Alfred Robinson was born the son of one of the many Robinsons who served in the American Revolutionary War. He became an American businessman and author in 19th century Alta California of Mexico, and then California of the United States. Robinson wrote "Life in California" in 1846, an influential early description of the region, and Juaneño Native American people.
Alfred Robinson sailed to Alta California in 1829 for the California hide and tallow trade. His first view of San Francisco was only empty dunes and hills, with the smoke from Mission Delores' chimney rising over one of them. He took to the Californios in Santa Barbara, and was baptized Jose Maria Alfredo and wed 14 year-old Anita de la Guerra de Noriega y Carrillo (Ana Maria "Anita" de Alto Garcis Leonara de la Guerra), of the locally prominent de la Guerra family of Santa Barbara. The marriage took place January 24, 1836 in the Mission Santa Barbara, California. The wedding and fiesta were so extraordinary, they were immortalized in Richard Henry Dana's classic book "Two Years Before the Mast."
They had eight children, the first being Elena in Santa Barbara, after which Alfred took Anita to Boston in 1838. For safety, daughter Elena was left in Santa Barbara, and the next child, a son, was born in Boston. Elena did not see her mother for four years, and Anita was dutifully stranded in Boston for 13 years while Alfred worked back and forth. On one of those trips he was even noted for trying to tell the Philadelphia Mint about California gold. Upon her return, Anita only spent about three years in her beloved Santa Barbara, before a young death. With her loss, Alfred never remarried.
After the Mexican Cession, California's annexation by the United States in 1848, and statehood in 1850, Robinson worked as a ranch investor and land manager (real estate broker and agent) from the 1850s through the 1880s.
In 1868 he formed the Robinson Trust in Los Angeles County. The real estate sales partnership included four San Francisco investors; Samuel Brannan, E. F. Northam, Charles B. Polhemus, Edward Martin. The Trust acted as sales agents for land subdivisions. Notably, he was linked to the 'California Immigrant Union' and helped guide it. The Los Angeles Times reported him passing away in San Francisco due to pneumonia, 88 years of age.

In 1846, Alfred Robinson published "Life in California", a comparatively sympathetic portrait of the lifeways and Californios political vicissitudes of the region under the Mexican Republic. Robinson's unpublished papers are on file at the California Historical Society library in San Francisco, and at the University of California, Berkeley.

As of this memorial writing, there are two camps of thought on Alfred's parentage. Some believe his father to be Samuel Robinson, while others maintain it is James Robinson. This also casts questions about his birth information.

Dudley, Massachusetts vital records. (Original image exists on Ancestry.com, and careful examination reveals day of birth properly interpreted as April 19, as opposed to 14.)
Alfred Robinson
Date: 19 Apr 1807
Place: Dudley, Massachusetts
Father: Sam" Robinson
Mother: Anna

Source: drobinson163 Robinson Family Tree
Samuel Robinson (2 Mar 1769* in Dudley, Worcester, Massachusetts - 13 May 1849 in Dudley, Worcester, Massachusetts) and Anna Barrett (1769 - 19 May 1852 in Webster, Worcester, Massachusetts)
Spouse: Ana Maria "Anita" de Alto Garcis L de la Guerra (1821 – 1854/1855)
Children: Antonia Robinson; Miguel Robinson;
Elena Robinson (1837 – ); James Robinson (1838 – 1855); Maria Antonia Robinson (1838 – 1860); (Alfredo Robinson (1842 – 1909); Paulina Robinson (1851 – ); James Alexander "Santiago" Robinson (1854 – 1894)

Source: Ilo Scott's Robinson Family Tree:
A possibility (no documents seen) that parents were:
James Robinson (27 Feb 1757, Haverhill, Essex, Massachusetts - 21 Jan 1832 in Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts)** and Jane Henry (1765, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts - 1824****)
Alfred Spouse & Children:
Ana Maria De La Guerra (1821 – 1854)
Antonia Robinson
Miguel Robinson
James A Robinson (1836 – 1855)
Maria Robinson (1838 – 1860)
Paulina Robinson (1844** – )
Alfredo Robinson (1854 – 1910)
James A. Robinson (1854 – 1900)

1838 Shipping announcement:
Alfred Robinson, age 30, and Mrs.(?) Robinson, age 17
Arrival: 13 Mar 1838
Ship Name: California
Port of Arrival: Boston, Massachusetts

1880 US Census: boarder and widower with James A. Robinson, 24, and widow Cheever family in San Francisco.

Another data set is suggested for James:
Name: James Robinson Esq.
Birth: 27 Feb 1757 Lynn, Essex, MA
Death: 21 Jan 1832 Saugus, MA
Occupation: Col
Other spouses: Lydia Newhall
Marriage: 15 Aug 1801 Boston, Suffolk, MA
Spouse: Jane Henry
Birth: 14 Mar 1765
Death: 27 Dec 1824**** Boston, MA
Burial: Granary Bur. Gd. #184
Father: Robert Henry (-1765)
Mother: Jane McQuiston (~1725-1803)
Other spouses: Timothy Gay

In The Morning Call, San Francisco, Sunday, December 9, 1894, page 13, the article, "A Last Witness" carries a claim that Alfred's father was at the battles of Lexington and Bunker hill. While Lexington is a literary stretch of a secondary skirmish of the first battles, James Robinson does appear in the Lexington and Bunker Hill rolls, while there are no Samuel Robinson's in either conflict. Also, James is promoted through the war from Private to Colonel, matching the cryptic "Occupation: Col" suggested above for James Robinson, Esq.
Find A Grave Memorial# 39494226 is suggested for James.

* While a Samuel shows service in the Continental Army, this Samuel's birth year makes that problematic. However, another 1757 Samuel is recorded elsewhere.
** Shows 8 months of age in 1852 California Census.
*** James definitely has Continental Army service.
**** Year should be 1842.

Additional Suggestions submitted Aug 2013:
check
1838 Birth
Robinson, Alexander James, s. Alfred and Anne Maria, June 27, 1838. C. R. 5. Lowell

sfgenealogy.com/sf/gnl/lonefin.htm
Horace Hawes (1813-1871) b Beside Horace Hawes at Laurel Hill lies his wife Caroline (1823-1895). In the same plot a monument marks the grave of Alfred Robinson (1807-1895); his wife was one of the de la Guerra family of Santa Barbara. James Robinson, their son, married the daughter of Horace Hawes. Alfred Robinson came to California from Massachusetts, in 1829; his "Life in California" is an interesting narrative of life here before the annexation of California to the United States. His eldest daughter, Anna M. Robinson, died in San Francisco February 11, 1860, when twenty-two years of age. She was buried in a crypt beneath the altar of Old St. Mary' s Church. Three tombs are there.

Figure 17 Charles Robinson Johnson (nephew of Alfred Robinson, who wrote Life in California) and Dolores Bandini Johnson. Wedding picture, post 1850 SDHS #10017-1

Laurel Hill Cemetery (Lone Mountain Cemetery)
Closed: Bodies moved in 1939-1940 to Cypress Lawn Cemetery in Colma, California.
transferred 5 Mar 1940 no monuments transferred, mass grave

see
California Historical Society Quarterly
San Francisco, CA: Dec 1957. Vol. 36, Iss. 4 p. 289-291
"The Mother of Alfred Robinson" by her 3g grandson, Robert Morris