John Townsend Trowbridge (1827–1916) was an American author who also wrote under the pseudonym Paul Creyton. He was a friend of Mark Twain and Walt Whitman. Trowbridge’s papers are located at Harvard’s Houghton Library.
Born in Ogden, New York, he moved to New York City at age 19 to become an author and started publishing in periodicals. He later moved to Boston and finally settled in Arlington, Massachusetts. From 1865–73, Trowbridge was co-editor of Our Young Folks.
Trowbridge’s 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 (1882.)
Trowbridge also 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.)
Trowbridge is best remembered for his study The South: A Tour of Its Battlefields and Ruined Cities (1867,) republished as A Picture of the Desolated States and the Work of Reconstruction (1865–68.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by John Townsend Trowbridge
With years a richer life begins, the spirit mellow: ripe age gives tones to violins, wine, and good fellows.
—John Townsend Trowbridge
Topics: Wine
For me the diamond dawns are set
In rings of beauty,
And all my ways are dewy wet
With pleasant duty.
—John Townsend Trowbridge
Topics: Responsibility
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
Benjamin Franklin American Founding Father, Inventor
Emily Dickinson American Poet
Hosea Ballou American Theologian
Ralph Waldo Emerson American Philosopher
Anne Bradstreet American Poet
Kurt Vonnegut American Novelist
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. American Physician, Essayist
Og Mandino American Self-Help Author
William Laurence Sullivan American Unitarian Clergyman
Joshua L. Liebman American Jewish Rabbi