George Douglass Sherley (June 27, 1857– December 28, 1917) was an author, journalist, and poet. Sherley was born and lived in
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
, USA. He was born into a wealthy family with interests in railroad companies and inherited the family's estate. He graduated from
Centre College and then studied law at the
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...
. He worked as a journalist for the ''
Louisville Courier-Journal'' beginning in the 1870s despite his millionaire status. He wrote poetry and short stories which he published using his own wealth during the 1880s.
[Van Allen, p. 352][Kleber, p. 182]
His works received little attention until he partnered with the popular poet
James Whitcomb Riley
James Whitcomb Riley (October 7, 1849 – July 22, 1916) was an American writer, poet, and best-selling author. During his lifetime he was known as the "Hoosier Poet" and "Children's Poet" for his dialect works and his children's poetry. His ...
in 1893 to tour the United States. Riley helped Sherley gain acceptance in the western literary community and, as part of Riley's show, he performed with other major talents including
Samuel Clemens.
After Riley and Sherley stopped touring in 1895, Sherley returned to live in both Louisville and
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...
, where he continued writing poetry and short stories, and three novels. His best selling books were ''Love Perpetuated'', ''A Few Short Sketches'' and ''The Inner Sisterhood'', published by J.P. Morton & Company. He had success writing short stories to serve as introductions to sheet music and other authors' works.
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1857 births
1917 deaths
Writers from Louisville, Kentucky
Centre College alumni
Poets from Kentucky
Burials at Cave Hill Cemetery
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