Henrietta Marie Colden

Henrietta Marie Bethune Colden (1745–1800) was a Scottish salon holder from Isle of Man.

Early life

Henrietta Marie Bethune was born in Scotland in 1745 and lived in the Isle of Man before she and her husband emigrated to America.[1]

Personal life

She married Richard Nicholls Colden (1845–1777) in the Isle of Man while he was with his regiment there. Colden served for the 42nd Royal Highlanders and died in 1777. Richard was the eldest son of Elizabeth (née Nicholls) Colden and Alexander Colden, a politician, and a grandson of Cadwallader Colden,[2] a colonial governor of the Province of New York. Together, they were the parents of two sons before his death:[3]

• Cadwallader R. Colden, who became the editor of the U.S. Sporting Magazine, published in New York, in 1835–6.[1]
• Alexander Colden.[4]

After Colden's death, she returned to Scotland with her sons where they were educated at a school near Lancaster, England before returning to the United States after the Revolutionary War.[1]

In 1798, Henrietta sold a farm at New Lots in Kings County, New York to Sir James Hall of Dunglass in Scotland.[5]

Literary interests

Colden was known for her different literary interests.[6] On March 14, 1783, she wrote a letter to Benjamin Franklin,[3] complaining about the British Government after her husband had died from a fever in 1777.[7] On July 16, 1792, she wrote a letter to Henry Knox, the first United States Secretary of War, to Kean respecting payment to the Ohio Company.[8]

References

1. "The Colden Family of Early America" (PDF). livingstonmanor.net. 2011. p. 25. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
2. "City Readers > People & Organizations > Henrietta Marie Colden". Cityreaders.nysoclib.org. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
3. Franklin, Benjamin; Cohn, Ellen R. (2008). The Papers of Benjamin Franklin: January 21 Through May 15, 1783. Yale University Press. p. 621. ISBN 9780300134483. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
4. Purple, Edwin Ruthven (1873). Genealogical Notes of the Colden Family in America. Priv. print. p. 13. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
5. Strong, Elisha B. (1818). Laws of the State of New-York: Revised and Passed at the Thirty-sixth Session of the Legislature : with Marginal Notes and References. H.C. Southwick & Company. p. 18. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
6. "The Eighteenth-Century Society Library | New York Society Library". Nysoclib.org. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
7. "To Benjamin Franklin from Henrietta Maria Colden, 14 March 1783". Founders.archives.gov. 12 July 2016. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
8. "Colden, Henrietta Maria (fl. 1792-1794) to Henry Knox". www.gilderlehrman.org. Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Retrieved 26 July 2019.