The New International Encyclopædia/Paulding, James Kirke

PAULDING, James Kirke (1779-1860). An American author, born in Pleasant Valley, Dutchess County, N. Y. After a scanty education, he went to New York, where, with William Irving, his brother-in-law, and with Washington Irving, he collaborated in Salmagundi (1807), the second series of the same (1810) being by Paulding alone. During the War of 1812 he published the Diverting History of John Bull and Brother Jonathan; and in 1814 the United States and England, a defense against British criticisms. This work attracted attention and caused him to be appointed secretary of the board of navy commissioners. In 1817 he published a defense of the Southern States and of slavery in Letters from the South, by a Northern Man; in 1822, A Sketch of Old England, by a New England Man; and in 1825 John Bull in America, or the New Munchausen, a satire on the writings of British tourists. Meanwhile he had published his first novel, Koningsmarke (1823); Merry Tales of the Three Wise Men of Gotham (1826) followed, and other books, mainly humorous and satirical. In 1831 he produced The Dutchman's Fireside, a novel dealing with the old Dutch settlers. This, his best work, was followed by Westward Ho! (1832), a novel dealing with Kentucky. Next came a good biography of Washington (1835), and Slavery in the United States (1836). Meanwhile he had been navy agent at New York City since 1825, a position from which he was advanced in 1837 to the post of Secretary of the Navy in Van Buren's Cabinet. On his retirement in 1841 he went to a country residence at Hyde Park, where he wrote a few stories and plays, the novel, The Puritan and His Daughter (1849), being the most conspicuous. There he died, April 6, 1860. His select works appeared in four volumes (1867-68). Consult Literary Life of James K. Paulding, by his son William (New York, 1867).