William James Roe II (September 1, 1843 – April 3, 1921) was an American author, artist, philosopher, and businessman.
Early life
![PSM_V64_D044_The_new_west_point](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/PSM_V64_D044_The_new_west_point.png)
Roe was born to William James Roe I (1811–1875) and Anna Lawrence Clark Roe (1814–1914) on September 1, 1843, in
Newburgh, New York
Newburgh is a city in the U.S. state of New York, within Orange County. With a population of 28,856 as of the 2020 census, it is a principal city of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown metropolitan area. Located north of New York City, a ...
. At the time, his parents were residing in the mansion of his grandparents, William Roe and Maria Hazard Roe, on Grand Street.
William Roe, born in
Kingston, was a retired New York grocer who arrived in Newburgh in the 1820s. His son, William James Roe I, improved the family fortune working for
Luman Reed
Luman Reed (1787–1836) was a successful American merchant and an important patron of the arts. His support for the painters George Whiting Flagg and Thomas Cole were particularly significant contributions to the development of American painting ...
and
Jonathan Sturges
Jonathan Sturges (August 23, 1740 – October 4, 1819) was an American lawyer, jurist and politician from Fairfield, Connecticut. He represented Connecticut as a delegate to the Continental Congress and in the United States House of Repr ...
, becoming an
art collector
A private collection is a privately owned collection of works (usually artworks) or valuable items. In a museum or art gallery context, the term signifies that a certain work is not owned by that institution, but is on loan from an individual ...
himself.
Roe was educated at
Russell Military Academy
The New Haven Collegiate and Commercial Institute (later to be popularly known as the Russell Military Academy) was founded by Stiles French in 1834 and is a defunct military academy and college preparatory school that "fitted" students to apply ...
in
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...
, a
preparatory school for young men interested in attending nearby
Yale
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
or
West Point
The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...
. After abruptly leaving Russell's, Roe was enrolled at the Newburgh Collegiate Institute, a private boys' school in Newburgh administered by
Polish-American
Polish Americans ( pl, Polonia amerykańska) are Americans who either have total or partial Poles, Polish ancestry, or are citizens of the Republic of Poland. There are an estimated 9.15 million self-identified Polish Americans, representing abou ...
M. L. Domanski. During this time, he began writing for the school's magazine, ''The Acorn.'' At fifteen, Roe left his schooling to study law at the firm Hasbrouck & Taylor in Newburgh. His uncle,
William C. Hasbrouck, supervised his studies. Later in life, he remarked that the law profession was not for him.
In 1861, he enlisted in a volunteer company, the
124th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment, in response to the outbreak of the Civil War. Though he was elected
sergeant
Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...
, his father was opposed to him engaging in the war and took him to Europe in January 1862.
Roe Sr. claimed he would allow his son to continue if the war had not ended within six months. Most of those six months were spent abroad, and the Roes visited England, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. Roe corresponded with the ''Newburgh Journal,'' and letters from his travels abroad were serialized. While traveling, cadetship at
West Point
The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...
was offered. Going through West Point to become a
lieutenant
A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations.
The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...
was more favorable for than fighting. He received an appointment from the Hon. John Sedgwick and began in 1863, graduating in 1867.
Business career
When Roe I was declared a lunatic, his son took the reins on his business ventures and maintained his property. Roe II was appointed overseer of his father's will and finances. With his acquired wealth, Roe built two
country houses
An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...
—one for himself, the other for his parents—on 80 acres of land in
New Windsor. William James Roe I died on November 20, 1875. Much of his earnings were lost due to financial inexperience.
Seeking to regain the losses, Roe became president of the Hydrogen Company of New York and New Jersey in 1881.
He had moved his family to
Montclair, New Jersey
Montclair () is a township in Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated on the cliffs of the Watchung Mountains, Montclair is a wealthy and diverse commuter town and suburb of New York City within the New York metropolitan area. As ...
in 1880. The company sought to perfect a process that made iron parts insusceptible to rust. A building was erected at West 18th Street in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
and more commercial outlets were realized. None of these came to fruition, as the process was never improved to the satisfaction of a market. The company collapsed immediately after this failure.
Writing career
Roe had always found a hobby in writing creatively and for the press. After he regained part of his fortune, he turned to writing entertaining short stories, philosophical works and poetry.
His earliest novels were ''The Model Wife'', ''White Feathers'' and ''Cut: A Story of West Point.'' At the time of its publication, ''Cut'' was regarded as the most accurate depictions of cadet life at West Point, being based heavily on Roe’s own experiences. He soon after began planning new novels under the pen names Hudor Genone and G. I. Cervus.
One of his most popular novels was ''Inquierendo Island'', published in 1886 by
G. P. Putnam’s Sons, the Twentieth Century Company and
Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company
The Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company is an American publishing company. The company was established in Chicago, Illinois, in 1886 as Charles H. Kerr & Co. by Charles Hope Kerr, originally to promote his Unitarian views. As Kerr's personal inte ...
. It aroused much debate over its
religious satire
Religious satire is a form of satire that refers to religious beliefs and can take the form of texts, plays, films, and parody. From the earliest times, at least since the plays of Aristophanes, religion has been one of the three primary topics ...
elements in the United States and abroad. In ''Inquierendo Island'', he “dramatized in unmistakable terms his negative feelings about
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
. The
protagonist
A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...
, shipwrecked on the eponymous mid-Atlantic Island, discovers that its inhabitants have constructed a topsy-turvy Religion, which they follow with pious zeal, out of their ancestors' bad memories of their own shipwreck and out of idolatry directed towards the arithmetic text which is the only printed book to have survived; they worship at the church of Saint Complex Fraction. The book can also be seen to mock the triumphalist arguments that bolster the typical Robinsonade.”
About a year later, ''
Bellona's Husband: A Romance'' was published by
J. B. Lippincott & Co. The novel “takes its protagonists via Spaceship – powered by a kind of Antigravity device – to Mars, where they find a humanlike society distinguished from ours partly by the Martians' insistence that the literal truth must always be told, but mainly by the fact that they live backwards in time, growing constantly younger; this may be the earliest example of the Time in Reverse tale presented in full-fledged narrative form.”
In 1892, ''The Last Tenet Imposed upon the Khan of Thomathoz'' was published by Charles H. Kerr & Company. Roe's affinity for religious satire continued. The novel describes “the discovery by sixteenth-century missionaries of the Lost World of Thomathoz hidden in the mountains of Asia.”
More compact works such as such as ''John Morton’s Morals'' and ''Scarlet Gods'' were novels both published serially in ''
Town & Country,'' while the
esoteric
Western esotericism, also known as esotericism, esoterism, and sometimes the Western mystery tradition, is a term scholars use to categorise a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas a ...
and slightly
occult
The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism a ...
“The Philosophy of a Divine Man” was published in ''
The Metaphysical Magazine.'' For a brief period, Roe had an interest in the occult, becoming interested in
hypnotism
Hypnosis is a human condition involving focused attention (the selective attention/selective inattention hypothesis, SASI), reduced peripheral awareness, and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion.In 2015, the American Psychologica ...
and
divination
Divination (from Latin ''divinare'', 'to foresee, to foretell, to predict, to prophesy') is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual. Used in various forms throughout histor ...
. He later found these to be dangerous, denouncing
Eusapia Palladino
Eusapia Palladino (alternative spelling: ''Paladino''; 21 January 1854 – 16 May 1918) was an Italian Spiritualist physical medium. She claimed extraordinary powers such as the ability to levitate tables, communicate with the dead through he ...
in
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
.
Personal life
![William James Roe Newburgh News](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/William_James_Roe_Newburgh_News.jpg)
On July 1, 1867, Roe married Mary Stuart Norton at Central Presbyterian Church in
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...
. They had three children.
Roe was raised
Episcopalian
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the l ...
at St. George's Church, Newburgh, despite many of his ancestors being
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
. He was integral to the founding of the first
Reformed Episcopal church in Newburgh, which he had selected the name for: The
Church of the Corner-Stone.
![William Roe Mansion](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/William_Roe_Mansion.jpg)
Mary Stuart went on to marry the artist
Lee Woodward Zeigler
Lee Woodward Zeigler, also known as Albert Lee Zeigler, (May 7, 1868—June 16, 1952) was an American artist who began his career as an illustrator and later worked as a muralist.
Early life and education
Born Albert Lee Zeigler, on May 7, 1 ...
on October 16, 1909,
at
St. Thomas Episcopal Church.
Both daughters were talented writers, and often wrote using pen names in
St. Nicholas Magazine.
On November 27, 1920, the family was traveling to the 1920
Army-Navy Football Game at the
Polo Grounds
The Polo Grounds was the name of three stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used mainly for professional baseball and American football from 1880 through 1963. The original Polo Grounds, opened in 1876 and demolished in 1889, was built fo ...
in New York City when Anna was killed in an automobile accident.
Roe never recovered from her sudden death. That winter, he began to lose interest in life and his writing. He died on April 3 at 77.
He requested that his funeral not exceed $250 in costs. It was held on the afternoon of April 5, after which he was buried in
St. George's Cemetery.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Roe, William James 02
1843 births
1921 deaths
American writers
American artists