John Townsend Trowbridge

John Townsend Trowbridge
John Townsend Trowbridge circa 1873.
Born	September 18, 1827 Ogden, New York
Died	February 12, 1916 Arlington, Massachusetts
Pen name	Paul Creyton
Occupation	Writer
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.

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.

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. 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.

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).