Later Life
In the 1860s, Colyer took a yachting trip up the Connecticut shore as far as New Haven, looking for a good spot to relocate his home and studio. He liked what he saw at one island and bought 40 acres (160,000 m2) there. Colyer later renamed the isle "Contentment Island", still its name. (According to one town history, the former name, stated in old land records, was "Ox Pound", another gives it as "Contention Island.") The artist took an active part in civic affairs and served a term in the state House of Representatives.
He moved to Darien, Connecticut in the early 1870s and set up a studio named after his close friend John Kensett. On October 31, 1872, Colyer's wife, Mary Lydia drowned in Long Island Sound after her horse bolted as she was crossing the bridge by buggy to Contentment Island. Kensett got in the water and tried to save her. Soon he became sick (one source said from pneumonia; another said it was "a cold.") Kensett died on December 14, 1872.
After 1875, the artist concentrated on Connecticut scenes. In the summer of 1877, Colyer toured Indian reservations in the Northwest.
Read more about this topic: Vincent Colyer
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