History of Ossining, (Westchester County) New York United States of America

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Biographies:

Wellesley Perry Coddington, educator, was born in Sing Sing, N.Y., Oct. 23, 1840; son of David Cook and Hannah (Perry) Coddington; grandson of Millard and Phoebe (Cook) Coddington and great-grandson of Jotham and Mary (Millard) Coddington. His first American ancestor, John Coddington of Woodbridge, N. J., was born about 1655 and bought land in Woodbridge in 1683. Wellesley was graduated at Wesleyan university in 1860 and the same year taught in the Troy conference seminary, Poultney, Vt., removing in 1862 to the Amenia seminary, Dutchess county, N.Y., where he was a teacher of ancient languages and in 1863 was acting principal of that institution. In 1864 he became teacher of Greek in Cazenovia seminary, N.Y.; was transferred to the Oneida conference of the Methodist Episcopal church in 1865, and was appointed professor of modern languages in Genessee college. In 1868 he was transferred to the chair of Latin and Greek, holding the same until 1871, when the college was removed to Syracuse, N.Y., and took the name of the Syracuse university. He continued in the same chair until 1891, having added to his duties the chair of ethics and Christian evidence. In 1891 he was promoted to the chair of philosophy and pedagogy. He received the honorary degree of S.T.D. from Hamilton college in 1881.

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

Albert Kenrick Fisher, zo?logist, was born at Sing Sing, N.Y., March 21, 1856; son of Hiram and Susan E. (Townsend) Fisher. He attended Holbrook military high school in his native town, and was graduated at the College of physicians and surgeons, New York city, in 1879. He became a student of vertebrate zo?logy, and in 1885, when the bureau of ornithology and mammalogy was established in the United States department of agriculture at Washington, he was appointed to a position as assistant. In this department he prepared an exhaustive treatise on the food of hawks and owls, based on an examination of over twenty-five hundred stomachs, which proved that these birds were the farmers' best friends, by keeping in check various animals and insects. He was a member of the biological expedition sent out by the department of agriculture to Death Valley and the surrounding country in California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah in 1891, and wrote a report on the birds of the region traversed. He was one of the founders of the American ornithologists' union and was elected a member of the Biological society of Washington, D.C., and of various other natural history societies. He is the author of a pamphlet entitled: Hawks and Owls in Their Relation to Agriculture.

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