When Thomas Downey Robinson was born on 21 September 1829, in New York, United States, his father, Thomas Robinson, was 29 and his mother, Eliza Downey, was 23. He had at least 6 sons and 4 daughters with Catherine J Kepple. He lived in Black Hawk, Iowa, United States in 1870 and Black Hawk Township, Grundy, Iowa, United States for about 5 years. He died on 19 May 1889, at the age of 59, and was buried in Reinbeck, Grundy, Iowa, United States.