C. H. (Charles Henry) Robinson

Born on February 3, 1843, in Guernsey County, Ohio, Charles Henry Robinson served in the Union forces during the American Civil War. After the war he taught school in Illinois and later in Iowa, where he studied law and began a career in public service.

In Iowa, he became county auditor of Marion County, was admitted to the bar, and later served in the state legislature. Sources also describe him as an editor as well as a lawyer and public official, showing how closely his writing life was tied to civic work.

Robinson is now chiefly known as the author of Longhead: The Story of the First Fire, published in 1913. The book imagines the earliest steps of human society through the discovery of fire, shelter, cooperation, and belief, and it has kept his name alive with readers interested in early speculative and historical fiction. He died on April 13, 1940.