Elijah Kellogg

Elijah Kellogg

Elijah Kellogg, Jr. (May 20, 1813 – March 17, 1901) was an American Congregationalist minister, lecturer and author of popular boy's adventure books.^[1]

Professional life

Born in Portland, Maine, Kellogg was the son of a minister and missionary to local Native Americans. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1840 and Andover Theological Seminary. Kellogg served as a minister of the church in Harpswell, Maine 1844–54, as chaplain of the Boston Seaman's Friend Society and pastor of the Mariners' Church of Boston 1855–1865; and ended his life as minister of the church in Topsham, Maine from 1871 until his death in 1901.^[2]

Family and heritage

Kellogg married Hannah Pearson Pomeroy and had three sons and one daughter. Wilmot B. Mitchell of Bowdoin edited Elijah Kellogg, the Man and His Work: Chapters From His Life and Selections from His Writings (Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1903). Bowdoin College offers an online collection guide to Kellogg's personal papers and those of his father (who was a trustee of Bowdoin).^[3] Elijah Kellogg Church, Congregational in Harpswell, Maine (where he served as pastor) is now named for him.^[4]

Writing

Kellogg began writing children's books in the 1860s, and was highly productive. While he is best known to students of rhetoric as the author of the once-popular monologue "Spartacus to the Gladiators at Capua" (written for a student competition while he was still an undergraduate at Bowdoin), he later produced several series of books. These include:

Elm Island Series

• Lion Ben of Elm Island (1868)
• Charlie Bell: The Waif of Elm Island (1868, copyright renewed 1896)
• The Ark of Elm Island (1869)
• The Boy Farmers of Elm Island (1869)
• The Young Ship-Builders of Elm Island (1870)
• The Hard-Scrabble of Elm Island (1870)

Pleasant Cove Series

• Arthur Brown: The Young Captain (1870)
• The Young Deliverers of Pleasant Cove (1871)
• The Cruise of the Casco (1871)
• The Child of the Island Glen (1872)
• John Godsoe's Legacy (1873)
• The Fisher Boys of Pleasant Cove (1874)

Whispering Pine Series

(Set at Bowdoin College, his alma mater, of which his father was later a trustee.)

• The Spark of Genius; or, The College Life of James Trafton (1871)
• The Sophomores of Radcliffe; or, James Trafton and His Bosom Friends (1871)
• The Whispering Pine; or, the Graduates of Radcliffe Hall (1872)
• Winning His Spurs; or, Henry Morton's First Trial (1872)
• The Turning of the Tide; or, Radcliffe Rich and His Patients (1873)
• A Stout Heart; or, the Student From Over the Sea (1873)

Forest Glen Series

• Saved By the Wind; or, The Poor Boy's Future (1874)
• Wolf Run; or, the Boys of the Wilderness (1875)
• Brought to the Front; or, The Young Defenders (1875)
• The Mission of Black Rifle; or, On the Trail (1876)
• Forest Glen; or, the Mohawk's Friendship (1877)
• Burying the Hatchet; or, the Young Brave of the Delawares (1878)

Good Old Times Series

• Good Old Times; or, Grandfather's Struggle for a Homestead (1877, rev. 1905)
• A Strong Arm and a Mother's Blessing (1880)
• The Unseen Hand; or, James Renfew and His Boy Helpers (1881)
• The Live Oak Boys; or, The Adventures of Richard Constable Afloat and Shore (1882)

Stand-alone books

• Norman Cline (1869)

References

1. ↑ Rev. Elijah Kellogg Dead; Was Author of 'Sparticus to the Gladiators' and Many Stories for Boys -- His Quaint Life". The New York Times, March 18, 1901
2. ↑ Maine Writers Index, "Elijah Kellogg (1813-1901)"
3. ↑ Bowdoin College George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives: Kellogg Family Collection, 1780-1978
4. ↑ Elijah Kellogg Church homepage