Douglas Robinson Sr. (1824-1893)

He was born in Lanarkshire and after graduating from Edinburgh University came to America in 1841. He first went into business at Philadelphia before coming to New York where he was made a partner in the banking firm of James K. Soutter & Sons. By 1861, he was Secretary of the Great Western Insurance Company (then the American equivalent of Lloyds of London) and in 1866 he was elected a Member of the New York Chamber of Commerce. He retired circa 1880 after which he spent most winters in Europe and the summers at his country house in Herkimer County, New York.

In 1850, at Fanwood, New Jersey, he married Fanny, daughter of U.S. Congressman from New York James Monroe (nephew of U.S. President James Monroe). She inherited "Henderson House" from her eccentric aunt, Harriet Douglas Cruger, named for Fanny's great-great grandfather, James Henderson, who was granted the land on which it stood in 1724. Later, they later built "Overlook" on 72-acres at West Orange, New Jersey, next to the estate of George McClellan. They had two children (listed) who survived infancy including a son who married a sister of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. In 1892, Robinson, his son and daughter-in-law were listed on Ward McAllister's "Four Hundred".