Edward Payson Roe

Edward Payson Roe (March 7, 1838 – July 19, 1888) was an American novelist, Presbyterian minister, horticulturist and historian.

Biography

Edward Payson Roe was born in the village of Moodna, now part of New Windsor, New York. He studied at Williams College and at Auburn Theological Seminary. In 1862 he became chaplain of the Second New York Cavalry, U.S.V., and in 1864 chaplain of Hampton Hospital, in Virginia. In 1866-74 he was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church at Highland Falls, New York. In 1874 he removed to Cornwall-on-Hudson, where he devoted himself to the writing of fiction and to horticulture. During the American Civil War, he wrote weekly letters to the New York Evangelist, and subsequently lectured on the war and wrote for periodicals.

He married Anna Paulina Sands in 1863 and had several children. His daughter Sarah married the Olympic fencer Charles T. Tatham, and daughter Pauline married the landscape painter Henry Charles Lee.

Edward Payson Roe Memorial Park in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York is dedicated to his honor.

Writings

His novels were very popular in their day, especially with middle class readers in England and America, and were translated into several European languages. Their strong moral and religious purpose, did much to break down a Puritan prejudice in America against works of fiction. One of his most consistent criticisms was that his work resembled sermons. Among his novels and horticultural writings were:

Barriers Burned Away (1872), which first appeared as a serial in the Evangelist and made him widely known