Emerson collected a bunch of oddballs around him, I think that's to his credit that he could appreciate a wide variety of people, he valued originality, people who listened closely to themselves and nature. In a way Transcendentalism is about friendships.
One of these people was William Ellery Channing (1817-1901). His father was a preacher, but he went towards poetry. He also wrote the first book on Thoreau. My library doesn't have a book of his poetry, but it does have his book about Thoreau. He married Margaret Fuller's sister Ellen Fuller, and they eventually lived in Concord.
After 5 years of trying to be a poet, Emerson and Fuller lost faith in Thoreau's ability to become a poet. Emerson would favor Ellery as the poet of Transcendentalism.
I see Edgar Allen Poe (1806-1849) as the best critic of Transcendentalism, and therefore part of Transcendentalism. He was critical of Ellery Channing, the name he used to distinguish himself from his father who lived from 1870-1842 and had the same name, and wrote about theology and slavery.
Links about William Ellery Channing:
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