Harriot, Thomas (1560–02 July 1621), scientist, linguist, and author of the first English book on North America, was born in Oxford (city or county), England; his parentage is unknown. As an undergraduate he entered St. Mary’s Hall (attached to Oriel College, Oxford) in 1576, matriculated in the University of Oxford in 1557, and graduated B.A. in 1580. He never married....
Article
Harriot, Thomas (1560-1621), scientist, linguist, and author of the first English book on North America
David B. Quinn
Article
Morris, Edward Joy (1815-1881), legislator, author, and diplomat
Norman B. Ferris
Morris, Edward Joy (16 July 1815–31 December 1881), legislator, author, and diplomat, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, of unknown ancestry. He attended the University of Pennsylvania and graduated from Harvard College in 1836. He studied law and was admitted to the Philadelphia bar in 1842, while serving in the Pennsylvania assembly, 1841–1843. Morris served one term as a Whig in Congress, 1843–1845. When his bid for reelection failed, he resumed his law practice. In 1847 he married Elizabeth Gatliff Ella of Philadelphia, with whom he had two daughters....
Article
Sandys, George (1578-1644), writer and official of colonial Virginia
Dora Jean Ashe
Sandys, George (02 March 1578–04 March 1644), writer and official of colonial Virginia, was born at Bishopthorp near York, England, the son of Edwin Sandys, the archbishop of York, and his second wife, Cicely Wil(s)ford. Sandys entered Oxford University as a gentleman-commoner at the age of eleven in 1589, then at eighteen went to the Middle Temple, London. He remained at the Inns of Court only a year or two. Before the age of twenty-one, he married Elizabeth Norton of Ripon. The exact date of the family-arranged marriage is unknown, but it had ended, although it was never formally dissolved, by 1606. The couple had no children....
Article
Stefansson, Vilhjalmur (1879-1962), Arctic explorer, writer, and lecturer
William R. Hunt
Stefansson, Vilhjalmur (03 November 1879–26 August 1962), Arctic explorer, writer, and lecturer, was born in Arnes, Manitoba, Canada, the son of Johann Stefansson and Ingibjorg Johannesdottir, Icelanders who had arrived in Canada in 1877. In 1881 the family moved to North Dakota, where Vilhjalmur attended school and eventually the University of North Dakota, the University of Iowa (B.A. 1903), and Harvard, where he entered the divinity school before transferring to anthropology. In 1906 he left school without graduating to join the Anglo-American Polar Expedition as ethnologist. After failing to rendezvous with other expedition members, who had been shipwrecked, Stefansson wintered among the Eskimos of Tuktoyyaktut, adapting to the Eskimo way of life and learning their language....
Image
Stefansson, Vilhjalmur (1879-1962)
Maker: Louis Fabian Bachrach
In
Vilhjalmur Stefansson, c. 1939–1941. Photograph by Louis Fabian Bachrach. Courtesy of the Library of Congress (LC-USZ62-116932).
Article
Stephens, John Lloyd (1805-1852), writer and archaeologist
Helene Littmann
Stephens, John Lloyd (28 November 1805–13 October 1852), writer and archaeologist, was born in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, the son of Benjamin Stephens, a merchant, and Clemence Lloyd Stephens. When Stephens was thirteen months old, the family moved to New York City. He began his education in public school at age six and in 1815 entered the Classical School. He entered Columbia College at age thirteen, the year his mother died. After his graduation in 1822, Stephens studied law with Daniel Lord in New York and at ...
Article
Stoddard, Charles Warren (1843-1909), author and educator
Robert L. Gale
Stoddard, Charles Warren (07 August 1843–23 April 1909), author and educator, was born in Rochester, New York, the son of Samuel Burr Stoddard and Harriet Abigail Freeman. Samuel Stoddard failed in 1851 as a paper manufacturer in Rochester, whereupon he relocated as an importer-exporter and a merchandise broker in San Francisco and called for his wife and family to join him three years later. Charles Stoddard reluctantly returned to school near Rochester in 1857, but two years later he was happily back in San Francisco, where he worked in a bookstore, attended the theater, and published some poetry in the ...
Article
Taylor, Bayard (1825-1878), writer
Cary Wolfe
Taylor, Bayard (11 January 1825–19 December 1878), writer, was born in Kennett Square, Chester County, Pennsylvania, the son of Joseph Taylor and Rebecca Way, farmers. He was raised in an orderly Quaker household of quiet discipline, but, being a prodigious reader and student, he felt constrained by the provincial farming life of Chester County. His studies of languages and literature at Bolmar’s and Unionville academies only intensified his restlessness, and while still a high-school student Taylor published his first poem in 1841 with the ...
Image
Taylor, Bayard (1825-1878)
In
Bayard Taylor. Courtesy of the Library of Congress (LC-USZ62-92338).
Article
Warner, Charles Dudley (1829-1900), author and editor
Robert L. Gale
Warner, Charles Dudley (12 September 1829–20 October 1900), author and editor, was born in Plainfield, Massachusetts, the son of Justus Warner and Sylvia Hitchcock, farmers. In 1837, three years after her husband died, Sylvia Warner took her two sons to a guardian in Charlemont, Massachusetts, and, in 1841, on to her brother in Cazenovia, New York. Warner attended classes at the Oneida Conference Seminary in Cazenovia, enrolled at Hamilton College, and graduated in 1851 with a B.A. While still a student he published articles in the ...
