Henry Dwight Sedgwick III (September 24, 1861 – January 5, 1957) was an American lawyer and author.

Early life

Sedgwick was born in

Stockbridge, Massachusetts Stockbridge is a town in Berkshire County in Western Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,018 at the 2020 census. A year-round resort area, Stockbridge is h ...

, the second of five children born to Henry Dwight Sedgwick II (1824–1903) and Henrietta Ellery Sedgwick (1829–1899). On his paternal grandmother's side, he was part of the New England Dwight family. His paternal grandfather was Theodore Sedgwick. He had an older sister, Jane Minot (1859-1918), and three younger brothers, Theodore (1863–1951), Alexander "Aleck" (1867–1929) and

Ellery Sedgwick Ellery Sedgwick (February 27, 1872 – April 21, 1960) was an American editor, brother of Henry Dwight Sedgwick. Early life He was born in New York City to Henry Dwight Sedgwick II and Henrietta Ellery (Sedgwick), grand daughter of William El ...

Career

Sedgwick graduated from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1882, and studied law in Boston until 1884 when he was admitted to the

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

. He practiced law in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

from 1885 to 1898. He was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters, and was elected in 1893 as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, whose members were chosen from the National Institute; they have since become one entity. He also was a member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

(Boston) and the Massachusetts Historical Society. He later became an author and wrote several historical biographies on

Isaac Thomas Hecker Isaac Thomas Hecker (December 18, 1819 – December 22, 1888) was an American Roman Catholic, Catholic priest and founder of the Paulist Fathers, a North American religious society of men. Hecker was originally ordained a Redemptorist priest in ...

, Henry of Navarre,

Alfred de Musset Alfred Louis Charles de Musset-Pathay (; 11 December 1810 – 2 May 1857) was a French dramatist, poet, and novelist.His names are often reversed "Louis Charles Alfred de Musset": see "(Louis Charles) Alfred de Musset" (bio), Biography.com, 2007 ...

, and

Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Latin: áːɾkus̠ auɾέːli.us̠ antɔ́ːni.us̠ English: ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good ...

Personal life

Marriages and children

On November 8, 1895, Sedgwick married Sarah May Minturn, daughter of

Robert Bowne Minturn, Jr. Robert Bowne Minturn Jr. (February 21, 1836 – December 15, 1889) was an American shipping magnate of the mid to late 19th century. Early life and career Robert Bowne Minturn Jr. was born in New York City to Robert Bowne Minturn, Robert Bowne Mi ...

(part owner of the '' Flying Cloud'' clipper ship) and Susanna (née Shaw) Minturn (Susanna was the sister of Colonel

Robert Gould Shaw Robert Gould Shaw (October 10, 1837 – July 18, 1863) was an American officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Born into a prominent Boston Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist family, he accepted command of the firs ...

) at St. George's Protestant Episcopal Church in

. The couple had four children: * Henry Dwight "Halla" IV (1896–1914) * Edith Minturn (1901–1901) * Robert Minturn (1899–1976) * Francis Minturn Sedgwick (1904–1967) Their only daughter, Edith, died the day after her birth. Their eldest son Henry IV (known as Halla) died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

at the age of 17. Sarah May Minturn died of a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

in 1919. Robert Minturn Sedgwick was a

Harvard Crimson football The Harvard Crimson football program represents Harvard University in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA). Harvard's football program is one of the oldest in the world, having begun c ...

athlete, as was his father, who started at left tackle for two teams—1919 and 1920—that defeated Yale, the 1919 team named national champions. The elder Sedgwick lettered in the 1878 season, his son Robert, at left tackle, lettered in the 1919 and 1920 seasons. On May 18, 1953, Sedgwick married Gabriella May Ladd in Newtown Township, Pennsylvania. She was the daughter of Dr. Maynard Ladd and sculptress

Anna Coleman Ladd Anna Coleman Watts Ladd (July 15, 1878 – June 3, 1939) was an American sculptor in Manchester, Massachusetts, who devoted her time and skills throughout World War I to designing prosthetics for soldiers who were disfigured from injuries recei ...

. Ladd, who was 46 years Sedgwick's junior, had never been married nor did she remarry after Sedgwick's death.

Relatives and friends

Sedgwick's granddaughter was Edith Minturn "Edie" Sedgwick, the daughter of his youngest son Francis and his wife Alice Delano de Forest. Alice was the daughter of

Henry deForest Henry Wheeler DeForest (October 29, 1855 – 1938) was an American railroad executive, capitalist and industrialist. Early life DeForest was born in New York City on October 29, 1855. He was a son of Henry Grant DeForest and Julia Mary (née Week ...

. During the 1960s, Edie Sedgwick starred in many of

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

's short films. He is also a paternal great-grandfather to actress Kyra Sedgwick, whose father is Henry Dwight Sedgwick V. Henry V is the son of Sedgwick's second oldest son Robert and his first wife Helen Peabody (1890–1948), daughter of Endicott Peabody. Sedgwick was a friend to Leavitt Hunt, son of Vermont Congressman Jonathan Hunt (Vermont Representative) and, like Sedgwick, also a Harvard Law School-educated New York attorney. Hunt was also a photographer and brother of Boston painter William Morris Hunt and architect

Richard Morris Hunt Richard Morris Hunt (October 31, 1827 – July 31, 1895) was an American architect of the nineteenth century and an eminent figure in the history of American architecture. He helped shape New York City with his designs for the 1902 entrance fa� ...

. Sedgwick and Leavitt Hunt frequently corresponded.

Death

On January 5, 1957, Sedgwick died at Pittsfield General Hospital in

Pittsfield, Massachusetts Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfield� ...

at the age of 95. His funeral was held on January 8 at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. Sedgwick and his first wife, Sarah Minturn Sedgwick, are buried in the

Sedgwick Pie The "Sedgwick Pie" is a cemetery plot in the United States. It is the family burial plot of the Sedgwick family in Stockbridge Cemetery, Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and gets its nickname from its shape and layout. Description The burial sites ar ...

Stockbridge Cemetery Stockbridge may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Stockbridge, Edinburgh, a suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland * Stockbridge, Hampshire * Stockbridge, West Sussex * Stockbridge Anticline, one of a series of parallel east–west trending folds in t ...

. His second wife, Gabriella, was also buried in the Pie upon her death in 1972.

Works

* ''The Letters of Captain Cuellar'' (1896) * ''The Life of Father Hecker'' (1897) * ''The Life of

Samuel Champlain Samuel de Champlain (; Fichier OrigineFor a detailed analysis of his baptismal record, see RitchThe baptism act does not contain information about the age of Samuel, neither his birth date nor his place of birth. – 25 December 1635) was a Fr ...

'' (1901)
''Essays on Great Writers''
(1902) * ''The Life of

Francis Parkman Francis Parkman Jr. (September 16, 1823 – November 8, 1893) was an American historian, best known as author of '' The Oregon Trail: Sketches of Prairie and Rocky-Mountain Life'' and his monumental seven-volume '' France and England in North Am ...

'', in the "American Men of Letters Series" (1904)
''A Short History of Italy''
(1905) * ''The New American Type and Other Essays'' (1908) * ''Italy in the Thirteenth Century'' (1912) * ''An Apology for Old Maids, and other Essays'' (1916) * ''

: A Biography told as may by Letters, together with some Account of the Stoic Religion...'' (1921)
Loyola : An Attempt at an Impartial Biography
' (London: Macmillan, 1923) * ''PRO VITA MONASTICA: An Essay in Defence of the Contemplative Virtues'' (1923) * '' Cortés the Conqueror: The Exploits of the Earliest and Greatest of the Gentleman Adventurers in The New World'' (1926) * ''Spain: A Short History of its Politics, Literature, and Art from Earliest Times to the Present'' (1926) * '' La Fayette'' (1928) * ''France: A Short History of its Politics, Literature, and Art from Earliest Times to the Present'' (1929) * '' Henry of Navarre'' (1926) * ''Alfred De Musset, 1810-1857'' (1931) * ''The Life of Edward the Black Prince, 1330-1376: the Flower of Knighthood out of All the World'' (1932) *''The Art of Happiness or the Teachings of

Epicurus Epicurus (; grc-gre, Ἐπίκουρος ; 341–270 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher and sage who founded Epicureanism, a highly influential school of philosophy. He was born on the Greek island of Samos to Athenian parents. Influenced ...

'' (1933) * ''Dan Chaucer: An Introduction to the Poet, his Poetry, and his Times'' (1934) * ''In Praise of Gentlemen'' (1935) * ''

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

: The Biography of a Bygone City'' (1939) * ''Memoirs of an

Epicurian Epicureanism is a system of philosophy founded around 307 BC based upon the teachings of the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus. Epicureanism was originally a challenge to Platonism. Later its main opponent became Stoicism. Few writings by ...

'' (1940) * ''

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...

: A Biography'' (1947)

References

Sources

* Leonard, John William (1914). ''Woman's Who's Who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada, Volume 1''. The American Commonwealth Company * Sedgwick, John (2008). ''In My Blood: Six Generations of Madness and Desire in an American Family''. Harper Perennial. * Zimmerman, Jean (2012). ''Love, Fiercely: A Gilded Age Romance''. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. *

External links

* * *
Sedgwick-Shaw-Minturn 4 generations portrait
at Flickr {{DEFAULTSORT:Sedgwick, Henry Dwight 1861 births 1957 deaths American biographers American essayists American memoirists American people of English descent Burials in Massachusetts Harvard Law School alumni Massachusetts lawyers Sedgwick family Writers from Massachusetts