Theodore Dwight (1796–1866), was an American author.
Life
Theodore Dwight was born on March 3, 1796, in
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...
New England Dwight family The Dwight family of New England had many members who were military leaders, educators, jurists, authors, businessmen and clergy.
Around 1634, John Dwight came with his wife Hannah, daughter Hannah, and sons Timothy (1629–1718) and John (d. 163 ...
. His mother was Abigail Alsop (1765–1846), the sister of
Richard Alsop
Richard Alsop (January 23, 1761 – August 20, 1815) was an American author from the Alsop family of Middletown, Connecticut.
Richard Alsop was born January 23, 1761. His father (1727–1776) and son were also named Richard Alsop, which has led t ...
(1761–1815). He graduated from
Yale College
Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...
in 1814.
He compiled the travelogues of his uncle,
Timothy Dwight IV
Timothy Dwight (May 14, 1752January 11, 1817) was an American academic and educator, a Congregationalist minister, theologian, and author. He was the eighth president of Yale College (1795–1817).
Early life
Timothy Dwight was born May 14, 17 ...
, previously president of Yale, which he brought to publication in 1821. In 1825, he published the second tourist guidebook in the United States, ''The Northern Traveller'', which he updated with regular editions until 1841.Richard Gassan, "The First American Tourist Guidebooks: Authorship and Print Culture of the 1820s", ''Book History'' 8 (2005), pp. 51-74 A commentator on American society, he wrote a number of works on child rearing and school reform and, in the 1850s and 1860s, passionately advocated for the cause of
Garibaldi
Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as ''Gioxeppe Gaibado''. In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as ''Jousé'' or ''Josep''. 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, patr ...
and the unification of
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
.
He married Eleanor Boyd on April 24, 1827. Their children were:
# Maria Bayard Dwight (February 17, 1828 - February 11, 1852)
# Ellen Boyd Dwight (born September 16, 1830), married Captain Charles C. H. Kennedy, who served in the Confederate Navy during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
# Theodore Dwight III (March 4, 1833 - December 18, 1852)
# Mary Alsop Dwight (born March 17, 1836)
# Anna Maria Dwight (born November 18, 1837), ran a girls' school with sister Mary
# Augusta Moore Dwight (born November 18, 1840), married Sherwood Bissel Ferris
# Rebecca Jaffray Dwight (born March 1, 1842), married Fenton Rockwell and had one child Benjamin Fenton Rockwell on December 17, 1868
He died on October 16, 1866, in
Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, from injuries in a train accident while traveling to
Newark, New Jersey
Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.
After accompanying his daughter and two grandchildren, he had jumped off the train as it left the station.
Publications
* ''A Journal of a Tour in Italy in the Year 1821 with a Description of Gibraltar'' (1821)
* ''The Northern Traveller'' (1825; sixth edition, 1841)
* ''First Lessons in Modern Greek'' (1833)
* ''The Roman Republic of 1849'' (1851)
* ''History of Connecticut'' (1841)
* ''The Kansas War: or, the Exploits of Chivalry in the Nineteenth Century'' (1859)
* ''Dwight's American Penny Magazine, and Family Newspaper'', later ''Dwight's American Magazine, and Family Newspaper'', weekly, from February 8, 1845, to at least vol. 3, no. 52, December 25, 1847. Dwight's American Penny Magazine, and Family Newspaper ', vol 1. no. 1, February 8, 1845 - Dwight's American Magazine, and Family Newspaper ', vol. 3, no. 52, December 25, 1847