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.
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. After her death, he remarried to Sarah Adelaide Newton in 1873.
In June 1867, Trowbridge bought a house at 152 Pleasant Street, Arlington, Massachusetts where he lived until his death on February 12, 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.
