Albert Payson Terhune

Albert Payson Terhune (December 21, 1872 – February 18, 1942) was an American writer, dog breeder, and journalist. He was popular for his novels relating the adventures of his beloved collies and as a breeder of collies at his Sunnybank Kennels, the lines of which still exist in today's Rough Collies.

Biography

Albert Payson Terhune was born in New Jersey to Mary Virginia Hawes and the Reverend Edward Payson Terhune. His mother was a writer of household management books and pre-Civil War novels under the name Marion Harland. Terhune had four sisters and one brother, though only two of his sisters lived to be adults: Christine Terhune Herrick (1859–1944); and Virginia Terhune Van De Water (1865–1945).

Sunnybank (41.0012°N 74.2755°W / 41.0012; -74.2755 (Terhune Memorial Park)) was originally the family's summer home, with Terhune making it his permanent residence in 1912. He was educated at Columbia University where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1893. From 1894 to 1916, he worked as a reporter for The Evening World.

He boxed exhibition matches with James J. Corbett, Bob Fitzsimmons and James J. Jeffries.

His Sunnybank Kennels where he bred and raised Rough Collies were "the most famed collie kennels in the U.S."

"Bert" Terhune was an active member of the Adventurers' Club of New York.

Terhune was married twice. His first wife, Lorraine Bryson Terhune, died at the age of 23, four days after giving birth to Lorraine Virginia Terhune Stevens (1898–1956) and nine months into the marriage. He later married author and composer Anice Terhune; they never had children. He died on February 18, 1942. He was buried at the Pompton Reformed Church in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey.