William Livingston Alden (1837–1908) was an American journalist, fiction writer, humorist and canoe enthusiast. He was a US diplomat in Rome from 1885 to 1890 and thereafter lived in Europe until shortly before his death.
William Livingston Alden | |
|---|---|
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| Born | October 9, 1837  Williamstown |
| Died | January 14, 1908 (aged 70) Buffalo |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupation | Diplomat, author, journalist, writer |
| Employer | |
| Parent(s) | |
| Awards |
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| Position held | consul (Kingdom of Italy, 1885–1889) |
Biography
editWilliam Livingston Alden was born in Williamstown, Massachusetts on October 9, 1837.[1] He attended Lafayette College and transferred to Jefferson College after his father, Joseph Alden, was elected president.[2]
He graduated from Jefferson in 1858 and read law in New York City with William M. Evarts, joining the bar in 1860.[3] He practiced law until 1866.[3][4] He then became a journalist, writing for Scribner's Monthly, The Atlantic, New York World and Daily Graphic.[1][3] He later worked on the editorial staff of The New York Times and produced a weekly column called "Minor Topics".[5] He also wrote humor pieces and juvenile fiction.[6] While in New York City he became an early member of the Theosophical Society, an esoteric organization founded by Helena Blavatsky in 1875.[7]
Alden is also credited with bringing the sport of canoeing to the United States.[6][8] He founded the New York Canoe Club in 1871, which was the first canoeing organization in America.[9] He was a founding member of the American Canoe Association and served as its first Commodore.[6][10]
Alden was appointed Consul General in Rome, Italy, by President Grover Cleveland in 1885,[6] a position he held until 1889, and received from the king the cross of chevalier of the order of the Crown of Italy.[11] In 1890 he lived in Paris, writing for the New York Herald until 1893,[11] when he began living and writing in London.[1] He died on January 14, 1908.[6][1]
Works
editHe is the author of many works, including the following:[11]
- Domestic Explosives (1878)
- Shooting Stars (1879)
- A New Robinson Crusoe (1880)
- Canoe and Flying Proa (1880)
- The Moral Pirates (1881)
- Christopher Columbus (1440-1506): the first American citizen (1881)
- Life of Christopher Columbus (1882)
- The Cruise of the Ghost (1882)
- The Cruise of the Canoe Club (1883)
- The Adventures of Jimmy Brown (1885)
- The Loss of the Swansea (1889)
- Trying to Find Europe (1889)
- A Lost Love (1892)
- Told by the Colonel (1893)
- Freaks (1895)
- Van Wagener's Way (1898)
- The Mystery of Elias G. Roebuck
- His Daughter
References
edit- ^ a b c d Riley, Sam G. (1995). "Alden, William Livingston". Biographical dictionary of American newspaper columnists. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 6. ISBN 9780313291920.
- ^ "Jefferson College 1802–1865". U. Grant Miller Library Digital Archives. Washington & Jefferson College. Archived from the original on 2009-01-06.
- ^ a b c Jennings Coffin, Selden; William Baxter Owen (1879). "William Livingston Alden, A.M.". Record of the men of Lafayette: Brief biographical sketches of the alumni of Lafayette College from its organization to the present time. Lafayette College. p. 210.
- ^ Biographical and Historical Catalogue of Washington and Jefferson College. Elm Street Printing Company. 1889. pp. 211.
- ^ The column was renamed "Topics of the Times" in 1896 with Frederick Craig Mortimer as the author until 1926, when it was taken over by Simeon Strunsky until 1946.
- ^ a b c d e "THE LIFEWORK OF WILLIAM L. ALDEN: Highly Esteemed Both Sides the Atlantic for His Clever Writings. FAMOUS AS A HUMORIST: Consul General at Rome Under Cleveland – First Commodore of American Canoe Association" (PDF). The New York Times. January 16, 1908. Retrieved 2016-11-10.
- ^ Gary Lachman (2012). Madame Blavatsky: The Mother of Modern Spirituality. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin. p. 136.
- ^ "The Cruising Canoe and its Outfit". Harper's New Monthly Magazine. Harper & Brothers. August 1880. Archived from the original on 2010-12-11. That is an undated reprint by the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association, Ltd (wcha.org).
- ^ Hoffman, Ronald C. (June 1967). "The Formation and Growth of the American Canoe Association" (PDF). Ph.D. Dissertation. American Canoe Association.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Commodores / Presidents". American Canoe Association. 2008. [dead link]
- ^ a b c Johnson 1906, p. 71
- Attribution
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Johnson, Rossiter, ed. (1906). "Alden, William Livingston". The Biographical Dictionary of America. Vol. 1. Boston: American Biographical Society. p. 71.
External links
edit
Works by or about William Livingston Alden at Wikisource- Works by William L. Alden at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about William L. Alden at the Internet Archive
- Works by William L. Alden at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Many classic W. L. Alden short stories are read in Mister Ron's Basement Podcast, now indexed to make them easy to find
- W. L. Alden at Library of Congress, with 22 library catalog records (about half under William Livingston Alden as "from old catalog")
