John Townsend Trowbridge
John Townsend Trowbridge | |
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John Townsend Trowbridge circa 1873. | |
Born |
September 18, 1827 Ogden, New York |
Died |
February 12, 1916 Arlington, Massachusetts |
Pen name | Paul Creyton |
Nationality | American |
Genre | Fiction, non-fiction, children's literature, poetry |
Spouse | Cornelia Warren (m. 1860, d. March 23, 1864), Sarah Adelaide Newton (m. 1873) |
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John Townsend Trowbridge (September 18, 1827 – February 12, 1916) was an American author.
Early life
Trowbridge was born in Ogden, New York, to Windsor Stone Trowbridge and Rebecca Willey. His birthplace was a log cabin his father constructed through the use of wooden pegs. Trowbridge received an unremarkable education, but had an early interest in literature. He recalled in his autobiography that he wrote his first poem at age 13. His first published work was published anonymously in the Rochester Republican when he was 16.[1]
He started working as a teacher and on a farm for one year in Illinois. In 1847, at age 19, he moved to New York City to become an author and, with the assistance of Mordecai Manuel Noah, began publishing in periodicals while also working at a pencil case engraving factory.[2] He moved to Boston in August 1848, and in 1850, during the absence of Benjamin Perley Poore in Washington, D.C., edited Poore's paper, the Sentinel, but his editorial on the fugitive-slave law nearly destroyed the paper's popularity. He married Cornelia Warren (May 1, 1834 – March 23, 1864) in 1860.
In June 1867 Trowbridge bought a house at 152 Pleasant Street, Arlington, Massachusetts where he lived until his death in 1916. Trowbridge also spent much time in Kennebunkport, Maine, where he built Spouting Rock Cottage, near to Spouting Rock and Blowing Cave, both of which he named.
Writing career
His novels include Neighbor Jackwood (1857), an antislavery novel; The Old Battle-Ground (1859); Cudjo's Cave (1864); The Three Scouts (1865); Lucy Arlyn (1866); Neighbors' Wives (1867); Coupon Bonds, and Other Stories (1873); and Farnell's Folly. Another is Evening At The Farm.
Trowbridge wrote numerous works under the pseudonym of Paul Creyton, including The Midshipman's Revenge (1849), Kate the Accomplice, or, The Preacher and the Burglar (1849), The Deserted Family, or, Wanderings of an Outcast (1853), Father Brighthopes, or, An Old Clergyman's Vacation (1853), Burr Cliff: its Sunshine and its Clouds (1853); Martin Merrivale: His X Mark (1854), Iron Thorpe (1855), Neighbor Jackwood (1857).
Among his very many juvenile tales are The Drummer Boy, The Prize Cup, The Lottery Ticket, The Tide-Mill Stories, The Toby Trafford Series, The Little Master, and the Jack Hazard series. His published volumes of verse include: The Vagabonds, and Other Poems; The Emigrant's Story, and Other Poems; A Home Idyl, and Other Poems; The Lost Earl; and The Book of Gold, and Other Poems. The Vagabonds, At Sea, and Midsummer are among his best-known poems. His long poem Guy Vernon: A Novelette in Verse was first published anonymously in the compilation A Masque of Poets (1878).
In Darius Green and his Flying Machine, Trowbridge penned the following prophetic verse: "Darius was clearly of the opinion / That the air is also man's dominion / And that with paddle or fin or pinion, / We soon or late shall navigate / The azure as now we sail the sea."
He is today perhaps best remembered for his study The South: A Tour of Its Battlefields and Ruined Cities (1866, republished two years later with additions by another author as A Picture of the Desolated States and the Work of Reconstruction, 1865-1868). Trowbridge toured much of the defeated Confederacy during the summer of 1865 and the following winter. He observed carefully, and talked with a wide variety of people of both sexes, including freedmen, die-hard Rebels, Unionists, farmers, businessmen, refugees, and Northern entrepreneurs. In his book, he lets these people speak in their own voices, often adding his own perceptive comments. His book can profitably read with those of John Richard Dennett (The South As It Is: 1865-1866) and Whitelaw Reid (After the War: A Tour of the Southern States, 1865-1866). All three accounts are written from the perspective of a loyal and fair Northerner, genuinely concerned about conditions in the South and the evolving policies of the United States towards that section.
From 1870 to 1873 Trowbridge was co-editor with Lucy Larcom of Our Young Folks.[3][4] Since his death he has been well known as a friend of Mark Twain and Walt Whitman.
Trowbridge's papers are located at Houghton Library at Harvard University.[5]
Gallery
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John Townsend Trowbridge age 21, from a daguerrotype taken in 1849
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Trowbridge circa 1896
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Trowbridge circa 1904
Selected works
- The Midshipman's Revenge (1849)
- Kate the Accomplice, or, The Preacher and the Burglar (1849)
- The Deserted Family, or, Wanderings of an Outcast (1853)
- Father Brighthopes, or, An Old Clergyman's Vacation (1853)
- Burr Cliff: its Sunshine and its Clouds (1853)
- Martin Merrivale: His X Mark (1854)
- Iron Thorpe (1855)
- Neighbor Jackwood (1857).
- Neighbor Jackwood (1857),
- The Old Battle-Ground (1859)
- Cudjo's Cave (1864)
- The Three Scouts (1865)
- Lucy Arlyn (1866)
- Neighbors' Wives (1867)
- Coupon Bonds, and Other Stories (1873)
- Guy Vernon: A Novelette in Verse (1878)
- Farnell's Folly
- Evening At The Farm
References
- ↑ Zboray, Ronald J. and Mary Saracino Zboray. Literary Dollars and Social Sense: A People's History of the Mass Market Book. New York: Routledge, 2005: 70. ISBN 0-415-94984-X
- ↑ Zboray, Ronald J. and Mary Saracino Zboray. Literary Dollars and Social Sense: A People's History of the Mass Market Book. New York: Routledge, 2005: 71. ISBN 0-415-94984-X
- ↑ "TROWBRIDGE, John Townsend". Who's Who. Vol. 59. 1907. p. 1772.
- ↑ J. T. Trowbridge and Lucy Larcom, editors (1871). Our Young Folks 7 http://books.google.com/books?id=MksAAAAAYAAJ. Missing or empty
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(help) - ↑ J.T. Trowbridge papers: Guide at Houghton Library.
Further reading
Wikisource has original works written by or about: John Townsend Trowbridge |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to John Townsend Trowbridge. |
Wikiquote has quotations related to: John Townsend Trowbridge |
- Chicago Daily Tribune, John T. Trowbridge. Born Sept. 18, 1827. Died Feb. 12, 1916. J. T. TROWBRIDGE IS DEAD IN EAST Poet and Writer of Stories for Boys Expires at Ripe Age. Page 3 (February 13, 1916).
- The New York Times, Saturday Review of Books and Art, AUTHORS AT HOME.; XLIII. John T. Trowbridge in Arlington. Page BR810, (December 3, 1898).
- Trowbridge, John Townsend.: My Own Story: With Recollections of Noted Persons (1903).
- Who's Who 1907 An Annual Biographical Dictionary. Page 1771, (1907).
External links
- Works by John Townsend Trowbridge at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about John Townsend Trowbridge at Internet Archive
- Works by John Townsend Trowbridge at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
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