| Washington Irving, (April 3, 1783- November 28 1859) American author, short story writer, essayist, poet, travel book writer, biographer, and columnist, still best known for the short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle".
Washington Irving was born in New York City the youngest of 11 children. His father was a chief petty officer in the British Navy who became wealthy merchant in New York City, and his mother, an English woman, was the granddaughter of a clergyman. Early in his life Irving developed a passion for books. He studied law privately but practiced only briefly. From 1804 to 1806 he travelled widely in Europe. After returning to the United States, Irving was admitted to the New York bar in 1806. He was a partner with his brothers in the family hardware business and representative of the business in England until it collapsed in 1818. During the war of 1812 Irving was a military aide to New York Governor Daniel Tompkins in the U.S. Army. He saw action in the Great Lakes. Irving's career as a writer started in journals and newspapers. He contributed to the Morning Chronicle (1802-03), which was edited by his brother Peter, and published Salmagundi; or, The Whim-Whams and Opinions of Launcelot Langstaff & Others (1807-08).Irving's success in social life and literature was shadowed by a personal tragedy. He was engaged to be married to Matilda Hoffmanm who died at the age of seventeen, in 1809. From 1812 to 1814 he was an editor of Analetic magazine in Philadelphia and New York. In 1809 Washington Irving wrote a comic history of the Dutch regime in New York, A History of New-York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, by Diedrich Knickerbocker who was supposed to be an eccentric Dutch-American scholar. The Sketch Book Of Geoffrey Crayon,Gent. (1819-20), a collection of stories including The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle allowed him to become a full-time writer. In 1822 appeared a sequel to The Sketch Book, Bracebridge Hall, or, The Humorists, A Medley. After the death of his mother, Irving decided to stay in Europe, where he remained for seventeen years from 1815 to 1832. In 1824 in England he had a romantic liaison with Mary Shelley. In 1825 he met Alexander Hill Everett who had been appointed Minister to Spain. In 1826 he headed to the Spanish archives to search through recently released information. In 1829-32 he was secretary to Cornelius Van Ness at the embassy. During his stay in Spain, he wrote Columbus (1828), Conquest Of Granada (1829) and The Companions Of Columbus (1831), all based on careful historical research. In 1829 he moved to London and published Alhambra (1832), concerning the history and the legends of Moorish Spain. The Spanish were so pleased with Irving's writing that in 1828, they elected him to the Real Academia de la Historia. In 1830, Irving received a gold medal in history from the Royal Society of Literature in London, and also received honorary degrees from Oxford, Columbia, and Harvard. In 1832 Irving returned to New York to an enthusiastic welcome as the first American author to have achieved international fame. He toured the southern and western United States at times with Charles La Trobe and wrote The Cayon Miscellany (1835) and A Tour Of The Prairies (1835). His second western book was Astoria about John Jacob Astor. He also wrote The Adventures of Captain Bonneville (1837). He also wrote Recollections of Abbotsford and Newstead Abbey, Biography of Margaret Miller Davidson,(1841) and The Legends of the Conquest of Spain. Between the years 1842-45 Irving was the U.S. Minister to Spain. He was appointed by President Tyler and recommended by Daniel Webster, then Secretary of State. Irving spent the last years of his life in Tarrytown. From 1848 to 1859 he was President of Astor Library, later New York Public Library. Irving's later publications include Biography of Goldsmith, Mahomet And His Successors (1850), Wolfert's Roost (1855), and his five-volume The Life of George Washington (1855-59). He died on November 28, 1859 at his home in Sunnyside. He is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. |
| Washington Irving |
| Why Washington Irving on a St. Augustine Florida page? Part of the Spanish reawakening in the Flagler era may have been in part to his influencial works and may have been in the back of Henry Flagler's mind when he picked St. Augustine and created his hotels. Also his work on Spanish sources as minister of Spain may have influenced the career of Buckingham Smith. Finally his writings may have also contributed to the spread of Moorish archtecture in St. Augustine that started with Franklin Smith and influenced other St. Augustine buildings. |
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| Washington Irving Library of Congress Photo |
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| Washington Irving |