John Elihu Hall (December 27, 1783 – June 12, 1829) was an American lawyer, writer and publisher who was born and lived for most of his life in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, Pennsylvania, with important parts of his career spent in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

Biography

John E. Hall was the son of John Hall and Sarah Ewing Hall, and the grandson of John Ewing, one time provost of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

. His brother was the

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

and

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

writer James Hall. He studied at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

and was admitted to the bar in Philadelphia in 1805. In 1806, he began publishing the first law journal in the United States, the ''American Law Journal'', in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. During this period he also served as professor at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

. Maintaining a modest writing career while practicing law, he eventually changed to full-time writing and publishing. His primary work was editing ''

The Port Folio ''The Port Folio'' was a Philadelphia literary and political magazine published from 1801 to 1827. It was first co-published in 1801 by Joseph Dennie and Asbury Dickins. Dickins dropped as co-publisher, and Dennie remained the editor from 1802 to ...

'', beginning in 1816, which had been floundering since its original publisher (and friend of the family)

Joseph Dennie Joseph Dennie (August 30, 1768January 7, 1812) was an American author and journalist who was one of the foremost men of letters of the Federalist Era. A Federalist, Dennie is best remembered for his series of essays entitled ''The Lay Preache ...

died in 1812. John Hall, James Hall and Sarah Hall had all written works for ''The Port Folio'' under Dennie, and John Hall continued to rely heavily on James and Sarah while he was editor; however, he was never able to resurrect the original reputation the journal had, and his publication folded in 1827. He continued to publish other books after the demise of ''The Port Folio''. In 1829, he became ill and died.

Biography

References

Further reading