Paul Leicester Ford

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Paul Leicester Ford (1902)

Paul Leicester Ford (born March 23, 1865 in Brooklyn , New York City , † May 8, 1902 in Manhattan ) was an American writer , historian and biographer .

Life

Paul Leicester Ford was the maternal great-grandson of the reformer and writer Noah Webster . His two older brothers were the historian Worthington C. Ford (1858-1941) and athlete Malcolm Webster Ford (1862-1902). Because of an injury to his spine, his growth was hampered. With the help of private tutors, he was homeschooled, and he was able to fall back on his father's huge library, which he already occupied as a child. He published The Webster Genealogy for the first time at the age of 11. From the mid-1880s he became known for biographies on Alexander Hamilton , Benjamin Franklin and George Washington . Together with his brother Worthington he founded the Historical Printing Club and published many articles on American history.

At the same time, he began to write novels from the mid-1890s. His stories The Honorable Peter Stirling , The Great K&A Train Robbery and Janice Meredith were particularly successful . The latter not only sold over 200,000 copies, it was adapted as a play by Edward Everett Rose just a year later. 22 years after his death, the story was made into a film by MGM under the title The Hero Girl of Trenton .

In 1898 he was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters .

Ford died on May 8, 1902, at the age of 37, from a gunshot wound in his Manhattan home. His brother Malcolm shot him in an argument. After Malcolm's career as a runner came to an end and made less money, he often borrowed money from Paul. But when he refused this time, he shot him and executed himself a short time later.

Work (selection)

Novels
  • The Honorable Peter Stirling, and What People Thought of Him (1894)
  • The Great K&A Train Robbery (1896)
  • Tattle-Tales of Cupid (1898)
  • Janice Meredith, a Story of the American Revolution (1899)
  • Wanted: A Matchmaker (1900)
  • Wanted: A Chaperon (1902)
Biographies and historical works
  • A list of Treasury reports and circulars issued by Alexander Hamilton, 1789-1795 (1886)
  • A list of the members of the Federal Convention of 1787 (1888)
  • Franklin bibliography. A list of books written by, or relating to Benjamin Franklin (1889)
  • The True George Washington (1896)
  • The many-sided Franklin (1899)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Members: Paul Leicester Ford. American Academy of Arts and Letters, accessed March 28, 2019 .
  2. ^ Paul L. Ford Slain By His Brother , The New York Times , May 9, 1902
personal data
SURNAME Ford, Paul Leicester
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer, historian, and biographer
DATE OF BIRTH March 23, 1865
PLACE OF BIRTH Brooklyn , New York City , United States
DATE OF DEATH May 8, 1902
Place of death Manhattan , New York City, United States