson was seen once more, this time at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri in 1904. By this time he had lost a hand and at the Exposition he had a huge stuffed bear mounted on a log raft in the river and was thrilling his audiences with the story of how he had killed the bear with his bare hands out in the wilderness and had lost his hand in the process. He was looking well, making a good income from his lectures and was delighted to see someone from those early days in the Mouse River county."
From "Bismarck Weekly Tribune, Friday, 14 December 1900": "Louis Robinson of Williston, better known as "Yankee Robinson," had
his right hand and wrist shortened by the accidental discharge of his shotgun Saturday last. He was standing on a log with the gun resting on it when the accident occurred. He cannot explain how. At the time Mr. Robinson was about 25 miles from the city, was immediately brought there and the injured member amputated by Dr. Belyea above the wrist joint. Mr. Robinson is an old hunter and trapper and he is well known both in Dakota and Montana.
From "Williston Graphic, Thursday, 6 December 1900": "A Sad Accident. Mr. Luman Robinson accidently shot his hand off last week.
Last Saturday while hunting, Luman Robinson, more familiarly known to our readers as "Yankee Robinson", met with an accident which necessitated the amputation of his right hand. Mr. Robinson was hunting for deer and while, standing on a log with his hand resting over the muzzle of the gun it in some manner went off currying a heavy load of buck shot through his hand and wrist. After the accident Mr. Robinson walked four miles to the nearest house, the home of Mrs. D. Gamaclie, before anything
was done to stay the bleeding. From there he was brought to Williston, but was so weak from loss of blood that it was several hours before Dr. Uelyea could amputate the hand. Throughout
all of the affair Mr. Robinson displayed a rare amount of nerve and courage. He was taken to the rooms fitted up for hospital purposes at the home of Mrs. Maderson where he is at present very comfortably situated, and everything is being done for his welfare. His wound is getting along nicely and all hope that he will soon be able to be out again.
Mr. Robinson is a very interesting man and has had a very eventful career. When 16 years old he enlisted with an Ohio regiment and served during the civil war being badly wounded in one engagement. After the war, in 1865, he came west and has been in Dakota and Montana ever since. He has a farm near Towner this state and a horse ranch on the Yellowstone River.
From "Devils Lake Inter-Ocean, 20 November 1886" (This is taken in part from a two-part article in the newspaper about hunting grouse and antelope by Conductor Copeland in the Crookston Journal):
....... Col. Towner remained at the ranch. Wm. Pitts and myself were to be the geese and antelope slayers, but we were obliged and pleased to take with us a man called Yankee Robinson (Obliged to take him because of his knowledge of the surrounding country, pleased on account of his renown as hunter and trapper.) I must say here that Yankee was born in Ashtabula county, Ohio, about 45 years ago. He has spent nearly all his life on the frontier and is rather a peculiar character. Dark complexion, black eyes, and rather deep set, broad shouldered and muscular, a bad man to grapple with in an encounter. His walk is a loose, swinging gait, homely to be sure, but one that kept a tenderfoot like me on a half walk and half run. His speech I cannot describe. He has a vocabulary of his own which is very expressive though not always grammatical. Well, our spring wagon was soon loaded, and with Fritz (the dog), three Winchester rifles, one S-bore and two 10-bore shot guns we started for ........
From "Cartwright Area History, 1976" (Published by Cartwright, North Dakota Bicentennial) Digested from Lem Burns Article written by Thomas Burns:
..... Lem told a story about a wolfer who sent for a mail order wife. When she arrived, he took her to his cabin. The deal was that if she liked the country after staying with him, he would marry her. Now, the wolfers used strychnine with which to poison wolves and coyotes. It was no good if it got old so they would taste it to see if it was good or not. If the wolfers did not drink, they usually had large sums of money. This woman always had a hot meal ready when "Yankee" Robinson came home. One night when Yankee tasted his food he could detect strychnine in it. (It is assumed that he had told her where his gold was hidden.) He knocked her down and kicked her. Thinking she was dead, he threw her in the buckberry patch and left her for the magpies to eat. She was a tough old bird so after she came to, she managed to crawl and hobble over to another man's cabin. Later, Yankee paid her way back to where she had come from. It was Yankee's cabin which Lem later bought for ten dollars.
Lem saw Yankee shoot the last bear in that territory. Yankee also caught the last two mountain lions in traps. He took the lions to Williston where he had a blacksmith make cages for them. He put them in the window of Hedderich's store with a sign that said: "Captured by Yankee Robinson with his bare hands." He also caught some coyotes, badgers, mink, beaver, wolves and some rattlesnakes. He made himself a raft from dry cottonwood logs and took the animals down the river to St. Louis where the World's Fair was going on. He dressed in a buckskin suit and charged people for looking at his animals. He made so much money that he had to hire a man to help him........
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