Author: Featherstonhaugh, George William
Biography:
FEATHERSTONHAUGH, George William (1780-1866: ANBO)
A man of many talents who also had a way of alienating people and was repeatedly frustrated in grand schemes. He was born in London, the son of a manufacturer and a shopkeeper, George and Dorothy (Simpson) Featherstonhaugh. After working as a commercial agent on the Continent for a few years, he moved to New York in 1806. There he met and married Sarah Duane, whose father owned a large estate near Schenectady; the couple had four children. Established in a house on the estate, Featherstonhaugh for a time was a successful breeder of imported livestock. Encountering difficulties, he transferred his attention to railroads and returned temporarily to England to investigate railroads there. At the same time, he became seriously interested in geology: he sailed back to New York in 1827 with a collection of 8000 fossils and minerals which he loaned to a museum. He gave lectures on geology at Columbia College and attempted to found a scientific journal. After the death of his wife in 1828, he moved to Philadelphia and married again. With his second wife, Charlotte Williams Carter, he had three more children. He produced a translation of Cicero in 1829 and one of Manzoni’s I Promessi Sposi in 1834. In 1839, having returned to England, he was employed in the British interest in a border dispute between Maine and New Brunswick. From 1844 until his death, he served as British Consul at Le Havre. (ANBO 29 Nov. 2018) HJ