The Biographical Dictionary of America/Alger, Horatio, Jr.

ALGER, Horatio, Jr., author, was born at Chelsea (Revere), Mass., Jan. 13, 1834. He was graduated from Harvard university at the age of eighteen, and occupied the next few rears in teaching, writing, and doing newspaper work. For a year he travelled in Europe, acting as correspondent for American newspapers; returning to America he studied divinity at Cambridge, and in 1864 was ordained to the Unitarian ministry at Brewster, Mass. In 1866 he settled in New York city, where he studied the condition of the street boys, and found in them an abundance of interesting material for stories. Besides more than fifty books written for young readers, he published "Helen Ford," a novel, and many magazine articles, poems, etc. Among his books are: "Nothing to Do: a Tilt at our Best Society" (1857); "Gran'ther Baldwin's Thanksgiving, with other Ballads and Poems" (1875); "From Canal Boy to President" (1881); "From Farm Boy to Senator: the History of Daniel Webster" (1882); "Abraham Lincoln, the Backwoods Boy" (1883); "From Log Cabin to White House"; "Digging for Gold" (1892); "Victor Vane, the Young Secretary" (1894); "Only an Irish Boy" (1894); "Adrift in the City" (1895); and books illustrating New York street life, as the "Ragged Dick," "Luck and Pluck," and "Tattered Tom" series. He died at Natick, Mass., July 18, 1899