Edward Sylvester Ellis | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | June 20, 1916 | (aged 76)
Nationality | American |
Other names | James Fenimore Cooper Adams Captain Bruin Adams Boynton M. Belknap J. G. Bethune Captain Latham C. Carleton Frank Faulkner Capt. R. M. Hawthorne Lieut. Ned Hunter Charles E. Lasalle H. R. Millbank Billex Muller Lieut. J. H. Randolph Emerson Rodman E. A. St. Mox Seelin Robins |
Education | Master of Arts (Princeton 1877) |
Occupation | Author |
Spouses | Anna M. Deane (m. 1862–1887)Clara Spalding Brown
(m. 1900) |
Parent(s) | Sylvester Ellis Mary Ellis |
Signature | |
Notes | |
Information sourced from NIU Beadle and Adams Novel Digitization Project[1] |
Edward Sylvester Ellis (April 11, 1840 – June 20, 1916) was an American author.[1][2]
Ellis was a teacher, school administrator, journalist, and the author of hundreds of books and magazine articles[3] that he produced by his name and by a number of pen names. Notable fiction stories by Ellis include The Steam Man of the Prairies[4] and Seth Jones, or the Captives of the Frontier.[5] Internationally, Edward S. Ellis is probably known best for his Deerfoot novels read widely by young boys until the 1950s.
Seth Jones was a prototypical early dime novel published by Beadle and Adams.[6] It is said that Seth Jones was one of Abraham Lincoln's favorite stories.[7] During the mid-1880s, after a fiction-writing career of some thirty years, Ellis eventually began composing more serious works of biography, history, and persuasive writing. Of note was "The Life of Colonel David Crockett", which had the story of Davy Crockett giving a speech usually called "Not Yours To Give". It was a speech in opposition to awarding money to a Navy widow on the grounds that Congress had no Constitutional mandate to give charity. It was said to have been inspired by Crockett's meeting with a Horatio Bunce, a much quoted man in Libertarian circles, but one for whom historical evidence is non-existent.
Besides the one hundred fifty-nine books published by his own name, Ellis' work was published under various pseudonyms, including:[1]
famous american naval commanders 1899 by edwards . ellis
Ellis' best known books follow the adventures of Deerfoot of the Shawnee, a young Native American brave based on the historical character of the same name who was renowned for his skill with the bow, and his abilities as a runner.[9]
This series introduces the characters Oskar Relstaub and Jack Carleton. Deerfoot appears in the second and third books.