Horatio Alger

He never discussed his sexuality openly, but it was often speculated that he was homosexual.

During his later years his popularity declined considerably, and he went to live with his sister in Massachusetts.

He suffered from several ailments including bronchitis and asthma and died in 1899.

Horatio Alger, Jr. was born as the eldest son of Horatio Alger, Sr., a Unitarian minister, and his wife Olive Augusta. He had four siblings, including an invalid sister.

He grew up in poverty as his father could barely makes ends meet. He was a bright and intelligent child though weak in health.

He was a voracious reader and was home schooled during his early years. His father wanted him to continue in his footsteps, and tutored his son in classical studies and made him learn ministering to parishioners.

His father shifted the family to Marlborough in search of better fortunes and had him enrolled in the Gates Academy, a preparatory school. He excelled in his studies and completed his formal schooling by the age of 15.

He entered Harvard University in 1848 where he met distinguished personalities like Asa Gray, James Walker, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and evolved as a writer under their guidance.

His professional career as a writer began in 1849 when two of his essays and a poem were published in the Pictorial National Library. He was a Harvard student at that time.

Upon graduation, he continued writing and selling his work, but it was not enough to make a living. Over the next few years he worked as an editor, a teacher, and a headmaster.

He published his first book, ‘Bertha's Christmas Vision: An Autumn Sheaf’ in 1856 and followed it with a long satirical poem, ‘Nothing to Do: A Tilt at our Best Society’ in 1857.

He went to the Harvard Divinity School in 1857 and upon his graduation in 1860 embarked on a long trip to Europe.

He was drafted into the army in 1861 but was soon discarded due to his poor health. Since he could not serve actively in the army, he wrote many war ballads and poems to express his patriotism.

Alger was a prolific writer producing more than 100 books in his lifetime, but it was his ‘Ragged Dick’ series which made him one of the topmost children’s authors of his times. The series told the story of a poor bootblack’s rise to middle-class respectability through his intelligence, hard work and honesty.