Samuel P. Robinson was born around 1798 in Rhode Island. He married Alzayda Rosaline Willey on February 24, 1824, and they had at least eight children: Hannah, born around 1826; William, born around 1830; Edwin, born around 1835; Alida, born around 1839; Rebecca, born around 1842; Alvin, born around 1843; Samuel, born around 1845; and Charles, born around 1846. They lived in Brooklyn, New York, and Robinson worked as a merchant. The family moved to Stanford, New York, in the 1850s, and Robinson worked as a farmer there. By 1860, he owned $10,000 of real estate and $1,500 of personal property. He died in Newark, New Jersey, on June 1, 1868.