San Francisco Mayor. Born in Columbia County, New York. The son of Peter S. and Catherine Coon. He was the youngest of thirteen children. Henry was prepared for college at Claverack Academy. A graduate of Williams college in 1844. He was received to the communion of the church in his nineteenth year. While teaching, he also pursued literary and theological studies. Getting a medical degree from the Philadelphia College of Medicine in 1848, he returned to New York and married Ruthetta Folger in September, 1849. In 1853, he left for California, leaving his wife and infant daughter behind for the time being, although they joined him the following year. He and Ruthetta ultimately had four children: three sons and a daughter. After arriving in San Francisco in 1853, he established a new medical practice, complete with an apothecary shop and a chemical-importing company. Henry also participated in organizing manufacturing and wholesale vinegar businesses. He was an active member of San Francisco's Vigilance Committee of 1856. When the Vigilance Committee transformed itself into a political party called the Peoples' Party later that year, he was the party's nominee for police judge. He was elected to the judgeship in November, 1856. Henry would gain notoriety for refusing to stop a duel between California Supreme Court Justice David S. Terry and U.S. Senator David C. Broderick, in which Broderick was killed. At the end of his second term in 1860, he stepped down from the post to return to his medical practice. He married for a second time to Hannah M Bingham in August of 1878. Henry reluctantly ran for mayor in 1863 after being approached by the People's Party, winning by nearly a thousand votes in the election of May, 1863. While he spent his first two years in office with ceremonial duties, including participating in the opening of the Bank of California, and leading a procession through the streets after President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. After leaving office in 1867, he did not resume the practice of medicine but engaged in the insurance business as well as dealing in real estate. He amassed enough wealth to purchase two large ranches, one of them became part of the campus of Stanford University. In 1868, he was appointed by the Governor to the office of Tide Lands Commissioner. In 1870 and 1871, he and his family visited Great Britain and many parts of continental Europe. He died of heart failure at the age of 62.