The Robinson Giants

OK, stop me if you’ve heard this one before:  I was researching family history one day, with little to show for it, when suddenly I discovered that I may be related to a family of circus “giants”. Really, I’m not making this up. I’m just starting to piece this together, but thought that if I “threw it out there” that maybe I’ll hear from someone who might know more.
This revelation came, as do most revelations pertaining to the Stevens side of the family, from my aunt D.J., who I’ll quote:
“Mother [Goldie Stevens] mentioned James Robinson as her great grandpa. In a very large old, old Bible the name John Robinson was written in a large flowing script with a date that looks like 1899. Lower on the page the name written was Goldie Irene Parker. She would have been 11 years old.”
“We had three old friends that I believe were, in some way, also tied to Robinson. Their name was Kirkwood - John, Mary and Margaret. They had a big farm. John and Mary worked the farm and Margaret was the Court Stenographer in Cambridge, Ohio. Doug and I loved to go to their farm. They subscribed to, I think, every magazine there was. They kept the old ones in their barn loft for us, and we could take home whatever we wanted. Margaret is the one who gave us the snapshot of the Robinson Giants.” [italics are mine]
“After John died, Mary & Margaret moved into a house in New Concord, Ohio. We used to take mother there for visits and later Mike [my cousin] and I visited them. Mary always made raisin filled cookies for us.”
So who were the Robinsons? Sadly, I’ve been unable to turn up much, but an article in the July 24, 1886 edition of the South Bend (Indiana) Tribune contained some clues. Titled, Why They Joined the Circus, the story called them, “the Robinson Brothers, Barnum’s Iowa Giants”, and gave their ages as 19, 21 and 23, but curiously neglected to mention their names. (but it did state that they all allegedly stood 8′ 2″) Another source revealed one brother as being named George.
Did the brothers really hail from Iowa, or was that just some hokum that P.T. Barnum thought up? (such promotional malarkey is almost certainly behind the faux-military garb they wore) Without names the Iowa connection is hard to pursue, and it’s my hope that someone that’s well-versed in Robinson family genealogy can help tie things together. Am I really related to these Robinsons? What’s the Kirkwood connection? Why am I under six feet tall? Hopefully I’ll find answers to these and other questions in the coming months!