Samuel Griswold Goodrich (August 19, 1793 – May 9, 1860), better known under his

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

Peter Parley, was an American author.

Biography

Goodrich was born at

Ridgefield, Connecticut Ridgefield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. Situated in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains, the 300-year-old community had a population of 25,033 at the 2020 census. The town center, which was formerly a borough ...

, the son of a Congregational minister. Goodrich was largely self-educated, and became an assistant in a country store at Danbury, Connecticut, which he left in 1808, and later again at Hartford, Connecticut, until 1811. From 1816 to 1822 he was a bookseller and publisher in Hartford. He visited Europe from 1823 to 1824, and moved to

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 ...

in 1826. In 1833 he bought in nearby Roxbury and built a home in what is now

Jamaica Plain Jamaica Plain is a neighborhood of in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Settled by Puritans seeking farmland to the south, it was originally part of the former Town of Roxbury, now also a part of the City of Boston. The commun ...

. There he continued in the publishing business, and from 1828 to 1842 published an illustrated annual, '' The Token'', to which he was a frequent contributor both in prose and verse. A selection from these contributions was published in 1841 under the title ''Sketches from a Students Window''. ''The Token'' also contained some of the earliest work of

Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...

Nathaniel Parker Willis Nathaniel Parker Willis (January 20, 1806 – January 20, 1867), also known as N. P. Willis,Baker, 3 was an American author, poet and editor who worked with several notable American writers including Edgar Allan Poe and Henry Wadsworth Longfello ...

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include " Paul Revere's Ride", '' The Song of Hiawatha'', and ''Evangeline''. He was the first American to completely tran ...

and Lydia Maria Child. In 1841 he established '' Merry's Museum'', which he continued to edit till 1854. Goodrich was associated with his brother Charles A. Goodrich in writing books for the young. His series, beginning in 1827 under the name of Peter Parley, embraced geography, biography, history, science and miscellaneous tales. Of these he was the sole author of only a few, but in 1857 he wrote that he was the author and editor of about 170 volumes, and that about seven millions had been sold. An English writer,

George Mogridge George Anthony Mogridge (February 18, 1889 – March 4, 1962) was an American professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball for the Chicago White Sox (1911–12), New York Yankees (1915–20), Washington Senators (1921–25 ...

, also used the name Peter Parley, raising objections from Goodrich, who had the prior claim. Goodrich Megalosaurus

Peter Parley's tales about ancient and modern Greece p138

In 1857 he published ''Recollections of a Lifetime'', which contains a list both of the works of which he was the author or editor and of the spurious works published under his name. By his writings and publications he amassed a large fortune. He was active in Whig politics, and was elected a member of the

Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member ...

in 1836, and of the

state Senate A state legislature in the United States is the legislative body of any of the 50 U.S. states. The formal name varies from state to state. In 27 states, the legislature is simply called the ''Legislature'' or the ''State Legislature'', whil ...

in 1837, his competitor in the last election being

Alexander Hill Everett Alexander Hill Everett (March 19, 1792 – June 28, 1847) was an American diplomat, politician, and Boston man of letters. Everett held diplomatic posts in the Netherlands, Spain, Cuba, and China. His translations of European literature, publish ...

, and in 1851-1853 he was consul at

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, where he remained till 1855, taking advantage of his stay to have several of his works translated into French. At the end of his consulship, he was presented with a commemorative medal. He returned to America and, in 1859, he publishe
''Illustrated Natural History of the Animal Kingdom''
He died in New York and was buried in Southbury, Connecticut where he lived for a short time. His funeral was widely attended by a vast concourse of persons. Two hundred Sunday School children headed the procession to the cemetery. The Archives and Special Collections at Amherst College holds a collection of his papers.

Legacy

*Goodrich's land in

was subdivided into residential streets, among them Peter Parley Road, Parley Avenue and Parley Vale. *There is a street called Peter Parley Row in Berlin, CT, presumably honoring the author's Connecticut birthplace. *There are two streets bearing his name in Ridgefield, CT, Parley Road and Parley Lane. *

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

mentions the name of Peter Parley in his novel ''

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man ''A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'' is the first novel of Irish writer James Joyce. A ''Künstlerroman'' written in a modernist style, it traces the religious and intellectual awakening of young Stephen Dedalus, Joyce's fictional al ...

'' at the end of chapter I.
One room Schoolhouse in Ridgefield, CT
was named after Peter Parley. * George du Maurier mentions "Peter Parleys Natural History" in his first novel "Peter Ibbetson" (Part One). *

Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massac ...

mentions "Peter Parley" in one of her poems. ("Hurrah for Peter Parley! Hurrah for Daniel Boone! Three cheers, sir, for the gentleman Who first observed the moon!") *

James Abbott McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral allusion in painting and was a leading pr ...

refers dismissively to Peter Parley in his book

The Gentle Art of Making Enemies ''The Gentle Art of Making Enemies'' is a book by the painter James McNeill Whistler, published in London in 1890 by William Heinemann, who also published a second, enlarged edition in 1892. The book was in part a response to, in part a transc ...

References

External links

* * * * * ttp://www.jphs.org/people/2005/4/13/samuel-goodrich-alias-peter-parley.html Samuel Goodrich; alias Peter Parley- Jamaica Plain Historical Society article
Literary Activities Of Samuel G. Goodrich
- Pat Pflieger
The Young American: Or, Book of Government and Law; Showing Their History, Nature, and Necessity. For the Use of Schools
by S. G. Goodrich {{DEFAULTSORT:Goodrich, Samuel Griswold 1793 births 1860 deaths 19th-century American people American male writers Politicians from Boston People from Ridgefield, Connecticut Massachusetts state senators Members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives 19th-century American politicians People from Jamaica Plain

Biography

Legacy

References

Further reading

External links