Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Thoreau, Henry David

THOREAU, HENRY DAVID (thō'rō), an American author; born in Concord, Mass., July 12, 1817, and educated at Harvard University, where he graduated in 1837. From that time till 1840 he was a schoolmaster. He engaged also in land surveying, carpentering and other handicrafts, but devoting a great part of his time to study and the contemplation of nature. In 1845 he built for himself a hut in a wood near Walden pond. Concord, Mass., and there for two years lived. After quitting his solitude, Thoreau pursued his father's calling of pencil maker at Concord. Besides contributing to the “Dial” and other periodicals, he published “A Week on the Concord and Merrimac Rivers” (1849), and “Walden, or Life in the Woods” (1854). After his death appeared “Excursions in Field and Forest,” “The Maine Woods,” “Cape Cod,” and “A Yankee in Canada.” Thoreau was a friend of Emerson. He died in Concord, May 6, 1862.

HENRY DAVID THOREAU