History of Hudson, (Columbia County) New York United States of America

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Biographies:

Robert Barry Coffin, author, was born in Hudson, N.Y., July 21, 1826; grandson of Alexander Coffin, one of the original proprietors of Hudson, N.Y., and seventh in descent from Tristram Coffin, colonist, proprietor of Nantucket. Robert was educated at Poughkeepsie collegiate institute, became a book-keeper in a New York importing house and in 1852 opened a bookstore in Elmira, N.Y. He succeeded Thomas B. Aldrich as associate editor of the Home Journal, was art critic of the Evening Post, edited The Table, devoted to gastronomy, and contributed on that subject to the Caterer, Philadelphia. He contributed to periodicals under the pen name "Barry Gray." His published works include My Married Life at Hillside (1865); Out of Town (1866); Cakes and Ale at Woodbine (1868); Castles in the Air, and other Phantasies (1871); and The Home of Cooper (1872). He died at Fordham, N.Y, June 10, 1886.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Arthur Parton, artist, was born in Hudson, N.Y., March 26, 1842; son of George and Elizabeth (Woodbridge) Parton, and brother of Ernest Parton . He studied art with William T. Richards in Philadelphia, Pa., 1859-61, and at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts; removed to New York city in 1865 and established a studio, and studied in Paris, 1870-71. He was chosen a member of the American Water-color society and of the Artists' Fund society; was elected an associate of the Academy of Design in 1871, and academician in 1884. In 1886 he was awarded a gold medal by the American Art association, and in 1888 the Temple medal of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Among his most famous pictures are: November (1867); On the Road to Mr. Marcy (1873); A Mountain Brook (1874); Sycamores of Old Shokam (1876); The Delaware River near Milford (1879); Nightfall (1880); The Morning Ride (1884); Winter on the Hudson (1885); The Evening after the Rain (1886), and Evening on the Harlem River (1887). He received honorable mention at the Paris exposition (1889).

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

John Worth Edmonds, jurist, was born in Hudson, N.Y., March 13, 1799. He was graduated from Union college in 1816, and in 1820 became a practising lawyer in his native city where he served as mayor and as chief engineer of the fire department. He gained promotion in the state militia to the rank of colonel. He was recorder of the state under appointment by Gov. De Witt Clinton. He was a member of the assembly of the state in 1831, a state senator 1832-36, Indian commissioner, 1836-38, and in 1841 removed from Hudson to New York city, where he continued the practice of law. He was an inspector of the Sing Sing state prison, 1843, and founded there a prison reform association, through which, among other radical reforms, corporal punishment was abolished, a system of rewards for good conduct inaugurated and measures instituted for the care of convicts after the expiration of their term of service. He was a judge of the circuit court under the old constitution, 184547; a member of the state supreme court, 1847-52, and an associate judge of the court of appeals of the state, 1852-53. He became a convert to spiritualism in 1851, and published in connection with Dr. George M. Dexter Spiritualism (1853-55) and individually from a London publishing house, Letters and Tracts on Spiritual. ism (1874). He also published Report of Select Law Cases (1868). He died in New York city, April 5, 1874.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Marshal Huntington Bright, journalist, was born in Hudson, N.Y., in 1834. He received an academical training and then took a chemical course in the Lawrence scientific school, Harvard university, from 1852 to 1854. He became associate editor of the Albany Argus in 1854. He entered the Union service in the civil war in 1861, serving as aide-de-camp and as commissary on the staffs successively of Generals Robert Anderson, Don Carlos Buell and George H. Thomas. For distinguished service he was promoted major in 1864, and resigned in November, 1865. He was engaged in mining and banking from 1865 to 1873, when he became associate editor of the Christian at Work, and in 1880 principal editor. He was president of the Quill club, New York, in 1890. In 1894 he wrote, in connection with Hamilton W. Mabie, "The Memorial Story of America."

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor