Ernest Howard Crosby (November 4, 1856 – January 3, 1907) was an American reformer,

georgist Georgism, also called in modern times Geoism, and known historically as the single tax movement, is an economic ideology holding that, although people should own the value they produce themselves, the economic rent derived from land—including ...

, and author.

Early life

Crosby was born in New York City in 1856. He was the son of the Rev. Dr.

Howard Crosby Howard Crosby may refer to: * Howard Crosby (minister) Howard Crosby (27 February 1826 – 29 March 1891) was an American Presbyterian preacher, scholar and professor. He was Chancellor of New York University. Biography Crosby was born in New Yor ...

(1826-1891), a Presbyterian minister, and Margaret Evertson Givan, a descendant of the prominent Dutch Evertson family. Crosby was a relative of prolific hymn-writer and rescue mission worker

Fanny Crosby Frances Jane van Alstyne (née Crosby; March 24, 1820 – February 12, 1915), more commonly known as Fanny J. Crosby, was an American mission worker, poet, lyricist, and composer. She was a prolific hymnist, writing more than 8,000 hymns ...

. He was educated at New York University and the Columbia Law School. He was a member of the Delta Phi fraternity during his time at New York University.

Career

While a member of the State Assembly (1887–1889), he introduced three high-license bills, all vetoed by the Governor

David Bennett Hill David Bennett Hill (August 29, 1843October 20, 1910) was an American politician from New York who was the 29th Governor of New York from 1885 to 1891 and represented New York in the United States Senate from 1892 to 1897. In 1892, he made an u ...

. From 1889 to 1894, he was judge of the Court of the First Instance at Alexandria, Egypt. He became an exponent of the theories of Count Tolstoy, whom he visited before his return to America; his relations with the great Russian later ripened into intimate friendship, and he devoted himself in America largely to promulgating Tolstoy's ideas of universal peace. His book, ''Plain Talk in Psalm and Parable'' (1899), was widely commended by such writers as Björnson, Kropotkin, and Zangwill. Crosby was a vegetarian and supporter of animal rights, authoring an essay entitled " The Meat Fetish", published in the

Humanitarian League The Humanitarian League was a British radical advocacy group formed by Henry S. Salt and others to promote the principle that it is wrong to inflict avoidable suffering on any sentient being. It was based in London and operated between 189 ...

's quarterly publication, the ''Humane Review'' in 1904; this was later published as a pamphlet. He was also president of the New York Vegetarian Society. Like the Englishman Edward Carpenter, the subject of his book ''Poet and Prophet'', Crosby's poetry (in the volume ''Swords and Plowshares'') followed the example of Whitman's free verse.

Death and burial

Crosby died of pneumonia in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

on January 3, 1907. His remains were transported to New York and he was buried in

Rhinebeck, New York Rhinebeck is a village (New York), village in the Rhinebeck (town), New York, town of Rhinebeck in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The population was 2,657 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Poughkeepsie, New York, Poughkeepsie– ...

, where he maintained an estate.

Personal life

In 1881, Crosby married Frances (Fanny) Kendall Schieffelin, daughter of Henry Maunsell Schieffelin. Their children were Margaret Eleanor and Maunsell Schieffelin Crosby.Derby, George and White, James Terry. The National Cyclopædia of American Biography, Volume 10, 1900, page 61

Published works

* ''Captain Jinks, Hero'', illustrated by Daniel Carter Beard, (1902) * ''Swords and Plowshares'' (1902)
''Tolstoy and His Message''
(1903; second edition, 1904) * ''Tolstoy as a Schoolmaster'' (1904) * ''

Carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, Shipbuilding, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. ...

: Poet and Prophet'' (second edition, 1905) * ''

Garrison A garrison (from the French ''garnison'', itself from the verb ''garnir'', "to equip") is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a mil ...

, the Non-Resistant and abolitionist'' (Chicago, 1905) * ''Broad-Cast'' (1905)
''The Meat Fetish: Two Essays on Vegetarianism''
(by Ernest Howard Crosby and Elisée Reclus, 1905) * ''Labor and Neighbor'' (1908)

Footnotes

Additional source

External links

* * * * * * *
The Soldier’s Creed
a poem by Ernest Crosby, collected in ''Liberty and the Great Libertarians'' (1913) ed. by Charles T. Sprading, p. 54. {{DEFAULTSORT:Crosby, Ernest Howard 1856 births 1907 deaths 19th-century American essayists 19th-century American male writers 19th-century American poets 19th-century American politicians 19th-century jurists 20th-century American essayists 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American poets 20th-century American politicians 20th-century jurists American animal rights activists American expatriates in Egypt American humanitarians American male essayists American jurists American male poets American people of Dutch descent American political writers American vegetarianism activists Burials in New York (state) Calvinist pacifists Columbia Law School alumni Deaths from pneumonia in Maryland Georgists Members of the New York State Assembly New York University alumni People from Alexandria People from Rhinebeck, New York Poets from New York (state) Politicians from New York City Tolstoyans Writers from New York City