Noted historian Mabee is dead at 99

Noted local historian and professor Carleton Mabee died Thursday.

He was 99 years old.

His passing was announced by his son, Tim Mabee.

A longtime resident of the Town of Gardiner, Carleton Mabee was professor emeritus at the State University of New York at New Paltz.

He won the 1944 Pulitzer Prize for biography for "The American Leonardo: The Life of Samuel F. B. Morse."

He was the author of numerous other historical studies.

His book, "Sojourner Truth: Slave, Prophet, Legend," was written with his daughter, Susan Newhouse, and was "the first full-length biographical study of Truth and remains the basic work in the field," according to the Sojourner Truth Institute.

Mabee was a founding member of the Gardiner Historical Society and a member of the New Paltz United Methodist Church.

John Ferro: 845-437-4816; jferro@poughkeepsiejournal.com; Twitter: @PoJoEnviro