Whittier, John Greenleaf

Identity area

Type of entity

Person

Authorized form of name

Whittier, John Greenleaf

Parallel form(s) of name

    Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules

      Other form(s) of name

        Identifiers for corporate bodies

        Description area

        Dates of existence

        1807-1892

        History

        John Greenleaf Whittier, born December 17, 1807 in the southwest Parlor of the Whittier Homestead, was the first son and second child of John and Abigail (Hussey) Whittier. He
        grew up on the farm in a household with his parents, a brother and two sisters, aunt and uncle, and a constant flow of visitors and hired hands for the farm. Whittier’s first poem to be seen in print appeared in 1826 in the Newburyport Free Press, where the abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison was editor. Under Garrison’s encouragement Whittier actively joined the abolitionist cause and edited newspapers in Boston and Hartford. He was associated with the Atlantic Monthly Magazine from 1857 until his death. In 1831, he brought a book of prose works, “Legends of New England,” and the next year returned to his native town to run the farm after his father’s death, and later moved to Amesbury. Until the Civil War, he became increasingly involved in the abolitionist cause, serving in numerous capacities on the local, state and national levels. He was also involved in the formation of the Republican Party. With the publication of Snow-Bound in 1866, Whittier finally enjoyed a relatively comfortable life from the profits of his published works. It is Snow-Bound for which he will always be best remembered as a poet. Nearly every volume of his verses published thereafter was truly a best seller. Whittier died on September 7, 1892 at a friend’s home in Hampton Falls, NH, and was buried with the rest of his family in Amesbury.

        Places

        Legal status

        Functions, occupations and activities

        Mandates/sources of authority

        Internal structures/genealogy

        General context

        Relationships area

        Access points area

        Subject access points

        Place access points

        Occupations

        Control area

        Authority record identifier

        Institution identifier

        Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto

        Rules and/or conventions used

        Status

        Level of detail

        Dates of creation, revision and deletion

        Language(s)

          Script(s)

            Sources

            Maintenance notes