Georgia and Georgians - the Digital Library of Georgia

vGEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 2833of the largest hardware firms, both wholesale and retail, in Central Georgia.Originally 'the business was a retail store, but its trade and prosperity soonjustified extension into wholesale lines, and also the handling of a generalstock of implements. The establishment is, one which would do credit to amuch larger town than Dublin. It is represented by traveling salesmen whocover the territory around Dublin, and in the stores and warehouses aboutfourteen people find steady employment. The floor space devoted to thedifferent departments aggregates fully 25,000 square feet. The success ofthis' business is to be attributed to the excellent management and systemworked out by Mr. Robinson himself. Mr. Robinson is also president of theRobinson-Ray Lumber Company of Dublin, which was incorporated in 1912with a capital stock of $10,000. This is also a flourishing concern. He isvice president of Dublin & Laurens Bank, the oldest banking institution atDublin. When the Georgia Retail Hardware Men's Association was organized,in 1905 Mr. Robinson was honored by election as its first president, and inJune, 1915, was again chosen to the same office.Since 1913 he has been president of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce,and in July, 1915, was elected mayor of Dublin for two years, and bringsto that office a notable experience as a successful business man and his administration cannot be otherwise than extremely beneficial to the community.Mr. Robinson is a democrat and a member of the Baptist Church. Amongother interests he holds some fine farming land in Central Georgia andoperates it by tenant farmers. One of the best business properties, coveringone-fourth of a block, in Dublin is also his property, and in various wayshe has used his business and personal influence to uplift the city.On December 22, 1880, at Dublin, he married Miss Ida M. Thomas, whowas born in Laurens County, a daughter of James A., Sr., and Carrie Virginia(Whitehead) Thomas. Her father, who was a farmer, died in 1875, andher mother passed away in 1914, at the age of seventy-six. Mrs. Robinsonis active in the Baptist Church, the Ladies' Aid and Missionary Society. Theonly recreation which Mr. Robinson takes out of. business affairs is fishing,and he is very ardent in the pursuit of this sport. The standing which henow enjoys as a business man and citizen is the more creditable from thefact that he never received a dollar by inheritance or in any other way. Hedepended on himself, worked out his career by intelligent use of opportunities, and persistent and unflagging attention to his duties. In spite of hissuccess he is modest and retiring, but enjoys'the admiration and respect ofall who know him.EUGENE RAGDAND. Prominent in a group of university men, who havecontributed for a number of years to the fame of Atlanta as a scholarly center, is Prof. Eugene Ragland, one of Georgia's well known educators. Forthe last sixteen years he has occupied a position of extreme responsibilityin the Boys' High School of Atlanta, coming here with considerable teachingexperience behind him and with well won college degrees attesting educational proficiency.Eugene Ragland was born at Dancyville, West Tennessee, August 23,1869, and is a son of Frederick Barham and Mary Ann (Callender) Ragland,and a grandson and also a great-grandson of Frederick Barham Ragland.The Ragland family is of Welsh ancestry and was established in America bythree brothers who came to the Virginia colony prior to the Revolutionarywar. The great-grandfather of Professor Ragland was born at Jamestown,Virginia, the grandfather in North Carolina, and his father at Dancyville,West Tennessee. Thus the family name is known in many sections of theSouth-and it has always been representative of sterling character and honorable citizenship. Both parents of Professor Ragland reside at Brownsville,West Tennessee, and six of their sons and five of their daughters are yet liv-