George Edward Perine was a noted artist, engraver, and publisher. In 1852, he began engraving for Thomas Doney in New York and in 1856-1858 for W.W. Rice, a line and bank-note engraver. He engraved in mezzotint a large plate, entitled “The Signing of the Compact in the Cabin of the Mayflower,” before he was nineteen years old. He was employed by New York engravers in 1858-1860 and in 1860 began engraving on his own and soon established a successful business in New York City. He mainly did portrait engraving and though he had many engravers in his employ, it is said that he finished every plate himself. Among his best known productions were the engravings entitled "The Better Land", dedicated to the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline...

, published in 1866; "The Good Part", published a few years later; and a series of portraits on steel of distinguished men which appeared in The Eclectic Magazine. Of the books published by him, the most noteworthy were: "History of the Fifty-First Congress" (illustrated), and "A History of New York City", by Benson John Lossing

Benson John Lossing

Benson John Lossing was a prolific and popular American historian, known best for his illustrated books on the American Revolution and American Civil War and features in Harper's Magazine. He was a charter trustee of Vassar College.-Biography:Lossing was born February 12, 1813 in Beekman, New York...

, LL.D., the historian.

George Edward Perine was born July 9, 1837, at South Orange, New Jersey

South Orange, New Jersey

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 16,964 people, 5,522 households, and 3,766 families residing in the township. The population density was 5,945.3 people per square mile . There were 5,671 housing units at an average density of 1,987.5 per square mile...

, a son of Joseph and Sarah Decker Perine, and a descendant of Daniel Perrin

Daniel Perrin

Daniel Perrin was one of the first permanent European inhabitants of Staten Island, New York. Known as "The Huguenot", he arrived in New York Harbor from the Isle of Jersey on July 29, 1665 aboard the ship Philip, under the command of Philip Carteret...

, "The Huguenot

Huguenot

The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...

". He married Augusta Moore on June 15, 1859 and had eight children. He died February 3, 1885, at Brooklyn, New York.