born Dec. 10, 1837, Vevay, Ind., U.S.
died Sept. 4, 1902, Lake George, N.Y.
U.S. novelist and historian.
He became an itinerant preacher at age 19; he later held various pastorates and edited several periodicals. He realistically portrayed backwoods Indiana in The Hoosier School-Master (1871). His other novels include The End of the World (1872), The Circuit Rider (1874), Roxy (1878), and The Graysons (1888). He then turned to writing history; his Beginners of a Nation (1896) and Transit of Civilization from England to America (1900) contributed to the growth of the study of social history.