Elijah Kellogg

Elijah Kellogg

Elijah Kellogg, Jr. (May 20, 1813 March 17, 1901) was an American Congregationalist minister, lecturer and author of popular boy's adventure books.[1]

Professional life

Born in Portland, Maine, Kellogg was the son of a minister and missionary to local Native Americans. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1840 and Andover Theological Seminary. Kellogg served as a minister of the church in Harpswell, Maine 1844–54, as chaplain of the Boston Seaman's Friend Society and pastor of the Mariners' Church of Boston 1855–1865; and ended his life as minister of the church in Topsham, Maine from 1871 until his death in 1901.[2]

Family and heritage

Kellogg married Hannah Pearson Pomeroy and had three sons and one daughter. Wilmot B. Mitchell of Bowdoin edited Elijah Kellogg, the Man and His Work: Chapters From His Life and Selections from His Writings (Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1903). Bowdoin College offers an online collection guide to Kellogg's personal papers and those of his father (who was a trustee of Bowdoin).[3] Elijah Kellogg Church, Congregational in Harpswell, Maine (where he served as pastor) is now named for him.[4]

Writing

Kellogg began writing children's books in the 1860s, and was highly productive. While he is best known to students of rhetoric as the author of the once-popular monologue "Spartacus to the Gladiators at Capua" (written for a student competition while he was still an undergraduate at Bowdoin), he later produced several series of books. These include:

Elm Island Series

Pleasant Cove Series

Whispering Pine Series

(Set at Bowdoin College, his alma mater, of which his father was later a trustee.)

Forest Glen Series

Good Old Times Series

Stand-alone books

References

  1. Rev. Elijah Kellogg Dead; Was Author of 'Sparticus to the Gladiators' and Many Stories for Boys -- His Quaint Life". The New York Times, March 18, 1901
  2. Maine Writers Index, "Elijah Kellogg (1813-1901)"
  3. Bowdoin College George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives: Kellogg Family Collection, 1780-1978
  4. Elijah Kellogg Church homepage
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