Bret Harte

On August 11 1862 he got married to Anna Griswold. The couple had four children - Griswold, Francis, Jessamy and Ethel.

He died on 5 May 1902 due to throat cancer at the age of 62 in Camberley, England.

Francis Bret Harte, better known as Bret Harte, was born on 25 August 1836 in Albanay, New York, United States. His father, Henry Harte, was Jewish immigrant and a prosperous merchant who went on to become one of the founding members of the New York Stock Exchange.

He grew up in New York and in 1845 the family moved to Brooklyn. His school level education was irregular. There is very little information about his education but he was an avid reader and writer from an early age. Hs poem ‘Autumn Musings’ was published when he was just 11.

He moved to California in 1854 and started working as a miner, which gave him an insight on the dynamics of life in a camp. Three years later he was employed as a journalist by the weekly publication ‘Northern Californian’ and during his time with the publication he became well acquainted with local issues.

During his time at ‘Northern Californian’, he took an editorial stand against the killings of Indians in 1860 and was consistent in his stand against the treatment meted out to Mexicans. Following his reporting and stand on the killings, he received threats to his life and he decided to leave the paper. He quit his job and shifted base to San Francisco.

In 1860, he was appointed as the editor of a San Francisco based newspaper ‘The Golden Era’ and during his time at the publication, his first set of ‘Condensed Novels’ was published in which he wrote parodies of some of the better known works of such luminaries as Charles Dickens and Victor Hugo.

In 1863, he contributed his first story to the American publication ‘The Atlantic Monthly’ and the following year he collaborated with Charles Henry Webb to create a literary publication titled ‘The Californian’. During this period, he continued to write parodies and his parody of Sherlock Holmes in the story ‘The Stolen Cigar-Case’ was particularly well received.

He was appointed the editor of the recently launched literary publication ‘The Overland Monthly’ in 1868 following his work on stories on Spanish legends. One of his most well-known works, ‘The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Sketches’ was published in ‘The Overlord Monthly’ two years after he became the editor. The poem ‘The Heathen Chinee’ was also published in the same year and he became a well-known literary figure across the world.

In 1871, at the peak of his career as a writer, he was given a contract by ‘The Atlantic Monthly’ worth $10,000 a year. It was an unprecedented yearly fee for a writer at the time. It did not, however, prove to be the roaring success that he had hoped and the following year, he found himself without a contract. He could not find much work over the next few years and spent time working in advertising and the lecturing circuit.

His most important work was ‘The Luck of the Roaring Camp’ published in ‘Overlord Monthly’ in 1870. It is one of his most famous works and made him known all over the world.