Tulare County Biographies

CAPT. ROBERT M. ASKIN

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

 
As citizen, soldier, artisan, merchant and official, Capt. Robert M. Askin of 
Visalia won prominence among his fellowmen. He was born in Dublin, Ireland, 
April 10, 1838, and died at his home in Tulare county January 1, 1908. John 
Askin, his father, an Englishman transplanted to the Emerald Isle, became a 
plumber under his father's instruction and worked at his trade in Ireland as 
long as he lived. He was married in Ireland to Miss Sarah Sophia Shea, a Dublin 
girl, who bore him five children, of whom Robert M. was the third in order of 
birth, and of whom two sons and two daughters grew to maturity.
In November, 1852, Robert M., seeking fortune in a new land before he was 
fifteen years old, crossed the Atlantic and joined an uncle at Trenton, Canada, 
where he gave about two years to learning the tinner's trade. From 1854 to 1856 
he worked at his trade in Jefferson county, N. Y., whence he went to New York 
City at the request of another uncle. Three years later he was working at his 
trade in St. Louis, Mo., but he soon went with a Mr. Crippen to Steelville, 
Crawford county, that state, where he established a tinsmith's shop, which he 
operated until in the fall of 1861. On September 6, 1861, he became a member of 
Company E of the Phelps Regiment, with which he served six months, during which 
he witnessed the battle of Pea Ridge. Receiving honorable discharge at the end 
of his term of enlistment, he re-enlisted in Company E, Thirty-second Missouri 
Infantry, August 14, 1862. From a private he was promoted in the following 
October to lieutenant, and April 14, 1864, he was commissioned captain. He 
served under Grant until 1863 and afterward until the end of the war under 
Sherman. It is somewhat remarkable that while he participated gallantly in 
thirty-two engagements he never missed a roll-call or a meal with his company 
and received but one wound, a mere scratch by a ball while he was charging on a 
battery at Jonesboro, Ga. He was mustered out of the service July 18, 1865, 
returned to Steelville, Mo., and worked as a tinner and sold hardware. In 1870 
he moved to Cuba, Crawford county, Mo., and in 1878 to Salem, Dent county, Mo., 
where he dealt in hardware and house furnishing goods for twenty-one years. From 
his young manhood he was an active Republican, and for a term he held the office 
of presiding justice of the county court and he served as postmaster of Salem by 
appointment of President Harrison. From the time of his arrival in California 
until his death he had his residence and business headquarters at Visalia.
Captain Askin married, February 22, 1866, Clara Alice Jameson, a native of 
Missouri, who bore him four children: Charles Robert and Mary Catherine are 
dead; William C. lives in Missouri; John Herbert was connected with his father 
in business at Visalia and is still a resident of that city. Mrs. Askin died at 
Cuba, Crawford county, Mo.. April 12, 1876, and Captain Askin married (second) 
in that town Miss Frances Amelia Shephard, of New York birth, and they had 
children, Arthur Wesley, Adney Horace, Mervyn Leroy, Matie Amelia and Flora 
Dell. Captain Askin was a constituent member of the post of the Grand Army of 
the Republic at Salem, Mo., and on coming to Visalia transferred his membership 
to Gen. George Wright Post No. 111, of that city. In religious affiliation he 
was an Episcopalian and the surviving members of his family are communicants of 
that church. At Salem he was active in the work of the Masonic lodge and 
commandery and in that of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. Wherever he lived 
he was in a public-spirited way devoted to the uplift of his community, and in 
this respect his son is following in his footsteps, giving generous 
encouragement to every movement at Visalia for the good of any considerable 
class of the people.
 
History of Tulare and Kings Counties, California with Biographical Sketches - 
Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company, 1913, Pp 784-785