Frank R. Stockton

Frank Richard Stockton (April 5, 1834 - April 20, 1902) was an American writer and comedian, known today for a series of innovative children's tales that were widely popular in the last decades of the 19th century. Stockton was born in Philadelphia in 1834. He was the son of a famous Methodist minister who dissuaded him from his career as a writer. After marrying Mary Ann Edwards Tuttle, he and his wife moved to Burlington, New Jersey, where he produced some of his first literary works. Then the couple moved to Nutley, New Jersey. For many years he maintained himself as a woodcutter until the death of his father in 1860. In 1867, he returned to Philadelphia to write for a newspaper founded by his brother. His first tale, Ting-a-ling, was published that same year in Riverside Magazine; his first collection of books appeared in 1870. He was also editor of Hearth and Home in the early 1870s. Around 1899, he moved to Charles Town, West Virginia. He died in Washington on April 20, 1902, from a brain hemorrhage and was buried at Woodlands in Philadelphia.