Personal Life
Colburn was the nephew of his namesake, Zerah Colburn, a noted arithmetical prodigy.
In 1853 Colburn married Adelaide Felecita Driggs, 12 years his senior. They had a daughter, Sarah Pearl. Becoming estranged on his move to England, Colburn bigamously married Elizabeth Suzanna Browning in 1864 which led to his sacking from The Engineer.
Colburn had a career of breakneck speed; he was a restless man, quick of brain and quick of temper, who fell into jobs and fell in with people, but then throughout his life, fell out with them too.
Ultimately overwork, an addiction to laudanum and alcohol, as well as poor financial management took their toll. He became increasingly depressed and reckless, leading to his return to the U.S. - where he found himself disowned by his family - and eventual suicide at age 38. He was found near death by two boys taking their dog for a walk in Tudor's Pear Orchard, Belmont, Massachusetts, with a derringer in his hand.
Read more about this topic: Zerah Colburn (locomotive Designer)
Famous quotes containing the words personal and/or life:
“I leave the governor’s office next week, and with it public life ... [which] has been on the whole a pleasant one. But for ten years and over my salaries have not equalled my expenses, and there has been a feeling of responsibility, a lack of independence, and a necessary neglect of my family and personal interests and comfort, which make the prospect of a change comfortable to think of.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“Life is hard, we say. An oyster’s life is worse. She lives motionless, soundless, her own cold ugly shape her only dissipation ...”
—M.F.K. Fisher (b. 1908)