page_title: Parker Corning
section_title: Family
hierarchical_section_title: Parker Corning / Family
caption_attribution_description: English: Anna Austin Cassin (1883-1943) was the wife of first Archibald Jermain McClure and then Parker Corning.
context_page_description: Parker Corning was an American businessman and politician from Albany, New York. He is most notable for his service as a United States Representative from New York from 1923 to 1937.
  A member of the Albany area's prominent Corning family, Parker Corning was born in Albany and graduated from Yale College in 1895. He became identified with several business ventures that made him wealthy, most notably Albany Felt Company. Active in politics in the Democratic organization run by Daniel P. O'Connell and Corning's brother Edwin Corning, in 1922 Parker Corning was a successful candidate for Congress. Known initially for his efforts to obtain federal funding for the Port of Albany–Rensselaer and other New York projects, during the latter portion of his Congressional tenure he became known as one of the few Democrats opposed to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal. Corning did not run for reelection in 1936 and returned to his business interests.
  Corning died in Albany on May 24, 1943 and was buried at Albany Rural Cemetery.
context_section_description: On November 1, 1910, Parker Corning married Mrs. Anne "Anna" Austin Cassin McClure, who had been married to Archibald Jermain McClure before obtaining a divorce.  With her first husband, Mrs. Corning was the mother of a son, Barclay Jermain McClure (1900-1966).  With her second husband, she was the mother of a daughter, Mary Parker Corning (1912-1984).
  Anna Cassin was renowned for her physical beauty.  Archibald McClure, the son of a man who had grown wealthy in the wholesale drug business in Albany, had never met her before he decided to marry her after seeing a magazine photo, and ended a visit to California so he could return to New York and make her acquaintance.  By 1910, she was a single mother with little money.  She was also Catholic, while the Cornings were Episcopal.  When Corning proposed, his family tried to persuade him not to follow through.  After the wedding, Corning's sister Harriet never spoke to him again.
  Corning's grandfathers Erastus Corning and Amasa J. Parker were also U.S. Representatives from New York.  His brother Edwin Corning was Lieutenant Governor of New York, and his nephew Erastus Corning 2nd was Mayor of Albany.  Another nephew, Edwin Corning Jr., served in the New York State Assembly from 1955 to 1959.
caption: Anna Cassin Corning.  December 1899 newspaper illustration.
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