Friend of Mary Todd Lincoln, witness at the president's deathbed — and the mother of the man who built St. Hubert's Chapel.
Before her son carved an estate out of these mountains, Mary Cogswell Kinney had already stood close to American history. A friend of Mary Todd Lincoln, she was, by documented account, one of only five women in the room as President Lincoln lay dying. Her own story in full is one we are still researching — but her presence is felt in Kinnelon to this day.
Mary Cogswell Kinney — the mother of the cigarette magnate Francis S. Kinney, whose estate became Smoke Rise and the borough of Kinnelon — moved in the circle of the Lincolns. A friend of Mary Todd Lincoln, she was one of only five women present as President Lincoln lay dying after his assassination in 1865.
Her memory travelled to Kinnelon by way of art. When her son built St. Hubert's Chapel on an island in Lake Kinnelon, he placed inside it a marble figure, “The Angel of Resurrection,” carved by Antonio Tantardini in 1879 — a sculpture that had originally stood on Mary Cogswell Kinney's own tomb. It watches over the chapel still.
Kinnelon's history holds two Mary Kinneys. This is Mary Cogswell Kinney, Francis Kinney's mother. She should not be confused with Mary Kinney, Francis's wife — the devout Catholic for whom he built St. Hubert's Chapel itself.
We are still researching Mary Cogswell Kinney's fuller biography — her dates, her family, and the documented record of her years near the Lincolns. We publish only what we can source, and we'll add to her story as it's confirmed. If you can help, we'd be grateful.
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Mary Cogswell Kinney's story is largely undocumented online. If you can help us source it — with a record, not a guess — we'd be grateful:
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Sources
Compiled from publicly available sources; where accounts differ, the most widely documented version is used. Community corrections welcome.
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