Henry Abbey

He was secured work as assistant editor of the Rondout Courier in 1862 and of the Orange, N.J., Spectator in 1863;[1] while contributing verses to many periodicals. In 1864-65 he was teller in a bank and in 1866 became a flour and grain merchant.[1]

In 1862 he financed the publication of a slim volume of his verse, May Dreams, dedicated to William Cullen Bryant, who generously allowed himself to be quoted in it as recognizing in the author "the marks of an affluent fancy". Abbey's verse was relatively simple in prosody, language, and topic, much of it celebrating nature and the beauties of his region.