Arthur Dudley Vinton (December 23, 1852 – September 12, 1906) was an author and lawyer.

Early life

Dudley Vinton, as he was called, was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York on December 23, 1852. He was the third son of the Reverend Dr. Francis Vinton (1809–1872) and his second wife, Elizabeth Mason (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Perry) Vinton (1819–1878). His father, who was previously married to Maria Bowen Whipple, was a well-known pastor affiliated with the Trinity Church in Newport and Trinity Church in lower

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. His maternal grandparents were Elizabeth Champlin (née Mason) Perry and Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, who was known as "The Hero of Lake Erie." His paternal grandparents were Mary (née Atwell) Vinton and David Vinton. His paternal aunt, Elizabeth Vinton, was married to

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

Gen.

George S. Greene George Sears Greene (May 6, 1801 – January 28, 1899) was a civil engineer and a Union general during the American Civil War. He was part of the Greene family of Rhode Island, which had a record of distinguished military service to the United S ...

, and was the father of

Francis Vinton Greene Francis Vinton Greene (June 27, 1850 – May 13, 1921) was a United States Army officer who fought in the Spanish–American War. He came from the Greene family of Rhode Island, noted for its long line of participants in American military history ...

. Arthur Vinton attended the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute then joined the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

and became a Col. A.D.V. Midshipman before attending college. He graduated from Columbia Law School.

Career

After graduation from law school, Vinton worked at Evarts, Southmayd & Choate, before starting a law firm in 1879 with two wealthy classmates, his cousin,

Perry Belmont Perry Belmont (December 28, 1851 – May 25, 1947) was an American politician and diplomat. He served four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1881 to 1888. Early life and education Belmont was born on December 28, 1851, in New York C ...

, and

George Griswold Frelinghuysen George Griswold Frelinghuysen (May 9, 1851 – April 21, 1936) was an American patent lawyer, and president of P. Ballantine & Sons Company, a New Jersey brewery. Early life Frelinghuysen was born in Newark, New Jersey on May 9, 1851. He was ...

. The firm of Vinton, Belmont & Frelinghuysen lasted about five years. Belmont was elected to the House of Representatives and Frelinghuysen married into the Ballantine family and soon became president of the Ballantine Brewing company. When his friend

Lloyd Bryce Lloyd Stephens Bryce (September 20, 1851 – April 2, 1917) was an American diplomat and politician who served one term as a U.S. Representative from New York from 1887 to 1889. He was also a prominent magazine editor. Early life Lloyd Bry ...

, whom he met at Columbia Law, became the editor of the '' North American Review'' in 1889, Vinton abandoned the law and began working there and contributing. He also invented an automatic railway signal.

Personal life

Vinton died in Manhattan on September 12, 1906. After a funeral service at Belmont Chapel, he was buried at

Island Cemetery The Common Burying Ground and Island Cemetery are a pair of separate cemeteries on Farewell and Warner Street in Newport, Rhode Island. Together they contain over 5,000 graves, including a colonial-era slave cemetery and Jewish graves. The pair ...

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...

Published works

*''The Pomfret Mystery: A Novel of Incident'' (1886) *''The Unpardonable Sin'' (1889) *''Looking Further Backward'' (1890), a derisory sequel to Edward Bellamy's novel ''Looking Backward''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vinton, Arthur Dudley 1852 births 1906 deaths Perry family 19th-century American lawyers People from Brooklyn Columbia Law School alumni American male novelists 19th-century American novelists 19th-century American male writers Burials at Common Burying Ground and Island Cemetery