Joseph Henry Hidley was born 23 March 1830 in Greenbush, the part that later became North Greenbush, Rensselaer County, NY. He was baptised 11 July 1830 at Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in the village of West Sand Lake, in the town of Sand Lake, Rensselaer County. Joseph's family had close ties to this church through several generations.

His parents were George M. Hidley (1806-1834) and Hannah Susannah Simmons, who had been married on 24 March 1827 at the bride's father's home, as recorded in the marriage register of Zion Lutheran. Joseph's elder brother, James Henry Hidley, had died in infancy. Joseph had two younger sisters, Elizabeth Ann Hidley, born 27 March 1832, and Gitty Ann Hidley, born 11 September 1833; they, too, were baptised at Zion Lutheran. It is said that George M. Hidley died when Joseph was only four years old. George's parents were Michael Hidley (1772-1858) and Gertrude Cipperly (1731-1834). Joseph lost his grandmother within a year of losing his father, but he would have remembered his grandfather Michael Hidley, as well as Michael's last wife, Lydia. Joseph would have known his many Hidley cousins who all lived near each other in North Greenbush.

In about 1854, Joseph Hidley married an innkeeper's daughter, Caroline M. Danforth (1837-1870) of Poestenkill, Rensselaer County, NY, and settled in Poestenkill permanently. Caroline was a daughter of Lyman Danforth (1786-1863) and his wife Emeline (1803-1886), who had both been born in Massachusetts. Newlyweds Joseph and Caroline Hidley lived with her parents in the 1855 NY State Census (if you want to see their entry, click on this link, use your browser's "Find on this page" function, and search for "Heidley"). They had six children, of whom only three survived beyond early childhood.  The six children are these:

·           Mary Hidley (1859-1863), who died at age four years;

·           Pamelia Hidley, born in about 1858 (and surely named after Caroline's younger sister, Pamelia Danforth Place, 1842-1929);

·           Joseph Lyman Hidley*, born in about 1861;

·           Carrie E. Hidley, born in 1863, died in 1864;

·           Emeline Hidley*, born in about 1865 (and undoubtedly named after Caroline's mother), died in 1954, married Edmund Hunt; and

·           Delpha D. Hidley, born in about 1867.

The 1865 NY State Census states that this marriage was the first both for Joseph and for Caroline and that Caroline at this time was the mother of five children, of whom only Pamelia, Joseph Jr and the unnamed Emeline were present in their household in 1865. Mary and Carrie would have been the missing two children; Delpha was not born yet in 1865 and would have been their sixth child.

As a young husband and father, Joseph Hidley painted scenes of his surroundings, mostly in oil on wood. He painted views of the village of Poestenkill, showing the main crossroads and features of the village.

Well known to Joseph was the adjacent town of Sand Lake, where he undoubtedly attended church as a boy. In another part of the town was Glass Lake, a man-made lake formed in the early 19th century which by Joseph's time was a pleasurable location for a fashionable promenade.

Joseph Hidley was at the height of his productivity in terms of artistic painting in 1870; his entry in the 1870 US Census gives his occupation as "home painter". He owned $600 worth of real estate in 1870. Shortly after that census was taken, Joseph's wife, Caroline, died, aged just 33 years. Joseph himself died of consumption less than two years later, on 28 September 1872, at the age of 42 years. Both are buried in Hillside Cemetery in Poestenkill, along with their little daughter Mary.

- By Lin Van Buren